Town of Westwood, MA
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The Town of Westwood Procurement Department, now in its fifty-second, year operates under the provisions of Chapter 41, Section 103, General Laws, as amended. This statute provides that the Procurement Officer shall purchase all supplies for the Town and for every department.
The Procurement Department abides by the Values and Guiding Principles of Public Procurement as adopted by the NIGP—The Institute for Public Procurement
- Accountability — Take ownership and being responsible to stakeholders for our actions… essential to preserve the public trust and protect the public interest.
- Ethics — Act in a manner true to these values… essential to preserve the public’s trust.
- Impartiality — Unbiased decision-making and action…essential to ensure fairness for the public good.
- Professionalism — Uphold high standards of job performance and ethical behavior...essential to balance diverse public interests.
- Service — Obligation to assist stakeholders…essential to support the public good.
- Transparency — Easily accessible and understandable policies and processes…essential to demonstrate responsible use of public funds.
Objective: The Procurement Department implements and administers the purchasing policies and procedures of the Town. The Procurement Department ensures that all purchases are made in accordance with Massachusetts State Law and Town By-Laws; that they are open, fair and competitive, and that low cost and high quality standards are met. The Department determines purchasing policies and procedures applicable to all departments’ outward procurement activities on behalf of the Town.
In addition to purchasing, the Procurement Department monitors departmental procurement practices and facilitates contract administration to ensure compliance with applicable laws governing procurement of municipal supplies, services, equipment, and capital improvements involving public works, building construction and design services.
Chief Procurement Officer
The Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) is responsible, under Massachusetts General Law, for compliance with the policies and procedures of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, extending to compliance with municipal rules and regulations involving procurement.
The CPO or his/her designee have the authority to review, evaluate and deny any requested purchase should it not comply with Massachusetts General Laws or with any established policy or procedure.
Procedures:All procurement activity is regulated by Massachusetts General Laws and Town By-Laws. The type of purchase and estimated value determine which law(s) apply in a particular purchase. The Town of Westwood is subject to MGL Chapter 30B for goods and services, MGL Chapter 30, 39M for public works projects, and MGL Chapter 149 for building projects. The Town of Westwood is also subject to Massachusetts Prevailing Wage laws.
MGL 30B — Establishes uniform procedures for local governments to use when contracting for supplies, services, and real property.
Purchases of goods and services under $10,000 are required to use sound business practices, defined in MGL as “ensuring the receipt of favorable prices by periodically soliciting price lists or quotes”.
Purchases for items $10,000 up to $35,000 are based upon three price quotations. Purchases of $35,000 and over require a formal sealed bid process.
MGL 30, §39M — Governs all contracts for construction, reconstruction, alteration, remodeling, or repair for public works projects or “horizontal construction projects”. All contracts are subject to prevailing wages.
Estimated cost of the project is less than $10,000 three quotations should be solicited from qualified contractors. Estimated cost of a contract is $10,000 or more, a formal solicitation process is required.
MGL 149 — Governs all contracts for the construction, reconstruction, installation, demolition, maintenance, or repair of a building. This statue also applies to contracts for maintenance or repair work as well as construction. All contracts are subject to prevailing wage laws.
Estimated cost of the building contract is less than $10,000 sound business practices are required.
Estimated cost of the building contract is $10,000 to $25,000 three written responses are required through a public solicitation of the contract at least two weeks before the deadline to receive responses.
Estimated cost of the building contract is $25,000 to $100,000 a formal bidding process is required.
Estimated cost of the building contract is $100,000 must follow a formal bidding process and General bidders and filed sub-bidders must be Division of Capital Asset Management Certified. Contracts M.G.L. c.30B, §17(a) states “All contracts in the amount of [$5,000] or more shall be in writing, and the governmental body shall make no payment for a supply or service rendered prior to the execution of such contract.”
The Town is eligible to use the Commonwealth’s Statewide Contracts. All Statewide Contracts are the result of a competitive bidding process, municipalities can purchase goods and services using the Statewide contract without having to conduct their own competitive procurement process.
The Town does require that departments execute the appropriate contract documents. Prevailing Wage Rates The Procurement Officer is also responsible for ensuring that all bids reflect prevailing wage rates (MGL c 149, §§26-27H) and must, therefore, review all bids carefully. Contractors may be called upon to "demonstrate... how (they) could complete the project and comply with Mass. General Laws." During the project, it is the awarding authority's responsibility to monitor contractors' compliance with the prevailing wage.
Weekly payroll records must be collected form all contractors and kept on file. The law states that all "public works" projects require payments of the prevailing wage. This generally includes: new construction, renovation, repair, demolition, road or highway work, maintenance, the rental of equipment, moving office furniture, cleaning state office buildings, trash hauling and school bus transportation. The prevailing wage law applies to all public works projects, regardless of the cost or size of the project.
To obtain state grant monies we work closely with the State Office of Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise (A Program of the Massachusetts Pursuant to the new Construction Reform Law, Chapter 193 of the Acts of 2004, and the revisions it made to M.G.L. c.23A, § 44 and M.G.L. c.7 § 40N, municipalities must now incorporate Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Women Business Enterprise (WBE) goals into both their design and construction procurement for municipal contracts of any state assisted building project by any municipality that includes funding provided by the Commonwealth, in whole or in part (such as funding under the School Building Assistance Program, funding under M.G.L. c.90, § 34, funding in any legislative appropriation, grant awards, reimbursements, municipal commitments to use state funds and the like).