11-Attachment L. MCERS Pension Board Policy Procurement.pdf

MCERS Pension Board Procurement Policy

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I. Purpose

The Pension Board of the Employees’ Retirement System of the County of Milwaukee is establishing this Policy to provide general guidelines for the purchase of services and goods for the Employees’

Retirement System of the County of Milwaukee. Specific and more detailed selection criteria may be included in Charters and other Policies of the Pension Board or at the time a search process is initiated.

This Policy remains subject to the Ordinances and Rules, which supersede any conflicting provision of the Policy.

II. Scope

This Policy applies to all ERS procurements except for legal services and investment transactions or external investment managers that have investment discretion unless specifically directed by the

Board. The Pension Board may decide in its sole discretion to follow some or all terms of this Policy in the procurement of legal services. All employees of RPS and the Pension Board Trustees are required to follow this Policy.

III. Definitions

Definitions. The meanings of certain terms used in this Policy are as follows:

A. “Calendar Day” means all days in a month, including weekends and holidays. In the event a final calendar day falls on a weekend, holiday or other day where Milwaukee County offices are closed, the next business day becomes the final calendar day.

B. "Contract" means a legally binding relationship obligating a seller to furnish supplies or services and the buyer to pay for them.

C. "Contractor" means a firm or individual who formally undertakes to do anything for another.

Independent contractors must maintain a separate business and hold themselves out to and render service to the general public and must have a right to control the details of the work performed. Questions regarding independent contractor status must be directed to Corporation

Counsel.

D. “Cooperative Purchasing Agreement” means a written contract procured for the benefit of two or more governmental entities to make purchases of goods or services.

E. “Employee Retirement System of the County of Milwaukee (ERS)” means the primary tax-qualified retirement plan sponsored by Milwaukee County for its employees. ERS is a defined benefit pension plan and a governmental plan, as defined in section 414(d) of the Internal

Revenue Code. ERS is administered by the Pension Board as established in accordance with the

Milwaukee County General Ordinances (the "Ordinances"). For purposes of this Policy, ERS also includes the OBRA 1990 Retirement System of the County of Milwaukee (“OBRA”).

F. “Goods” means all property, including, but not limited to, supplies, equipment, materials, and printing. The term “Goods” does not include leases, acquisitions, or disposals of an interest in real property.

G. “RPS Officer” means RPS staff members who report to the Director of RPS and are managers, themselves.

H. “Pension Board” or “Board” means the Pension Board of the Employees' Retirement System of the County of Milwaukee, the ten-person board established in accordance with the Ordinances that serves as fiduciary to ERS and administers ERS.

I. “Performance bond” surety bond issued by an insurance company or bank to secure a contracting party’s performance of a contract.

J. "Procurement" means the act of buying, purchasing, renting, leasing, or otherwise acquiring any goods or services covered by this Policy. It also includes all functions that pertain to the obtaining of any goods or services, including the description of requirements, selection and solicitation of sources, preparation and award of a contract, and all phases of contract administration.

K. "Professional services" means services, the value of which is substantially measured by the professional competence of the person performing them and which are not susceptible to realistic competition by cost of services alone. The services provided must be materially enhanced by the specific expertise, abilities, qualifications and experience of the person that will provide the service. Professional services shall typically include services customarily rendered by architects;

engineers; surveyors; real estate appraisers; certified public accountants; attorneys; financial personnel; medical services, except when such services are delivered to County employees as part of a workers compensation claim; system planning; management and other consultants; and services for promotional programs.

L. "Request for proposal (RFP)" means all documents, whether attached or incorporated by reference, used for soliciting proposals.

M. “Retirement Plan Services (RPS)” means Retirement Plan Services, the County department that maintains the general ledger and related books of ERS and OBRA, administers the pension payroll, conducts retirement seminars, prepares estimates and processes benefits for retirees and surviving beneficiaries of the retirement system, and otherwise executes any administrative plan function delegated to it by the Pension Board or authorized by the County.

N. "Services" means the furnishing of labor, time or effort by a contractor/consultant, not involving the delivery of a specific end product other than usual reports and/or drawings which are incidental to the required performance.

O. “Solicitation” means a written document that facilitates the award of a contract to contracting parties for goods or services. Examples of solicitations include, but are not limited to, a Request for Information and a Request for Proposals.

P. “Solicitation Coordinator” means the individual who acts as the primary points of contact and manages the procurement. Solicitation Coordinators cannot also be evaluators of the

Solicitation.

