QPA Exam Flashcards
Dillons Rule
Iowa Case - 1868 -
State Supremacy - municipalities owe their origin and derive their powers form the legislature
Cooley’s Doctrine
1871 Michigan
Local Rule - local governments existed before state government
Home Rule
Blending of Dillon and Cooley
Forms of Municipal Government
Borough Commission Municipal Manager Township Village Towns Cities Faulkner Act
Faulkner Act
More Progressive - Addresses role of purchasing Mayor Council Council Manager Small Municipality Mayor Council Administrator
Forms of County Government
Board Form
Optional County Charter Plant (all centralized purchasing)
Optional County Charter Plan
County Executive
County Manager
County Supervisor
Board President
Common Rule
Stricter of the two apply
Example - Grants: state vs federal - apply the stricter provisions
Uniform Commercial Code
Governs commerce for commercial transactions
UCC - Article 1
purposes and policies:
- simplify, clarify and modernize the law governing commercial transactions
- permit continued expansion of commercial practices through custom, usage and agreement of parties
- make uniform law among various jurisdictions
UCC - Article 2`
Sales - Regulates the purchase of goods between parties
UCC - Battle of the Forms
Purchase order vs vendor’s forms
UCC - Warranty of Title
Seller warrants that they have right to sell product and no issues with title - “Good Title”
UCC - Express Warranties by Affirmation
- promise made my seller relating to the good becomes the basis bargain
- sample or model which is part of the bargain creates an express warranty that the goods shall conform to the sample of model
UCC - Implied Warranty
- buyer relies on seller to select proper goods
- seller is obligated to supply goods reasonable fit for purpose
Warranty vs. Guarantee
- Guarantee comes first, warranty follows
- Guarantee the good
- Warranty will replace if something happens
FOB
Free on Board - Most advantageous to buyer,
Seller pays freight charges, bears freight charges, owns good in transit
UCC - Warranty of Merchantability
Calls for the good to be fit for ordinary purposes intended
UCC - Warranty of Fitness
Calls for goods to be fit for a specific purpose
Buyers right to inspect goods
- Buyer has right before payment or acceptance to inspect them at any reasonable place and time an in any reasonable manner
- must be borne by the buyer but may be recovered from the seller if the goods do not confirm and are rejected
Law of Agency
- Primarily deals with commercial transactions
- fiduciary relation resulting from the manifestation of consent by one person to another that the other shall act on his or her behalf and subject to his or her control and consent by the other so to act.
- An agent (employee) agrees to act on behalf of the principal (employer)
Principal
person form whom the agent acts on behalf of (employer)
Agent
person undertaking the performance of the act (employee)
Express Authority
- Authority given in writing from the principal to the agent
- Provides guidelines (limit $ amount, quantity)
Implied Authority
- unstated authority necessary to perform one’s duties for the benefit of the employer within the guidelines established by the principal.
- Agency agreement is implied by the buyers conduct
Apparent Authority
-Supplier believes that someone has the authority to make a purchase and the principal does not object, an agency relationship is established.
Nature of Contract
- promise or set of promises, the performance of which the Law of Contracts recognizes as a duty and the breach for which the Law provides a remedy.
- SHALL BE IN WRITING
Contract
- Legally binding relationship enforceable by law between vendor who agrees to provide or perform goods or services and a contracting unit agrees to compensate a vendor.
- Also includes concession, where the vendor compensates the contracting unit
Purchase Order
-Document issued by the contracting agent authorizing a purchase transaction with a vendor to provide or perform goods or services to the contracting unit, when fulfilled in accordance with the terms and conditions, results in payment.
Requirements in Contractual Situation
- Capable Parties
- Mutual Consent
- Lawful Objective
- Sufficient Cause to Contract (something for something; reasons parties entered into a contract (consideration))
Formation of a Contract
- Offer
- Acceptance
- Consideration
Offer
An act on the part of one person whereby that person gives to another the legal power of creating an obligation called a contract
Acceptance
- First - Voluntary
- Second - Deliberate agreement
- Third - Made by the recipient of the offer
- Fourth - Acceptance must be unequivocal or unqualified
Types of Contracts
- Firm Fixed Price
- Agreements with Escalation Clause (need benchmarks)
- Time and Material Agreements
- Open End Agreements (based on units because quantities unknown; Zero is acceptable minimum)
- Lease Agreements - No intention of buying
- Lease with option to purchase - (not allowed under Public Contracts Law).
