Doing business with the City of Moreno Valley, CA

​RightSource advisers attended a recent session reviewing the purchasing process for the City of Moreno Valley, CA.  These presentations are so helpful for the small business community while helping the City achieve its objective of having a diversified pool of vendors that can compete effectively to keep the City's costs low while delivering quality products and services.   Below, I'll summarize some of the key takeaways and how they differ from other communities in California:

The City's purchasing department is expected to act as the liaison between departments and vendors.  

• Work with departments to identify product and service needs.
• Identify potential vendors 
• Process all requisitions
• Manage the contract administration (they do not issue payments - Accounts Payable does that)  

The fact that they handle contract administration is different from larger organizations.
The City classifies purchases into two large categories: Public Works (typically construction and repair) and Everything Else.
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Everything Else

PUBLIC WORKS
Public works definition: Construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid in whole or in part out of public funds. It can include preconstruction and post-construction activities related to a public works project.
For a full definition of public works refer to Labor Code section 1720. (www.dir.ca.gov.)
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CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS

• Must be licensed by the State of California
• Maintain a current registration number with the CA Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) (www.dir.ca.gov)
• Must have Current Worker’s Compensation and Liability Insurance
• Projects exceeding $1,000, all contractors must pay employees Prevailing Wage Rate.
• Failure to comply with public works requirements can result in civil penalties, criminal prosecution, or both.
  

Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (UPCCA)

• The City utilizes the UPCCA which provides for alternative bidding procedures when an agency performs public project work by contract
  
• Public projects of $60,000 or less may be performed by force account, negotiated contract, or by purchase order (PCC 22032(a)). This value may be adjusted from time -to -time by the State of California.
  
• Public projects of $200,000 or less may be let to contract by the informal procedures set forth in the Act (PCC 22032(b)). This value may be adjusted from time -to -time by the State of California.
  
• Public projects of more than $200,000 shall be let to contract by formal bidding procedures (PCC 22032(c)). This value may be adjusted from time -to - time by the State of California 

Overall Bidding Info

The City uses BidsOnline™ by PlanetBids™, a fully automated web-based vendor and bid management system.  Registration is free.  Go to the City of Moreno Valley website at: http://www.moval.org/index.shtml and register your business for portal access.  The purchasing division of Moreno Valley is responsible for notifying departments of potential vendors when needs are identified, so it's important that they know who you are.  

To make sure you are getting notices of upcoming bids, make sure you submit your capabilities statement to the purchasing division at:
Purchasing Division
Purchasingdivision@moval.org
(951) 413-3190
Moreno Valley Public Website http://www.moval.org/
Purchasing Website http://www.moval.org/departments/financial-mgmt-svcs/department-purchasing.html

Requirements for City contracts:

• Every engagement requires a contract.
• You will need to register your business with the City and pay any required business license fees here:  http://www.moval.org/edd/business-license.html

​Local Business Preference
The City does not have it's own set-aside or preferences, with the following exceptions:

• Small businesses located in the City of Moreno have a 5% price match opportunity.  That means that if a non-City business bids 100 and a small City located business bids 105, the City located small business is given the opportunity to match the lower price.  It's a much different approach than, for example, Los Angeles city that pays up to an additional 15% for a small LA located business.  From a policy perspective, the City of Moreno gives preference while keeping its prices down.  The City of LA is willing to increase its expenses to ensure that small businesses compete and locate in the city.  Different approaches, each has merit (my opinion).
• There is a preference for doing business with Disabled Vet owned businesses, but that doesn't come with a particular target or price match option.
• For any project that is funded by so much as $1 of federal money, the federal government will determine the set-aside requirements or goals (they can establish either).  At the end of the day, it always makes sense for small businesses to be certified with the federal government and registered in SAM.

Required Documents:
Successful bidders may be required to furnish the following  (depends on commodity codes - bonds are usually for construction):

• Bid Bond
• Performance Bond
• Labor and Materials (Payment) Bond
• General Liability Insurance
• Automobile Liability Insurance
• Professional Liability Insurance
• Workers' Compensation

​Invoicing/Payment:

• The City of Moreno Valley is NOT tax exempt. Sale tax and/or use tax must be shown on invoices. The City’s current tax rate is 7.75%. 
• The city pays net 30 (on invoice approval) 
• The city is required to take advantage of discounts (e.g. 1%/15).  So you can factor that into your pricing and payment timing.  HOWEVER, these discounts are not factored in as part of the bid evaluation.  Meaning, it gets you paid faster, but it doesn't make your price lower when evaluated against other bidders.  
• Payments are made by Purchase Order or Procurement Card (Cal-Card)
• Deliveries are typically to the City Yard and all invoices MUST be FOB.

Additional Notes:

• DO NOT send gifts or promotional items.  It creates a conflict and may exclude you from the bid process. 
• The presentation was hosted by the Orange County Inland Empire Small Business Development Center (OCIESBDC) and facilitated by Karla V. Gonzalez, MBA, Lead Consultant for the SBDC.  A speaker from the city's purchasing division presented the details, Angelica Davis.