§ SC16-1. Department of Procurement.

A.

There shall be a Department of Procurement[.] A Director of Procurement shall be recommended for appointment by the Deputy City Administrator and appointed by the Mayor as provided in § SC3-4.C of the City Charter.

B.

Under the authority of the Mayor and the supervision of the Deputy City Administrator, the Director of Procurement shall make all city purchases and sales and shall make or approve all city contracts, except contracts to sell city bonds or other evidences of the city's public debt, and except that the Council by ordinance may permit direct purchasing by any office, department or agency of minor items where immediate procurement is necessary to prevent delays in its work and resulting in loss to the city. The Council by ordinance shall fix, and from time to time may change, the maximum amount of any such direct purchase, provided that such maximum authorized amount shall in no event exceed the maximum direct purchase amount set by the Ordinance of the Council, from time to time. The Director of Procurement shall issue regulations controlling the procedure for such direct purchasing.

C.

Except for such contracts to sell public debt securities and such direct purchases, no city purchase or contract for any purchase or sale or other contract shall be valid or enforceable unless approved in writing by the Director of Procurement or their authorized designee, and the City Administrator shall pay out no city funds for any contract or purchase unless so approved.

[Added in 1962 by Res. No. 11* as Sec. 144A; Amended 2-14-00 by Res. No. 693; 5-23-05 by Res. No. 1247; 4-10-06 by Res. No. 1395]

( Res. No. 2017-8, 9-11-2017 )

Editor's note— Res. No. 2017-8, adopted September 11, 2017 , amended § SC16-1 to read as set out herein. Previously § SC16-1 was titled "Division of Procurement."

* Editor's Note: Resolution No. 11, adopted in 1962, repealed the sections in this charter initially numbered 26, 27, 28, 124, 130, 144, and 154, and enacted this Article XVI.

 The preamble to Res. No. 11 was as follows:

 "Whereas, under present Charter provisions, the Executive Secretary to the Mayor is also purchasing agent for the City, but because of the pressure of other important duties has been unable to devote the time necessary to do an effective purchasing job, and has with Council approval decentralized the purchasing activity; and

 "Whereas, the Council believes that the City, because of the size of its budget and the many functions and services it performs, can no longer operate effectively and economically without centralized purchasing under the direction of a full time qualified purchasing agent, and the Council believes that among the many advantages of modern centralized purchasing procedure are the following:

 Centralization of authority over purchases;

 Employment of competent purchasing personnel;

 Standardization of specifications to reduce commodities to a minimum and assure the quality of goods;

 Consolidation of requirements into bulk purchases in order to obtain quantity prices;

 Stimulation of competitive bidding to reduce prices;

 Inspection and testing of goods delivered to enforce compliance with specifications and terms of contracts;

 Centralized control over supplies in storerooms and warehouses;

 Centralized control over excess, obsolete, and salvage goods;

 Prompt payment of bills, thereby earning cash discounts;

 Transfer of usable supplies from one using agency to another;

 Elimination of unnecessary purchases;

 Elimination of unnecessary paper work; and

 Elimination of favoritism and connivance in public purchasing; and

 "Whereas, provisions relating to purchasing and public contracts are contained in several articles of the City's Charter, and the Council believes that it would be desirable in the interest of clarity to repeal same and enact a new article collecting and containing the provisions relative thereto, and including a provisions for the establishment and perpetuation of a permanent inventory of city property."