The Board of Commissioners of The Housing Authority of the Town of Watertown, by action taken at its regular meeting held on 3/13/19 and approved by Resolution hereby establishes its Procurement Policy in accordance with: (a) Connecticut General Statutes Sec 8-44 "Powers of Authority", as amended by Public Act 03-278 (effective July 9, 2003); An Act conforming Housing Authority Procurement Procedures to "Federal Requirements 24 CFR 85.36-Procurement"

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I. TERMS

A. Housing Project Construction work shall refer to the construction, reconstruction, improvement, alteration or repair of a housing project or any part of a housing project.

B. Procurement by sealed bids (formal advertising) shall pertain to purchases of construction work, supplies, or personal property for expenditures of $25,000.00 and above.

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II. PROCUREMENT OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

A. Procurement of legal or other professional services shall be made in accordance with the federal procurement competitive proposal requirements set forth in 24 CFR 85.36, regardless of the expenditure involved. Professional services whereby competitors are evaluated and the most qualified competitor is selected, subject to negotiation of fair and reasonable compensation. The method, where price is not used as a selection factor, can only be used in procurement of professional services.

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III. PROCEDURES TO FOLLOW FOR MICRO-PURCHASES TOTALING $10,000 OR LESS

A. Purchases and contracts for equipment, materials, supplies and other non-professional services shall be made by the authorized staff and approved by the Executive Director in the open market using micro-purchase procedures, following inquiry, as necessary, to ascertain that the price is the most advantageous to the Housing Authority.

B. Quotation for micro-purchases may be obtained in writing (hard copy or email), by fax, via catalogs, or by letter, through electronic means. This method should be appropriate to the purchase. The Executive Director should determine the best method, given the situation.

C. All procurement of equipment, materials, supplies, repairs, and services performed by other than local housing authority employees shall be documented and supported by purchase request approval of the Executive Director or the Board of Commissioners.

D. If competitive quotations are solicited and award is made to other than the low quote, documentation to support the purchase may be limited to identification of the solicited vendors and a brief explanation for the award decision.

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IV. PROCEDURES TO FOLLOW FOR SMALL PURCHASES TOTALING $10,000 TO $25,000

A. The Watertown Housing Authority shall use competitive proposal requirements as set forth in 24 CR 85.36 for expenditures for housing project construction work, supplies, or personal property which is less than or equal to ($25,000.00). This process requests for proposals; soliciting proposals from qualifies sources; technical evaluations of proposals; and contract awards to be made to the responsible entity deemed most advantageous to the Housing Authority, considering price and other factors. Proposals for expenditures in excess of $10,000.00, but less than $25,000.00, must be obtained in writing. The Watertown Housing Authority shall obtain price quotes from an adequate number of qualified sources (generally not less than (3), except in the case of micro-purchases.

B. The Executive Director or his/her designee shall list all solicitation for purchases above $10,000.00 on the Watertown Housing Authority website. The Executive Director will advertise publicly at least two times per year in a daily newspaper advising potential bidders that the Watertown Housing Authority solicits its work through its website.

C. The housing authority will approve expenditures directly at monthly meetings of the Board of Commissioners with purchase requests signed by the Executive Director. Before making an award, the Executive Director must determine that the proposed price is fair and reasonable. For most small purchases, price analysis is sufficient. Generally, price analysis will consist of a comparison of quotations to each other and to other sources of pricing information (e.g., past prices paid, catalog prices, etc.). If only one response is received, the Executive Director should include reasonableness in the contract file.

D. The Watertown Housing Authority must make an award only to responsible contractors possessing the ability to perform successfully under the terms and conditions of the proposed procurements. For small purchases, where payment is generally made only after full delivery/completion of the job, the Executive Director has broad latitude in evaluating contractor responsibility, including the Executive Director's or the staff of the Watertown Housing Authority's personal knowledge of, or past experience with, the vendor. The signature of the Executive Director on the contractor's bid signifies the Executive Director's determination of responsibility is satisfactory.

E. The Executive Director shall not break down requirements aggregating more than the small purchase threshold (commonly called "bid splitting" or "unbundling") merely to permit use of the small purchase procedures to avoid any requirements that apply to purchases that exceed those thresholds. However, larger requirements may be broken into smaller ones to afford small and minority businesses the opportunity to participate in the Watertown Housing Authority's procurements. The Executive Director should document in the contract file the reasons for breaking down larger requirements into small ones.