Source Selection (How to Select Contract)
- Competitive Sealed Bidding
- Competitive Contracting
- Competitive Quotations
- Proprietary Purchases
- Emergency Purchase
Competitive Sealed Bidding
- lowest responsible and responsive bidder
- preferred method
Competitive Contracting
-RFP
-Primarily for specialized services
-Price and other factors considered
-
Competitive Quotations
- Formal (in writing) or information (verbal)
- 15% of bid threshold
- Should be documented in writing
Proprietary Purchase
Specialized in nature that may be made or marketed by a person having the exclusive right to make or sell them
- must be certified in writing by governing body
- purpose has such unique characteristics that only a single vendor are capable of meeting needs (any other good will undermine current operation; good is patented and essential for operational performance)
- public need for proprietary good/service outweighs “brand name or equivalent” (substantial investment in facilities that need proprietary good/service; unique circumstances)
- Prior to advertising bid that includes proprietary good/service; contracting agent shall certify in writing an explanation of why
- Resolution must also include reason why using proprietary
- For computer systems; allow for competition within which the software is used (competitive contracting)
Emergency Purchase
- Affecting public health, safety or welfare and requires immediate delivery of goods
- Must have chain of command ensure there are always appropriate individuals available to make decisions
- Need confirming resolution
Definition of Public Purchasing
Process of procuring goods and services for public purpose in accordance with law and procedures that are intended to result in the economical expenditure of public funds
Public vs. Private
- Public - Transparent and Open to public inspection (Fishbowl)
- Similarities - cooperation and coordination, management oriented
Six R’s
- In the Right Quality and Right Quantity
- At the Right Time and Right Price
- From the Right Source
- In the Right Manner
3 E’s
Economy, Efficiency, Effective
3 C’s
Cooperation, Coordination, Communication
Purchasing Agent’s Mission
- Authority, Responsibility, Accountability
- Creative, Results-Oriented management function
Basic Purchasing Forms
- Bid Proposal / Quote Form
- Requisition
- Purchase Order
- Receiving Report
- Voucher
3 Categories for Disposition of Property
- Excess
- Surplus
- Obsolete
Methods of Disposition
- Sealed Bids
- Public Auction
- E-procurment
- Transfers
- Trade-In
- Sale to Other Local Contracting Units
Definition of Specification
Concise statement of a set of requirements to be satisfied by a product, material or a process indicating whenever appropriate, the procedure by means of which it may be determined whether the requirement given are satisfied
Required Forms
- Notice to Bidders
- Bid Proposal Form
- Consent of Surety
- Acknowledgment of Receipt of Addenda
- Affirmative Action Compliance Notice
- Mandatory Affirmative Action Language
- Americans with Disability Act
- Stockholder Disclosure Certificate
- BRC
- Request for Prevailing Wage Determination
- Public Works Contractor Registrations
- Non-Collusion Affidavit
- ELEC forms
- Bid Document Checklist
- Equipment Cert.
- Iran Disclosure
Local Cooperative Purchasing System
- Cooperative Pricing
- Joint Purchasing System
- Commodity Resale
- County Cooperative Contract Purchasing
- Regional Cooperative Pricing
- State Contracts
Cooperative Pricing
- Lead Agency advertises for bids and awards a master contract and extends the prices registered members
- Registered members contract directly with the vendor
Joint Purchasing System
- Lead Agency serves as the purchasing agent for the membership
- Membership pays lead agency and lead agency pays the vendor
Commodity Resale System
local unit purchases gasoline, diesel fuel, public works supplies, etc for its own use and with approval from DLGS sells off excess to other local contracting units
County Cooperative Purchasing
- Created by county government
- County advertises for bids and awards a contract
- With approval from county and vendor, local units within county may purchase under the contract
Regional Cooperative Pricing
-Two or more registered cooperative pricing systems and their participating contracting units have agreed to join together
State Contract
- Contracts entered into by the State that Local Units can use
- On PO put state contract #, term date and resolution date; and identifier 1 NJCP
- Can also use federal supply schedules
- award must be made by resolution to use state contract if over bid threshold
Nationally Recognized Co-Ops
- use nationally recognized and accepted cooperative purchasing system that has utilized the competitive bidding process
- Do due diligence
- Must result in cost savings
- Must meet NJ Standards, publicly advertised, must meet “fair and open” criteria; obtain required forms (BRC, Corp Ownership Discl; etc
- Publish intent to award to national co-op - 10 days prior to award
OPRA exception
- Trade Secrets and proprietary commercial or financial information
- Information if disclosed would give an advantage to competitors or bidders
DORES
- Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services
- Statutory authority for public records and approves the destruction of records that have no value
- Responsible for efficiently managing and preserving all records produced by contracting agencies, etc
State Records Committee
Final approval of records’ retention schedules
Sources of Basic Law
- Session Law
- Revised Statues of New Jersey
- NJ Statutes Annotated
- NJ Administrative Code
Local Finance Board
- Component of DLGS
- Empowered to study entire field of local government
- Establish Petty Cash Funds
- Shared Services
- Publish Local Finance Notices
- Review and register cooperative purchasing systems
- Approve competitive contracting
- Prequalify bidders
Capital Improvements
-Five Year Useful Life
Capital Programs
-Multiyear plan for capital projects with useful life of 5+ years and annual cost of $25,000+
Fixed Assets
-Inventory of items $5,000+ worth
Annual Audit
- Due 6 months of the end of fiscal year being audited
- By RMA
NJSA 2C:30-4
Crime for public official to purposely and knowingly disburse moneys or incur obligations in excess of appropriations
Financial Disclosure Statements
- Due April 30th; Disclosure for employee and immediate family member
- Source of earned and unearned income over $2000 by employee and immediate family member
- Sources of fees and honorarium exceeding $250 (personal appearances, speeches, etc)
- Gifts, reimbursements, prepaid expenses over $400
- List of business organizations held interest in
- List of all real property owned
Pay to Play
- prohibits an agency from awarding contracts with value over $17,500
- No exclusions
- Fair and Open vs. Non-Fair and Open
Fair and Open
- publicly advertised with sufficient time to give notice
- awarded under process that provides for public solicitation of proposals or qualifications
- established on the basis of an award and disclosure process pursuant to criteria documented in writing prior to any solicitations
- Publicly opened and announced when awarded
Non-Fair and Open
- Select vendor if they disclose any contributions greater than $300
- Chapter 271 & Chapter 19; must fill out both political contribution forms 10 days prior to contract award
Globally Harmonized System
-System to standardize and harmonize the classification and labeling of chemicals.
Energy Star
-Program promotes energy efficient products through product labeling and consumer education
Contracting Agent
governing body gives statutory power contracting agent to make purchases or enter into contracts; otherwise no power to purchase