Lexington Town Council unanimously passed the final reading of the town’s procurement policy update on April 7. 

Also called the town’s purchasing ordinance, the Town of Lexington’s procurement policy dates back to 1994 with several amendments since.

“Based on the significant changes in commerce since the time of its inception, town staff has now reviewed and evaluated this ordinance in an effort to highlight transparency and better fiscal efficiency, responsibility and accountability,” Councilman Todd Lyle told the public during the April 7 meeting. “Town staff has proposed a new ordinance to that same effect with input from council.”

Public documents from the town define procurement as “buying, purchasing, renting, leasing from a third party, or otherwise acquiring any goods, supplies, services, equipment, or construction.”

In other words, the procurement policy covers topics such as project contracts, bids for projects, proposals for projects and emergency purchases. 

Here are some highlights from the town’s procurement policy as it stands after its now-official updates: 

• Town Council will approve or deny procurements and contracts greater than $50,000 not accounted for in the official annual budget, as well as project changes that are more than 5% of the original contract price. Regular reports on these would be brought before council, too. 
• Any other contract modifications or change orders that are not required to go through council will go through the town administrator, and that town administrator has the authority to decide to bring it before council. 
• Depending on the project price, either three verbal or written quotes must be provided.
• Emergency purchases of $50,000 or more must be approved by council unless the town administrator determines there isn’t time for that process.

More specifics can be found on the town’s website. The changes are included in the April 7 agenda packet. 

Council came to an agreement on these changes after some public work sessions earlier this year, and public documents state that the Municipal Association of South Carolina’s purchasing ordinance model was used for these updates, but that there were “adjustments [made] to meet specific needs of the Town.” 

South Carolina requires cities and towns to “adopt ordinances or procedures embodying sound principles of appropriately competitive procurement.”

The following is from MASC: 

“The Municipal Association’s ordinance requires the municipality to decide on several specifics:

• A minimum purchasing amount to which the ordinance applies. Staff can make purchases of a lesser amount without competitive bidding.
• Which official is responsible for designating the municipality’s purchasing director. It may be the full council, the mayor or a city manager. 
• A maximum purchasing amount that may be approved by the purchasing director.
• A maximum amount that may be approved by the mayor or manager.
• A minimum amount that requires approval by the full council. 
• Which official, such as a mayor or manager, may recommend that council exempt specific items from the official purchasing procedures. 

The model ordinance also spells out purchasing processes authorized for different circumstances, such as an invitation for bids, a request for bids, emergency procurement in cases of an immediate threat to public health or welfare, small purchases falling under a named amount and sole-source purchasing where the purchasing director has confirmed that “there is only one legitimate and efficacious source” for the item purchased. The ordinance also describes a contract administration process and procedure for resolving protests of purchasing decisions.”