PETTY CASH
For purchases less than $50 petty cash is normally obtained for items needed by departments.

PROCUREMENT CARD
For purchases less than $1,000 authorized City personnel may make procurements directly from vendors using a City issued procurement card. Vendors who do not accept procurement cards will be issued a purchase order.

INFORMAL SOLICITATIONS
City departments utilize this form of solicitation when the total purchase is between $1,000 and $5,000. An Informal Solicitation may be accomplished in writing or via the telephone or fax at the option of the buyer. All potential bidders will be given a target date and time by which quotations should be submitted. Departments are required to secure 3 competitive prices, if possible, and submit them to the Purchasing Division for issuance of a purchase order.

FORMAL SOLICITATIONS
Whenever a department anticipates a purchase to exceed $5,000, a formal request for sealed bids will be utilized. All formal solicitations are advertised in the Public Notice section of the newspaper. Formal solicitations currently utilized by the City include:

• Invitation to Bidders – Solicits price quotes or bids, contains specifications or scope of work and terms and conditions. The Invitation for Bidder will contain a closing date and time at which time they will be publicly opened, read aloud and recorded.
• Request for Proposals – Used when sealed bidding by use of the Invitation to Bidders is either not practicable or advantageous to the City. The Request will contain specifications or scope of work, terms and conditions, a closing date and time and may or may not request pricing. Vendors who respond are referred to as an Offerer. The Request for Proposal provides for negotiation of terms and/or pricing that will be the most advantageous to the City.
• Request for Qualifications – Used to obtain a statement of qualifications from bidders. The Request will contain a scope of work, a closing date and time. No pricing is included in this type of request.

SINGLE FEASIBLE SOURCE
Whenever competitive market conditions for any particular product or service are such that competitive sealed bids cannot be practically used in the best interest of the City due to special limited-time discounts, the product or service may be purchased based on written or telephonic bids solicited without public notice and bid opening.

Whenever a particular product or service is proprietary and only available from the manufacturer, a single distributor, or a professional service provider, the product or service may be purchased based on written telephonic bids solicited without public notice and bid opening. A letter from the company stating the reason they are a single feasible source must accompany the purchase request and must be updated annually.

EMERGENCY PROCUREMENTS
An emergency exists when there is a threat to the public health, safety or welfare or when immediate expenditure is necessary for repairs to city property in order to protect against further loss of or damage to city property, to prevent or minimize serious disruption in city services or to ensure the integrity of city records.

To the extent practical under the circumstances, emergency procurements should be informally bid by obtaining quotations via telephone or facsimile.

COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS
The City may make any purchases under cooperative procurement agreements with the United States Government, the State of Missouri, and other local governmental jurisdictions. Whenever possible, comparative direct pricing should be obtained through informal price solicitations.