Purchasing Services

The City of Kirkland's official roster provider is MRSC Rosters. The  rosters found on the MRSC Rosters' website provides the opportunity for suppliers, contractors and consultants to register on rosters used by the City of Kirkland and many other agencies to locate and notify businesses of upcoming opportunities.

Suppliers, Contractors and Consultants are always welcome to visit the City’s Doing Business with the City webpage where solicitations for bids, proposals and consultants’ qualifications are posted.

Finally, companies interested in doing business with the City can contact Purchasing Services to request additional information on any upcoming opportunities.

While the City cannot legally adopt a program that provides a preference for Kirkland based companies, we do enjoy doing business with local companies and encourage them to compete for the City’s business.

Kirkland companies that wish to do business with the City of Kirkland should register on the appropriate roster as described in the previous question and monitor the Doing Business with the City webpage for new business opportunities.

In order to provide the many services that it does to residents and visitors alike, the City purchases a wide variety of goods and services.

Goods and services are broken down into the following general categories:

• Consumable supplies: Products that have a one-time life cycle. Typical examples are paper products, miscellaneous office supplies, cleaning supplies and fuel.
• General supplies: Tools, uniforms, office machines, furniture, and smaller pieces of equipment.
• Capital Assets: These are items not previously described, which have a value in excess of $10,000. This includes land, buildings, improvements to land and buildings, vehicles, and larger pieces of equipment.
• Services: These would include professional services provided by consultants, architect and engineers, and general services such as janitorial and landscaping services.

For purchases estimated to cost less than $7,500, the amount of competition sought in making the purchase is determined at the department level on a case-by-case basis. Time permitting; employees are always expected to seek competitive prices.

For purchases estimated to be between $7,500 and $50,000, a minimum of three written quotes are typically required.

Purchases in excess of $50,000 generally require a formal process that is advertised in a newspaper of general circulation and posted on the City’s website.

Additionally, the City engages in cooperative purchasing with other government agencies. This means that the City reserves the right to “piggyback” on a contract that has been awarded by another agency using a competitive process. Likewise, most City contracts have a provision to allow other government agencies to make purchases off of contracts awarded by the City.

The process for bidding the City’s public works projects includes posting the bid documents on the website of Builders Exchange of Washington. Builders Exchange of Washington provides the planholders’ list by posting the names and addresses of the contractors who register to download the plans and specifications for a specific project.

City operational departments forward their requisitions to the Purchasing office to fill their requests. Purchasing will seek quotations based on specifications. The Municipal Code allows the City to award the order to the lowest responsible bidder as determined by the City. You may view Doing Business with the City and to see recent bid results on our website.

The evaluation of vendor responsibility will include ability to produce to specifications, record of past performance, financial and technical resources, timely delivery, and other factors applicable to the specific product or service.

Yes, City employees are strongly encouraged to purchase recycled and recyclable products that will effectively meet the City’s needs.

MWBE and small businesses are always encouraged to participate in the various competitive processes used to award contracts providing goods and services to the City. However, with the passage of Initiative 200, the City cannot provide preferential treatment or discriminate based on race or gender when awarding contracts.

Goods and materials are approved for payment only after they have been received and inspected and an invoice has been received. The receiving document is forwarded to Accounts Payable and checks are issued each Wednesday. Vendors can generally expect payment within 30 days of the delivery to the City and receipt of invoice.