F. Prior to execution of a contract for work totaling more than $10,000.000 but less than $25,000.00, the housing authority shall obtain insurance certificates that list coverage currently as follows:

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1. Workers' Compensation and Employers Liability Insurance: a. Bodily injury by accident $100,000.00 - each accident; bodily injury by disease $100,000.00 - each employee; bodily injury by disease $500,000.00 - policy limit

2. Comprehensive General Liability with non-owned and Hired Auto Endorsement and Broad Form CGL Endorsements in the amount of $300,000.00 Commercial Auto Liability coverage (owned vehicle) in the amount of $300,000.00.

3. Subcontractors Workers' Compensation - same as above. The Watertown Housing Authority's Executive Director or an independent investigator will conduct a due diligence effort to provide research and detailed review of all aspects of the

company, evaluating the abilities of the company to fulfill the requirements of the agreement. The research will be conducted on all bidders the Board of Commissioners deems necessary.

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V. PROCEDURES TO FOLLOW FOR EXPENDITURES IN EXCESS OF $25,000 TO $100,000 OR GREATER

​A. All contracts for housing project construction work, supplies or purchases of personal property of every description whose several parts exceed $25,000.00 shall be publicly advertised, for the purpose of receiving bids upon the same, in a local daily paper and, if deemed advisable, in other papers. The invitation for bids will be publicly advertised in a local daily newspaper and, if deemed advisable, in other newspapers and bids shall be solicited from an adequate number of known suppliers, providing them sufficient time to the date set for the opening the bids.

B. The sealed bids received in response to such public advertisement shall be publicly opened at a Commission Meeting of the Authority, the date and time of such meeting being named in such public advertisement.

C. The Watertown Housing Authority must retain copies of all bid packages received from Bidders along with copies of all legal notices and bid advertisements in the proper vendor file.

D. The Watertown Housing Authority's Executive Director or an independent investigator will conduct a due diligence effort to provide research and detailed review of all aspects of the company, evaluating the abilities of the company to fulfill the requirements of the agreement. The research will be conducted on all bidders the Board of Commissioners deems necessary.

E. Awards will be considered to the responsible firm whose proposal is most advantageous to the Watertown Housing Authority with price and other factors considered under the terms and conditions of the proposed procurement to the Board of Commissioners for approval.

F. Current insurance requirements are as follows:

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1. Workers' Compensation and Employers Liability Insurance: bodily injury by accident $100,000.00 - each accident; bodily injury by disease $100,000.00 - each employee; bodily injury by disease $500,000.00 - policy limit.

2. Comprehensive General Liability with non-owned and hired auto endorsement and Broad Form CGL Endorsement and Owners and Contractors protective, and Commercial Auto Liability Coverage owned vehicle:

Coverage Amount  -  Construction Amount

$300,000.00 CSL  -  $10,001.00 TO $200,000.00

$500,000.00 CSL  -  $200,002.00 TO $1 MILLION

$1,000,000.00 CSL  - $1,000,001.00 AND UP

(If any digging is involved, the Contractor must carry XCU underground explosion endorsement)

3. Subcontractor's Workers' Compensation - same as above.No work should be scheduled or commenced until the Watertown Housing Authority has received and reviewed the executed contract documents and insurance certificates.

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VI. PROCEDURES TO FOLLOW FOR PROCUREMENT UNDER PREVIOUSLY BID GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS

A. Bidding procedures for expenditures in excess of $25,000.00 shall not be required for housing project construction work, supplies or personal property previously bid and contracted for by the Department of Administrative Services, the federal General Services Administration, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, or municipality.

B. The housing authority may enter into agreements under State and municipal contracts and request that the contracting agency note in the contract that use by the housing authority is authorized. Approval for use of these contracts is made a part of the Policy regarding procurement.

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VII. EMERGENCIES

A. An exception to the approval process may be considered if a development encountered an emergency situation affecting human health, safety, welfare and life endangering property.

B. Documentation must be provided stating in the file supporting information for such waiver.

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VIII. PURCHASING CARD

A. Credit cards are a payment method and not necessarily a method of procurement. Credit card purchases should follow the rules for all small purchases. The Executive Director may use the credit card for micro-purchases without obtaining quotes provided the price is considered reasonable. However, for amounts above the micro-purchase level, the Executive Director would generally need to have obtained a reasonable number of quotes before purchasing via a

purchasing card.

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IX. STANDARDS OF CONDUCT

A. No employee, officer or agent of the Watertown Housing Authority shall participate in selection, or in the award or administration of a contract if a conflict of interest, real or apparent, would be involved when: the employee, officer or agent, any member of his immediate family, his or her partner of or an organization which employs or is about to employ has a financial or other interest in the firm selected for the award. The Watertown Housing Authority's officers,

employees or agents will neither solicit nor accept gratuities, favors or anything of monetary value from contractors or potential contractors.

 

 

 

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