IV. Ethics and Conflict of Interest

A. Ethics and Conflict of Interest:

The Pension Board adopted a Code of Conduct Policy that describes the ethical standards that must be followed by Board Trustees. The Pension Board is governed by the Code of Conduct in all its actions, including any actions taken under this Procurement Policy.

To the extent the Director of RPS or any other RPS officer is taking action under this Policy, they shall adhere to the applicable portions of the Chapter 9 of the Milwaukee County Code of Ordinances. RPS staff shall disclose all conflicts of interest and appearances of conflicts of interest to the Office of

Corporation Counsel for review and guidance.

No person who is involved in a procurement shall participate in any portion of the process when there is a conflict of interest as defined by the Code of Conduct Policy.

B. Prohibited Practices:

Neither ERS nor the Pension Board may enter into a contract with Contractors that are on a federal, state or county list of ineligible entities.

In order to improve transparency and ensure objective contractor performance and eliminate unfair competitive advantage, providers/contractors who help draft or develop a grant application, contract specifications, requirement, statements of work, invitation for bids and/or requests for proposals, shall be excluded from competing for such procurement unless written reasoning is provided for allowing them to compete.

V. Authority

A. Board Authorized Contracts. The Board shall approve the following contracts:

• One or more custodian banks;

• Investment managers;

• One or more investment consultants;

• The actuary;

• The financial auditor;

• External legal counsel;

• Any contract having an estimated value of $100,000 or more for the contract's initial term;

• Other contracts, as may be determined by the Pension Board.

B. Director Authorization for Other Contracts. The Director of RPS is authorized to select and contract with all other service providers not expressly set forth above that are reasonably required for the operation of ERS. For contracts under $10,000 or less for the contract’s initial term, the Director of RPS may delegate the authority to select and contract to the Fiscal Officer, or another officer of RPS.

The Director shall report to the Board when the Director is considering hiring a new service provider to give the Board an opportunity to be part of the process. To the extent applicable, the Director shall use the criteria in this Policy to decide on a provider and shall update the Board on the process, the final selection and periodic monitoring efforts.

At least nine months before the expiration of the final extension of a contract with a provider that is selected by the Board as set forth above, the Director of RPS shall notify the Board of the end of the contract.

The Director of RPS or his/her designee may approve addenda or amendments to contracts less than $100,000 after the contract’s initial approval unless it is a contract listed in Section V.A above.

The Pension Board may appoint the Director of RPS or his/her designee as agent to approve addenda or amendments to contracts equal to or more than $100,000 after the contact's initial approval.

The table below outlines who may approve requisitions or purchases and sign contracts, legally binding agreements, business ventures and other agreements with external parties that obligate

ERS.

Title of Authorized Purchaser Spending Authority (budgeted) OCC and Outside Counsel Approval of Contract Language

RPS Officers Not to exceed $10,000 Yes

Director of RPS Not to exceed $100,000 Yes

Pension Board Over $100,000 Yes

C. Signatory Authority.

1. Per Rule 1044, the chairperson and vice chairperson of the Pension Board are authorized to execute on behalf of the Pension Board and ERS any contract or agreement, any document necessary to effectuate any contract or agreement and any other document necessary to carry out the provisions of a resolution adopted by the Pension Board if the contract, agreement or resolution was approved at a duly called meeting at which a quorum was present.

2. Per Rule 1044, the ERS manager, the ERS fiscal officer, their designees and any other named ERS officer shall have the authority to sign, execute and acknowledge documents or instruments necessary or proper to be executed in the course of their regular employment, or which are authorized by resolutions of the Pension Board or by ordinance or rule.

3. An Authorized Signer’s List will remain on file in the RPS Fiscal Department.

4. No person is authorized to obligate ERS without verifying, in advance, sufficient funds to meet the purchase obligation.

D. Before a contract or agreement may be executed:

1. Subject to Funds Availability. Before entering into any new contract for goods or services, ERS must have available funds in the current year’s approved budget, including any Pension Board approved amendments to the budget, to fund the current year’s expense or cost. For multi-year contracts, the Director shall include those funds in the next year's proposed budget and advise the Board of the same.

