“The mission of my department is to ensure that the goods and the services that we buy—the taxpayer dollars that we spend—are spent as efficiently and effectively as possible,” said Director of Procurement Robert Rosenstein.
The Department strives to partner with vendors and City departments to secure quality goods and services in a timely manner, and at a reasonable cost, while ensuring that all purchasing actions are conducted fairly and impartially.
The procurement process is complex. Depending on what is being purchased, different rules and statutes can apply—from City guidelines all the way up to federal regulations. It is part of the job of the three staff in the Procurement Department to monitor and maintain all the rules for purchases. When another department has a need to buy something, they work with the Procurement Department to obtain it. This could be anything from a 15-cent pen, to the $10 million dollar new Solid Waste and Utilites Administrative Building that is currently under construction.
Procurement touches every dollar the City of Plant City spends. When a City department comes to Procurement with a need, the staff guides the department through the process. If a cost is over $3,000, the Purchasing team needs to obtain at least three quotes. If a cost is more than $25,000, it is over the sealed bid threshold and moves to a formal process. If it is beyond $50,000, the City Commission has to vote to approve the purchase. A bid process is lowest price responsive and responsible. “Responsive means they have given us the information we have asked for,” Rosenstein said. “Responsible means we have determined they are qualified to do the work. Cost is a factor, but it’s not the only factor. We’ll take a look at a bidder’s past experience. We take a look at how well they understand our requirements.”
Until the beginning of this year, the team relied on paper records, but now the process and administration is accomplished online which has provided enormous efficiency and speed. The team can operate with one system, and all procurement details are retained in the system.
“An example of a victory is maximizing a dollar,” Rosenstein commented. “My reputation in the City is that I don’t like to spend money—it is actually not the truth. The truth is I don’t mind spending money. What I can’t stand is wasting money. That goes to the ‘Buy it once, buy it right,’ motto. That is one of the things we have to look at—is the cheapest option the best option? Price is a factor, but it’s not the only factor because we don’t want to do something that is the cheapest option today, and then we have to spend more time, more effort, and more money fixing something tomorrow.” An example is if something like a damaged smartphone screen can be replaced at a fraction of the cost of buying another phone, and the repaired phone is as good as new, that is maximizing a dollar.
Rosenstein’s vision for Procurement is, of course, to improve financial efficiency. “I would like to see us continue to maximize the opportunities that technology brings to us. I would like to utilize technology to make our program as efficient as it can be.” A second goal is to continue promoting Plant City businesses. “If we can spend money with our own local businesses, then that is preferred,” he concluded.