Pierce County Library System
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Purchasing and Procurement Policy

Goods and Services: purchases and procurements that generally exclude ongoing personnel costs and materials provided to the public.

Purchase: the act of acquiring goods and services, generally through purchase orders, direct payments, contractual payments in part or whole, and purchase card payments.

Procurement: the method of acquiring goods and services, generally through a competitive selection process that can result in a form of agreement or contract.

Sole Source: the award to a specific vendor due to compelling reasons to forego normal procurement processes.

Purchase and procurement are under the authority of the Executive Director. Daily operations are delegated to the Finance Department and are conducted in strict adherence with applicable federal and state laws and regulations. The process of selecting vendors, managing contracts and agreements shall be subject to ethical standards and embody the value of stewardship of the public’s investment.

Purchase and procurement activities shall be administered in a manner that provides maximum practicable open competition appropriate to the type of product or service to be acquired and support the goals of cost efficiency and quality. Wherever required, the Library shall follow Washington State laws regarding procurements as applicable to the Library.

The Board of Trustees shall:

• Review and approve initial or non-recurring purchases of $150,000 or more that are approved within a fiscal year budget;
• Review and approve initial or non-recurring purchases of $50,000 or more that were unanticipated or not specifically contained within a fiscal year budget;
• Review and approve sole-sourced vendors with contracts or agreements valued at $50,000 or more, or as other reasons so require;
• Review and adjust these thresholds from time to time when Library budgets change by more than 10% over a duration or as other conditions so warrant; and
• Authorize the Library to establish and maintain an Administrative Policy on Purchasing and Procurement, to be administered by the Finance Department.

• Board Policy on Fiscal Management
• Board Surplus Policy

Board Policy

Adopted by the Pierce County Rural Library District Board of Trustees, September 8, 2021.

Download or print PDF of policy