2. Funding must be verified by ERS Senior Financial Analyst or designee.

3. Actual expenditure of ERS funds shall be reported in compliance with procedures developed by the department.

4. All approvals must be granted either electronically or in writing.

E. Board of Supervisors. The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors may not exercise approval or disapproval power over any contract or procurement entered into by ERS, RPS, or the Pension Board. This paragraph does not preclude the County Board of Supervisors from creating a central purchasing department for all other County purchases that are not related to ERS, RPS and the Pension Board.

VI. Contract Requirements

A. The Office of the Corporation Counsel or outside counsel (as requested by the Pension Board or the Director of RPS) must approve that all contracts meet legal requirements prior to execution.

B. With the exception of the contract related to the ERS pension administration system, all contracts procured by RFP under this Policy shall be for an initial term of up to three years and may be extended by the Pension Board for up to two additional one-year terms, when determined necessary by the Board, for a total maximum term of five years before a required competitive selection process must occur. Contracts may be extended beyond the five-year term with Pension Board approval. Reasons for such extensions shall be documented.

C. Contracts must comply with MCO 56.17, where applicable.

VII. Target Business Enterprises

ERS is committed to empowering all qualified minority and women owned business enterprises and businesses owned by a person with a disability (collectively known as MWBE firms) with an opportunity to respond to solicitations. ERS is committed to vendors that demonstrate a substantial commitment to diversity within the vendor’s workforce and in the vendor’s relationships with professional providers and sub-vendors. ERS will expend all reasonable and prudent efforts to utilize the services of vendors, consultants, and service providers who are diverse based on race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, religion, veteran’s status, and other factors, as well as those who are committed to and have a record of commitment to diversity.

VIII. Procurement Methods

A. Method Determination. The Pension Board or the Director of RPS, whoever is in charge of a procurement, has the discretion to determine the method of procurement that is in the best interests of ERS at the time of the procurement taking into account the provisions of the Policy. If the Pension Board is in charge of a procurement, the Pension Board has final authority over the award and no award will be made until the Pension Board votes to award a procurement to a specific candidate in compliance with Rule 1052.

B. Competitive Sourcing

1. Competitive Informal Purchase. A Competitive Informal Purchase process may be used where the value of the product or service is between $3,000-$49,999, and the product or service can be obtained from more than one source. The Competitive Informal Purchase process may be used for procurements of $50,000 or more if approved by specific Pension Board action and good reasons warrant not engaging in an RFP process. No procurement shall be artificially divided or split in order to fall within such amounts. The Competitive Informal Purchases process must comply with the following:

a. The requirements as set forth in Milwaukee County Ordinance § 201.24(8.22).

b. ERS and the Pension Board encourage participation in the competitive sourcing process by as many qualified suppliers as possible.

c. Solicitation Coordinator shall try to obtain a minimum of three (3) proposals or price quotes verbally, by email or by letter.

d. Less than three proposals may be acceptable given the following limitations:

i. time constraints,

ii. availability of qualified suppliers able to meet the specifications, and

iii. the opportunity for significant cost savings.

e. All proposals or quotations received will be evaluated on the basis of quality, service, and compliance to specifications and price.

f. Awards will be made in the best interest of ERS.

g. Any or all proposals or quotations received may be rejected at ERS’s discretion.

2. Requests for Proposal (RFP). An RFP is used to submit a solicitation in the form of a proposal for some type of commodity, service, asset, or property. It is typically used to get information about the proposed asset or service. An RFP must be used if the value of the procurement is equal to or greater than $50,000, unless otherwise approved by the Pension Board. RFPs must comply with the following:

a. Milwaukee County Ordinance § 201.24(8.22).

b. Solicitation Coordinator. A Solicitation Coordinator must be assigned to the RFP.

Each solicitation should identify the Solicitation Coordinator who will act as the point of contact for RPS. Unless otherwise directed by the Pension Board, the Director of RPS may designate the Solicitation Coordinator. The Solicitation Coordinator cannot be an evaluator. Any communication, clarification, or negotiation that may take place regarding any procurement or contract shall be conducted in a manner so as not to disclose any information that would give one or more respondents an unfair advantage or unfairly enable one or more respondents to improve their responses as a result and documented in the procurement file to support the final determination based on the information requested. Communication should be reduced to writing, but may be orally given to prospective respondents, provided the oral communication is reduced to writing and provided to all prospective respondents. No solicitation may be modified or amended orally by a Solicitation Coordinator.

