Doing Business with the City

It is the responsibility of the Purchasing Division to conduct purchasing for the City of Bedford, in accordance with all applicable laws and the City Charter, to foster sound purchasing policies and procedures throughout all departments of the City. It is also Purchasing staff's responsibility to stimulate competitive bidding in order to provide materials and services at the lowest price and highest quality possible.

The following information is provided in an effort to enable suppliers to become familiar with the City of Bedford’s policies and procedures for procurements.

Suppliers are encouraged to visit with the City departmental users; however, in exercising professional courtesy, it is recommended to first visit with the Purchasing Division. Purchasing staff can direct the supplier to the department(s) who utilizes their specific products and/or services. Staff may be visited during normal business hours; however, due to heavy workloads, an appointment is advisable.  

New Vendor Setup and Vendor Maintenance

Vendors doing business with the City of Bedford will need to ensure that their company information is up to date. Or if you're a new vendor, you'll need to complete the new Vendor / Existing Vendor Maintenance Form:

New Vendor / Existing Vendor Maintenance Form. 

Instructions on what to do and how to fill out the form are on the document. 

Submission of Sealed Bids/Proposals

All bids and proposals are made through the competitive bid/proposal process and are awarded to the lowest responsible bidder or to the bidder/proposer who provides the goods or services at the best value to the City pursuant to Texas Local Government Code Sec. 252.043.  All bids/proposals must be submitted by the date and time noted in the bid documents to the address below:

Late bids/proposals will not be accepted for any reason and are returned unopened. Sealed bids are publicly opened at a date, time, and location specified in the bid documents. Tabulations of sealed bids are available here. Only the names of the suppliers submitting proposals in an RFP process are announced at the public proposal opening. Contents of the proposals are not open for public inspection until after the contract is awarded.

Acquisition Methods

The City of Bedford makes three types of purchases:

1. Small dollar/minor purchases: This type of purchase is normally accomplished by the city user departments utilizing a procurement card. The procurement card purchase is authorized up to $3,000 and may be awarded by an authorized departmental representative to any vendor that meets their need. 
2. Open market purchases: This type of purchase is initiated by the receipt of a requisition by the Purchasing Division from another City Department. The user department or Purchasing Division solicits firm prices on fixed quantities for a specified delivery. The procurement method is either quotes or purchasing from a cooperative. The award for the successful firm is made by means of a purchase order.
3. Term purchases: This type of purchase is called an “annual contract” or “annual requirements contract” and is initiated by the user department(s) and Purchasing for commonly used supplies and services. Individual orders against annual contracts are placed by the user department(s) or Purchasing and may be awarded to multiple suppliers. The award of this type of contract is made by the Purchasing Division by means of an annual contract purchase order.

Bidding Parameters

Bidding parameters are established to ensure that sizable purchases are subject to fair competition among available, responsible vendors. The following parameters have been established by the City of Bedford in compliance with Texas state law to assist Purchasing Division employees, as well as other City employees, in obtaining competitive quotes.

• Purchases between $1 - $2,999: Quotes are not required but are recommended as a best practice. Orders may be placed by Purchasing or the user department directly with vendors by telephone, by a mailed copy of the purchase order, or procurement card transaction.
• Purchases between $3,000 – $49,999: On purchases of this magnitude, the Purchasing Manager determines the method of procurement by using formal written quotes, telephone quotes followed up in a written format, or Internet quotes, which shall be retained in the Purchasing Division. Quotes shall be obtained from a minimum of three vendors either by the user department or by the Purchasing staff. At least two contacts from certified historically underutilized businesses (HUBs) must be included in compliance with Texas Local Government Code Sec. 252.0215. 
• Purchases over $50,000: Formal sealed requests for bids/requests for proposals/competitive sealed proposals are required. Notice to bidders must be publicly advertised in the newspaper for two (2) consecutive weeks, with the first date of publication being at least fourteen (14) days before the date set to publicly open the bids or proposals. All sealed bids and proposals must be submitted to Purchasing in person, by mail, or electronically submitted through the city’s online bidding system. Competitive bids are awarded by the Bedford City Council. Requests for proposals or competitive sealed proposals are opened so as to avoid disclosure of the contents of proposals to competing proposers until after the award by City Council.

Cooperative Purchasing 

Texas Government Code Chapter 791 and Texas Local Government Code Chapter 271 authorizes local governments to enter into interlocal agreements with other governmental jurisdictions including all states within the United States, independent school districts, counties, councils of governments, and non-profit corporations created to provide various governmental functions/services (such as cooperative purchasing). Cooperative purchasing saves time and effort and allows the City of Bedford to combine its purchasing power with other entities to achieve lower prices on various goods and services. The City has interlocal agreements with various entities throughout the state of Texas and is a member of several cooperative purchasing programs throughout the U.S.

Visit the following websites for more information about cooperative purchasing programs:

• The Local Government Purchasing Cooperative (BuyBoard®)
• Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR)
• Houston-Galveston Area Council of Governments (HGAC) Cooperative Purchasing Program
• National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance (NCPA)
• National Purchasing Partners (NPPGov)
• North Texas SHARE
• OMNIA Partners
• Purchasing Cooperative of America
• Sourcewell
• Texas Multiple Award Schedule (TXMAS)
• The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS)
• 1Government Procurement Alliance (1GPA)
• U.S. General Services Administration (Schedules 70 and 84)

Purchase Order

An official numbered purchase order is the primary method for purchasing goods, services, or equipment obligating the City of Bedford for payment. Transactions may not be valid and binding unless it has an official purchase order number. Many orders are placed by telephone and all vendors should ask the buyer for a purchase order number or their City-issued credit card number.

See Purchase Order Terms and Conditions for additional information. 

Delivery

All shipments must be externally identified with a packing list indicating contents and referencing the city purchase order number and department name. It is preferred that the name of the person initiating the transaction also be listed on the packing list for additional identification purposes. Deliveries must be made “F.O.B. Destination” unless other arrangements have been made at the time of the order. Collect shipments will not be accepted.

Invoices

Itemized invoices must be submitted to:

City of Bedford

Accounts Payable

2000 Forest Ridge Drive

Building B

Bedford, Texas 76021

To ensure prompt payment, invoices must reference the City of Bedford purchase order number and be priced in accordance with the purchase order. All invoices are matched against the purchase order and the receiving report to initiate payment. Care in preparing and submitting invoices will help eliminate problems in processing payments on a timely basis. The City attempts to discount and pay all invoices in accordance with quoted terms. Checks are mailed once per week. Questions regarding billing or payments should be directed to Accounts Payable.

Insurance Requirements

Contractors performing work for the City of Bedford shall provide the city a Certificate of Insurance outlining the coverage and provisions identified by the City.

Contractors shall provide the City evidence that all subcontractors performing work on the project have the same types and amounts of coverage as required or that the subcontractors are included under the contractor’s policy

All insurance companies and coverage must be authorized by the Texas Department of Insurance to transact business in the State of Texas and must be acceptable to the City of Bedford.