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BACKGROUND Section 3 28 010 of the Pleasanton Municipal Code establishes that the City Manager is responsible for all purchasing not otherwise reserved by the City Council This responsibility is met with the City Manager assuring that all purchases are consistent with the City Council adopted budget and by establishing procedures that assure purchasing is handled in an efficient and open manner In 2005, the City Council adopted the City's first comprehensive Purchasing Procedures Manual (2005 Manual)that the City has been subsequently utilizing In the summer of 2016, the Finance Department embarked on a project to update the 2005 Manual with the goal to (1) update contracting thresholds, (2) streamline the presentation of policy for each type of procurement and contracting, and (3) eliminate vagueness about City Council review and approval requirements Department staff worked with staff from departments that frequently contract for services and/or purchase goods as well as reviewed the purchasing policies and spending thresholds of several cities throughout California The proposed manual is the culmination of that outreach and research Finally, the proposed Manual incorporates feedback from the City Attorney's Office DISCUSSION A summary of the threshold changes included in the proposed Manual as compared to the 2005 Manual are as follows Proposed Threshold Changes Type of 2005 Proposed Procurement/Contract Manual Manual Maximum threshold before solicitation process is required All $5,000 $10,000 Threshold when a formal soliciation Goods and Ancillary process is required Services $50,000 $100,000 Professional Services Contracts $20,000 $100,000 A formal solicitation includes a request for proposals (RFP) for professional services contracts and a request for bids (RFB)for goods and ancillary services For contracts and goods purchased between $10,001 and $99,999, departments would be required to conduct, at a minimum, an informal solicitation that resulted in at least three bids or proposals While the proposed Manual does not require competitive solicitation for goods or services valued at $10,000 or less, it does state that comparative pricing is expected to secure the lowest qualified price Staff are proposing increasing the thresholds to better match public procurement best practices and to expedite making smaller purchases and securing services Formal RFP and RFB processes can often take a few months and significant staff to complete These Page 2 of 3