c. RFP Details. To the extent applicable, RFPs must include the following:

i. The description of the technical requirements for the goods or scope of services to be procured;

ii. Terms and conditions that clearly state the requirements for response and language to bind the parties in the event of award;

iii. Clear and definitive technical requirements and scope that allow for open competition where practicable;

iv. The solicitation shall contain directions regarding the submittal of proposals;

v. Instructions for packaging, shipping, and delivering commodities purchased and instructions for storage by the Respondent, where applicable or appropriate;

vi. Any requirements for proposal or performance bonds;

vii. A timeline of the solicitation process that specifies the solicitation deadlines;

viii. A description of the evaluation factors to be considered in evaluating the proposals, e.g., by way of example only, proposer qualifications, experience, technical approach, and cost;

ix. A declaration of whether the contract award is subject to successful contract negotiation;

x. A statement that the Director of RPS or the Pension Board shall have the sole discretion to amend or cancel a solicitation in writing at any time prior to award; and

xi. An estimate of the purchase requirements for the current contract period, if applicable and for the new contract period if the solicitation will result in a term contract.

xii. Each solicitation shall contain a schedule indicating the dates and times for solicitation opening, the timeline for evaluation and the anticipated award date.

xiii. Each RFP must clearly define a set of criteria to be used to evaluate the proposals.

a. The form and function of what will be provided is an essential part of the evaluation.

b. A weighted value is assigned to each criteria.

c. While not an exhaustive list, criteria that should be evaluated include qualifications, experience, technical approach, and cost in the evaluation of responses.

d. Open File Period. Once ERS issues the Notice of Intent to Award, the Open File Period begins. The solicitation file shall be open for public inspection for seven (7) calendar days upon request. RPS shall give the requestor a reasonable opportunity to inspect the solicitation file. If there is no protest of the Notice of Intent to Award, ERS will proceed with the contract award.

e. Pre-Response Conference. If requested, the Solicitation Coordinator may conduct a pre-response conference with all prospective respondents to clarify the solicitation. The Solicitation Coordinator should allow for a brief written question and answer period after the pre-response conference and share all questions and answers with all known prospective respondents. The Solicitation Coordinator should be sure to update any information, including additional potential respondents, from changes made at the pre-response conference.

f. Cancellation of Solicitation or Rejection of Responses.

i. The Director of RPS and the Pension Board shall have the discretion to cancel a solicitation in its entirety and reissue the solicitation in whole or in part.

ii. Evaluators of an RFP shall have the discretion to reject any and all responses for the following reasons:

a. Any response that does not meet the requirements of a solicitation;

b. Any response that restricts the rights of ERS or otherwise qualifies the proposal;

c. Unreasonably high prices or failure of all responses to meet technical specifications;

d. Error or defect in the solicitation;

e. Cessation of need;

f. Unavailability of funds;

g. Lack of adequate competition; or

h. A determination by the Director of RPS or the Pension Board that proceeding with the procurement would be detrimental to the best interests of ERS.

g. Respondent Withdrawal or Amendment. A respondent may withdraw or amend a response in writing prior to the deadline for submission. After the deadline for responses to be submitted, a respondent may only withdraw all or a portion of a response where the enforcement of the response would impose an unconscionable hardship on the respondent. Any decision to allow withdrawal or amendment of a response shall be documented in the solicitation file.

h. Form of Proposals. Proposals must be submitted in such form and content as required by the RFP.

i. Items identified as proprietary information will be considered confidential. Pricing will remain confidential during the evaluation period and will become a matter of public record once an award recommendation is made.

ii. ERS reserves the right to benchmark all pricing through contracted 3rd party resources if approved by the Pension Board.

iii. Pricing may be used for analysis of specific endpoints.

i. Evaluation Panel. Each RFP will have an Evaluation Panel. The members of the Panel will be selected by the Pension Board if the Board is in charge of the Procurement or the Director of RPS if the Director is in charge of the Procurement.

i. The Evaluation Panel will consist of a minimum of 3 members if more than one proposal is received.

ii. Panel members can be employees of RPS and Pension Board Trustees, but if the Pension Board is in charge of the RFP, at least one member of the Panel must be a Trustee. If the procurement is for investment services, at least one trustee on the Pension Board’s Investment Committee will be on the Evaluation Panel.

iii. Outside Panel members are not required, but if requested by the Pension Board, may be selected from various sources, including but not limited to professional experts in the field or subject of the RFP.

iv. Identification of the Panel members must be kept confidential throughout the RFP process.

