Agenda Memo

City of Boulder City Council Agenda Item Meeting Date: November 6, 2025 Agenda Title Introduction, first reading and consideration of a motion to order published by title only Ordinance 8731, amending Chapter 2-8, “Purchasing Procedures,” B.R.C. 1981, updating the city’s purchasing procedures; and setting for related details

Staff Contact • •

Ken Kasparek, Procurement Buyer Senior, Finance Krista Morrison, Chief Financial Officer

Draft Motion Language Staff requests council consideration of this matter and action in the form of the following motion: Motion to introduce and order published by title only Ordinance 8731 amending Chapter 2-8, “Purchasing Procedures,” B.R.C. 1981, updating the city’s purchasing procedures; and setting for related details

Executive Summary The purpose of this item is to update the purchasing procedure section of the Boulder Revised Code (“B.R.C.”) This item would align current practices with the B.R.C. and strengthen language regarding equity and sustainability.

The changes update the code to consider procurement best practices, and moderize and streamline the procurement process, including: • • • •

• •

clarification on piggyback contracting, electronic bid openings, the city’s ability to reject bids, construction and capital improvement projects changes, by adding alternative contracting delivery methods such as: design-build, design-build-maintain, and design-build-maintain-finance, formal solicitation threshold has been increased to $100,000, staff has updated the environmental policy section.

These changes will help to reduce barriers for small-, minority-, and woman-owned businesses and help to increase sustainability within the city.

Council Action Options Option

Outcome

Approve motion language as drafted

If the motion is approved, the ordinance will proceed to second reading and a public hearing on Nov. 20, 2025.

Define and adopt a modified motion

Council would need to define any modifications or amendments to the draft motion language. This will likely require staff to bring back an amended version as quickly as possible.

Deny the motion or take no action

If this motion is denied, City purchasing staff would continue with procedures in their current form.

Refer back to staff

If council refers this item back to staff, purchasing staff would work with CAO to update and correct any outstanding issues.

Alignment with City Plans and City Council History Sustainability, Equity and Resilience (SER) Framework and Citywide Strategic Plan Alignment SER Framework Goal Area Environmentally Sustainable Responsibly Governed

Economically Vital

Citywide Strategic Plan 11a) Revise the City’s purchasing policies to reflect our priorities for underserved businesses and sustainably sourced materials and products.

Staff Notes The updates to the purchasing procedures will help to modernize the purchasing code and provide more transparency for people doing business with the city. At the same time, the revision to the formal bidding threshold will allow for the increase in outreach and spend to small, minority-owned, and woman-owned businesses. The updates will also allow for more robust environmental purchasing procedures.

Alignment with Additional City Plans These updates align with Section 5 (Economy) of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. The proposed revisions to the B.R.C. will make it easier for small, local, minorityowned, and women-owned businesses to do work with the city. If local businesses are more successful in receiving city contracts for goods and services, it will create a multiplier effect, as local businesses are more likely to reinvest earnings in local jobs, capital improvements, and other spending.

City Council History City council has made equity and sustainability a priority in city procurement. The updates being made to the purchasing section of B.R.C. will help the city achieve those priorities.

Analysis The revisions make several clarifications to the purchasing section of B.R.C. It also modernizes the code in many ways. These changes seek largely to remove ambiguities and to ensure staff have City Council authority – both of which create litigation risks from disgruntled or opportunistic companies.

To update the code to consider procurement best practices there is clarification on piggyback contracting, electronic bid openings, the city’s ability to reject bids, and codification of the city’s ability to conduct interviews and references. These best practices will help to streamline the procurement process and benefit all departments with additional options for procurement.

There was also effort made to modernize the code for construction and capital improvement projects by adding alternative contracting delivery methods such as: design-build, design-build-maintain, and design-build-maintain-finance. These new contracting methods will help departments take advantage of current procurement practices not commonly in use when the code was last updated.

Finally, to help align with the SER framework the formal solicitation threshold has been increased to $100,000 and staff has updated the environmental policy section. These changes will help to reduce barriers for small-, minority-, and woman-owned businesses and help to increase sustainability within the city.

Equity Analysis A disparity study was completed in 2024, and the recommendations therein, were used for the foundational changes to the purchasing section of B.R.C. By following the recommendations of the study, the code changes will serve to help small, minorityowned, and woman-owned businesses. By increasing the amount spent with these historically underutilized businesses, the city can achieve growth financially and in the business community. The study helped push us to make a change to modernize the purchasing code which had been requested by city staff for some time.

Fiscal Note The proposed changes do not have any material effect on current or future years’ staff workload and expenses. While it is expected that investments in local businesses will produce a multiplier effect on the local economy, the direct fiscal effects on city revenues cannot be meaningfully calculated at this time.

Climate, Resilience, and Sustainability Considerations The updates to the environmental purchasing section provides additional clarification and supports the city’s ongoing sustainability initiatives by giving the city manager authority to adopt policies and procedures to advance sustainable purchasing.

Community Engagement The consult level of engagement was used to work with historically excluded businesses through the disparity study. Interviews were conducted to assess the level of interest those businesses had in working with the city.

Workplan Considerations This item is in the finance workplan for 2025 and 2026. There are no effects on other workplan items by other city staff.

Next Steps for City Council Second reading and public hearing of proposed Ordinance 8731 is scheduled for November 20, 2025.

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Attachments A – Proposed Ordinance 8731