§ 2-647. Emergency purchases.

An emergency condition is a situation, which creates a threat to public health, welfare, or safety such as, may arise by reasons of floods, epidemics, riots, equipment failures, or other such reasons that may be proclaimed by the county mayor. The existence of such condition creates an immediate and serious need for supplies, services, or construction that cannot be met through normal procurement methods and the lack of which would seriously threaten:

• The functioning of the county government;

• The preservation or protection of property;

• The health or safety of any person.

Procedures for emergency purchases.

(1)

Emergency purchase definition. Emergencies are defined as acts of God or otherwise uncontrollable or unforeseeable circumstances. A condition that would endanger the health of the residents of the county, or cause additional and extensive damage to county property or would adversely affect programs in county government. All emergencies outside the physical boundaries of the county, which requires some action or response by the county, will be handled pursuant to T.C.A. § 5-14-110.

(2)

Who can make emergency purchases. Emergency purchases may be made directly by the using department without competitive bids provided that sufficient appropriation has been made to cover such occasions and necessary approvals have been made.

(3)

Who authorizes an emergency purchase. The signature of the elected department head provides authorization for an emergency expenditure. True emergencies have no dollar limits.

(4)

How to make an emergency purchase. After determining that a true emergency exists, the following procedure should be used:

a.

Notify the procurement division of the need and nature of the emergency. The procurement division will provide a verbal purchase order number or an emergency purchase order to the department.

b.

1.

The department will obtain the equipment or services, complete a requisition and an emergency purchase justification form. Both forms must be submitted to the procurement division before the vendor can be paid. If the department has acquired an emergency purchase order from the procurement director, it may be submitted to the finance department for processing but must be accompanied with all required documentation (see subsection d.); or

2.

Procurement will expedite the procurement. This can mean taking telephone bids instead of sealed bids or it can mean shortening the time required for sealed bids to less than two weeks.

c.

Departments shall use sound judgment in making emergency purchases of materials and supplies and obtain reasonable prices. Orders should be placed with vendors who are providing or have provided the using department with satisfactory service in the past.

d.

Suppliers shall furnish sales tickets, delivery slips, invoices, etc. for the services and supplies rendered. Terms of the transactions, indicating price and other important data, shall be shown.

e.

Emergency purchases must be approved by the county mayor or other elected officials (often, after the actual purchase has taken place).

f.

Emergency justification forms and emergency purchase orders may be obtained from the procurement director.

g.

The procurement director may determine that it would be more feasible to employ the use of an electronic commerce card in making emergency purchases in which case only the emergency justification forms are required to be submitted to the procurement division.

(5)

Routing of emergency purchase order copies. The original copy (white) of the emergency purchase order is issued to the vendor. The second copy (canary) of the emergency purchase order is to be retained by the issuer until an invoice is prepared. Attach the invoice to the second copy and mail it to:

Knox County Finance Department
Room 630 City-County Bldg.
400 W. Main Ave.
Knoxville, TN 37902

The third copy (pink) of the emergency purchase order is sent to the procurement division at time of submittal for payment by the issuing agency or office.

The fourth copy (gold) of the emergency purchase order is retained by the issuing agency.

(Ord. No. O-08-5-101, § 2(Exh. A), 6-23-08; Ord. No. O-10-11-101, §§ 1, 2, 12-17-10; Ord. No. O-16-3-101 , § 1, 4-25-16)