v. Results of the evaluation may be disclosed in accordance with applicable open records laws.

j. Evaluation.

i. Responses must be evaluated solely on the stated criteria listed in the solicitation. An Evaluation Panel member’s prior experience with the respondent or the good or service at issue cannot be considered in scoring the responses.

ii. If the Evaluation Panel is unsure of certain items or issues included in a solicitation response, or needs clarification of a response, it may, at any time, request further clarification from the respondent through the Solicitation Coordinator. The Solicitation Coordinator will distribute the clarification questions to the respondent. Responses will be returned to the Solicitation Coordinator and disseminated to the evaluation panel as appropriate. Solicitation Coordinators should consult appropriate legal counsel where the Solicitation Coordinator is uncertain whether a response can be clarified and to what extent.

k. Cost Proposal Scoring. The cost proposal should be retained by the Solicitation Coordinator and kept confidential from the Evaluation Panel and other respondents until the technical evaluation is completed. The reason for this requirement is to prevent the Evaluation Panel from being unduly influenced by the cost proposals when evaluating the technical responses.

l. Negotiations.

i. As appropriate, each solicitation should include provisions governing negotiation with one or more respondents. Pre-award negotiations may be conducted with respondents who are within the competitive range.

ii. Negotiations should be conducted in a manner that is fair to the respondent or respondents selected for further negotiation.

iii. Negotiations cannot be requested until after responses are evaluated.

iv. Negotiations may be conducted with a select group of respondents based on an established competitive range or with just the apparent awarded respondent.

v. If the Director of RPS or the Pension Board exercises its right to enter into negotiations, it may identify areas of a proposal that may require further clarification or areas in which it is apparent that there may have been miscommunications or misunderstandings as to the specifications or requirements. The Director of RPS or the Pension Board may seek to clarify those identified issues during negotiations. All responsive respondents or selected competitive range respondents will be given equivalent information with respect to cost negotiations. By their very nature, single respondent negotiations will not involve making all information as part of the negotiation available to other respondents who were not selected for further negotiation.

m. All cost negotiations will be documented for the procurement file. All communications, clarifications and negotiations shall be conducted in a manner that supports fairness in response improvement.

n. Notice of Intent to Award.

i. Upon completion of the evaluation and any negotiations, the Evaluation Panel shall select the recommended respondent based on the evaluations and the total scores assigned to each respondent. The Evaluation Panel shall submit their recommendation along with all documentation to the Solicitation Coordinator

ii. If the Pension Board issued the RFP, the Solicitation Coordinator shall send the recommendation of the Evaluation Panel, in writing together with all working documentation, to the Director of RPS. The Pension Board or the applicable Committee shall then review the recommendation at its next regularly scheduled meeting. The

Committee may vote to recommend that the Pension Board approve the recommendation at its next meeting. The Pension Board shall then review the recommendation and may vote to approve the Evaluation Panel’s recommended respondent and award the contract to the respondent. The Pension Board or the applicable Committee may alternatively select a different respondent for award, send questions or comments back to the Evaluation Panel for consideration or cancel the RFP for the reasons described in Section VII.B.2.f above. If a Trustee is a member of the Evaluation Panel, he or she cannot participate in any action taken by Committee or the Pension Board

iii. The apparent awarded respondent will be contacted in writing by RPS in the form of an intent to award.

o. Tied Responses. Tied responses shall be resolved by the Director of RPS or if the Director of RPS is part of an Evaluation Panel, a member of the Pension Board or RPS selected by the Pension Board. If the Pension Board issued the RFP, no tie breaker is necessary and instead the Panel will explain its tie to the Pension Board and the Pension Board will make a final decision.

p. Open File Period. The Solicitation Coordinator should have a complete file available to the public before the notice of intent to award is sent out, which begins the open file period. The procurement file should contain, at a minimum, a copy of the solicitation, relevant correspondence between the Solicitation Coordinator and any respondents, responses to the solicitation, including clarifications and information gathered at oral presentations as applicable, score sheets, relevant spreadsheets used in analyzing the technical responses and cost proposals, all responses to negotiations, and the intent to award letter sent to the awarded respondent.

q. Protest After Notice of Intent to Award.

i. Any aggrieved respondent, who has submitted a response to a solicitation subject to this Policy and applicable law, may file a written protest with the Pension Board. The protest must be received by the Pension Board within seven (7) calendar days from the beginning of the Open File Period.

ii. On the first day of the Open File Period, all respondents are deemed to know all facts documented in the procurement files.

iii. A written protest filed by a respondent with the Pension Board shall enumerate and detail all grounds for the protest in accordance with this Policy.

iv. The Pension Board may consider the following grounds for protest and no others:

a. The procurement process was conducted contrary to a constitutional, statutory or regulatory provision.

b. ERS or the Pension Board did not follow the rules of the procurement as set forth in the solicitation in making the contract award, and such failure to follow the rules of the procurement materially affected the contract award.

c. The procurement process involved responses that were not independently arrived at in open competition, were collusive, or were submitted in bad faith.

d. The contract award was the result of a technical or mathematical mistake or error during the evaluation process.

v. The aggrieved respondent challenging the procurement process or contract award has the burden of proof and persuasion with respect to the invalidity of the procurement process or contract award.

vi. Any Pension Board trustees that were on the Evaluation Panel for the solicitation subject to the protest shall recuse themselves from discussion and voting on the final determination of the protest.

vii. All protests shall be resolved within sixty (60) calendar days by the Pension Board. The final determination of the Pension Board shall be made in writing and submitted to the protesting party.

r. Contract Award. Each contract shall be awarded by the Director of RPS or Pension Board Chairperson, where authority has been delegated in accordance with Rule 1044 and this Policy.

3. Cooperative Purchase Agreements. Subject to approval by the Director of RPS or the Pension Board (for contracts over $100,000) ERS is authorized to procure, participate in, sponsor, conduct or administer, with other states, local governments or multistate or multi-governmental coalitions, a Cooperative Purchasing Agreement for purchase of goods or services.

a. ERS may enter into an existing Cooperative Purchasing Agreement or may act as the lead with respect to a Cooperative Purchasing Agreement procurement by issuing a solicitation, receiving and evaluating solicitation responses and awarding one or more contract to one or more respondents.

b. The Cooperative Purchasing Agreement shall specify that each party is solely responsible for all purchases made under its terms. A participating addendum or other authorizing documents shall be used with the Cooperative Purchasing Agreement to resolve any conflicts with Milwaukee County and ERS law, rules, policies.

4. Municipal Contracts and Purchases. ERS or RPS may utilize existing municipal and/or state contracts on the State of Wisconsin VendorNet list without any additional competitive process.

5. Request for Information. A “Request for Information” or “RFI” is a solicitation sent to a broad base of potential suppliers for the purpose of developing strategy, building a database, or preparing for a Request for Proposals. An RFI enables an equitable and simultaneous comparison of Contractors. RPS and/or the Pension Board may use this tool to gather information about the availability of goods or services. A RFI should be utilized when:

a. The Pension Board or the Director of RPS has a procurement need, but requires more information to fully understand the industry; or

b. The Pension Board or the Director of RPS desires to identify Contractors who are available to supply the needed good or service.

c. A request for information is used to obtain information only. It is not a substitute for the Request for Proposal process. However, responsiveness to an RFI may be a condition to being allowed to bid, renew an existing contract, or submit a proposal when an RFP is released.

C. Exceptions to Competitive Sourcing. The following are circumstances when competitive sourcing is not required or practical:

1. Small Purchase. The Pension Board believes in using competitive methods whenever practicable. The Pension Board or the Director of RPS may utilize a Small Purchase authority without soliciting quotes or proposals from multiple suppliers when the total value of a contract or a purchase will cost less than $3,000.

a. No procurement shall be artificially divided or split in order to fall within the $3,000 Small Purchase authority. If purchases that fall within the Small Purchase authority are of a recurring nature and the aggregate total exceeds $3,000, the contract is presumed to exceed the Small Purchase authority and a competitive procurement method must be used.

b. Small Purchases by RPS do not require Pension Board approval.

2. “Emergency Purchases” are purchases made during an actual emergency arising from unforeseen causes without the issuance of a competitive solicitation. ERS or RPS may make purchases of goods or services in the open market to meet emergencies arising from an unforeseen cause. Emergency Purchases must comply with the following guidelines:

a. If possible, Pension Board approval is required if the contract amount is over $50,000. If the emergency is such that Pension Board approval cannot be timely obtained, then the Chair or the Vice Chair of the Board may approve an emergency purchase over $50,000. For purchases under $50,000, the Director of RPS may authorize the purchase.

b. Emergency purchases shall utilize competitive procurement methods or negotiations whenever practicable.

c. RPS shall maintain a procurement file that addresses the following:

i. The circumstances leading to an emergency purchase;

ii. Procurement-related actions taken in response to the emergency, including procurement methods used; and

iii. A complete list of goods or services procured, including prices paid and total purchase amount.

d. Conditions of Use for Emergency Purchase. Typical circumstances that warrant the use of an Emergency Purchase method include, by way of example only, natural disasters, e.g., tornadoes and floods, fire and oil or other hazardous material spill, mechanical failures, system outages, delays by contractors, delays in transportation, unanticipated work volume, or unforeseen police action. An “emergency” does not require a declaration of emergency. Poor planning or the expiration of funds does not constitute an emergency. While these circumstances may require immediate action or may justify use of Non-Competitive Procurement methods, these circumstances do not warrant use of an Emergency Purchase method.

3. Non-Competitive (Sole Source or Single Source) Procurement:

a. Instances when Sole Source or Single Source purchasing may be applicable include the following:

i. Property or services can be obtained only from a specific supplier (ie., real estate; one of a kind items, warranties or support agreements, etc)

ii. Competitive sourcing is precluded because of the existence of patents, copyrights, secret processes, control of raw materials by suppliers or similar circumstances

iii. Procurement of support services in connection with the assembly, installation or servicing of equipment or software of a highly technical or specialized nature.

iv. Procurement where only a single supplier in a market is licensed or authorized to service or sell a specific product line.

v. The supplier or products are specified and required by a funding agency of a grant, or State/Federal contract.

b. Justification explaining the exceptional circumstances of the purchase must show that an equitable evaluation has been made and that rejection of alternative suppliers or solutions is based on objective and relevant criteria.

c. If a purchase contract is in excess of $99,999, justification of the sole source procurement must be presented to the Pension Board for review and approval.

D. Purchasing Methods.

1. Purchasing of products and services is accomplished through a variety of processes, which are designed to address the differences in complexity, value, risk and transaction volumes associated with ERS purchasing needs.

2. Milwaukee County Procurement Division: This method is used for purchases where a County wide contract exists or when a standard bidding process is desired. This includes:

a. Price agreements for a set cost for a specific time-frame

b. Purchase Orders for one-time purchases under $3000

c. Purchase Requisitions for one time purchases greater than $3000

i. Follow Milwaukee County Procurement Department process for competitive bidding

ii. Require an additional electronic approval from the Office of the MC Comptroller

3. Purchasing Card: Used for non contract, local and online spending.

a. Includes travel

b. Maximum transaction value of $3000

c. Transaction limits may be further limited by the Pension Board and Director of RPS for individual card holder.

d. Purchases are reviewed and approved at least monthly by Director of

RPS.

IX. Contract Amendments, Renewals, and Terminations

A. Amendments and renewals must follow the same approval process required in Section V as that of the original, or base, contract (e.g., if the Pension Board awarded the contract, the Pension Board must approve the renewal or amendment). However, a contract shall not be entered into at a lower dollar amount, with the intent of increasing that amount at a later point to avoid compliance with the required competitive process for the aggregate value of the contract. For example, a Small Purchase contract may not be amended using the Small Purchase process if the amendment is over the $3,000 limit.

B. The termination of a contract, for any reason, must be approved by the Director of RPS or if the

Pension Board authorized the contract, the Pension Board.

X. Document Retention

Purchasing documentation will be kept on file for 7 years after the contract ends or last payment, whichever is later.

XI. Monitoring and Reporting

All service providers will be subject to regular and appropriate performance monitoring by the

Pension Board and/or RPS staff, and periodic reviews, as appropriate, throughout the term of their contracts. Criteria for review may include performance, staff satisfaction, competitiveness of fees, and quality of reporting.

The Director of RPS will report regularly to the Pension Board on all monitoring efforts, identifying in a timely manner any material issues or actions taken. The Director of RPS or consultant, as appropriate, will report in a timely manner to the Pension Board any failures to comply with the terms of their contract.

All monitoring and reporting provisions contained in this policy serve as minimum requirements. If more stringent requirements are established within other policies of the ERS or specific contracts, such requirements shall prevail.

XII. POLICY UPDATES/VERSION CONTROL

The Board and the Board Governance Committee should review this policy at least biennially and update, as appropriate.

This policy was last revised in November 2024.