City of Cedar Rapids

The Cedar Rapids City Council adopted the Buy Local Purchasing Policy through City Council Resolution No. 1239-10-10.

On August 8, 2017, The Cedar Rapids City Council has passed a resolution adopting a Buy Local Program for the procurement of goods and/or services by competitive bid or proposal.  Preference shall be applied to accept proposals from businesses located within Linn County who have submitted a notarized Local Business Certificate.  An additional 2% preference will be given for Certified Small Businesses within Linn County, Iowa who are registered with the Iowa Economic Development Targeted Small Business program as a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Persons with Disabilities, Minority-Owned Small Business or Woman Owned Small Business).

1. Who is local?
a.  Businesses located within Linn County, Iowa who have paid Linn 
     County property taxes on a plant, office, or store occupied by the business for 
     the past year; or

Please allow up to 10 days for processing the certificate before the business is listed.

d.   Sole source purchases

In order to qualify as a local business, your business must pay commercial property taxes related to the business being certified as a local business.  Residential property taxes paid for a home business do not qualify for the buy local certification.

7. Small Business Preference 
At the request of the City Council Finance and Administrative Services Committee, the Purchasing Manual has been revised to include a local small business preference for an additional 2% to be applied to certified local businesses who are registered with the Iowa Economic Development Targeted Small Business Program as a Small Business under at least one of the following categories:

1.  Minority Owned Small Business 
a)  Must be 51% or more owned and controlled by one or more disadvantaged persons
b)  Disadvantaged person must be socially and economically disadvantaged
c)  Firm must be small according to Small Business Administration definitions

2.  Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business
a)  Must have a service-connected disability as determined by the Department of Veterans Affairs or          Department of Defense
b)  Must be 51% or more owned and controlled by the service-disabled veteran, who must hold the highest officer position in the firm
c)  Firm must be small according to Small Business Administration definitions

3.  Woman Owned Small Business
a)  Firm must be at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more women
b)  Women must be US citizens
c)   Firm must be small according to Small Business Administration definitions

4.  Persons with Disabilities
a)  Must be 51% or more owned and controlled by one or more persons with disabilities
b)  The disability shall be a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities
c)  Firm must be small according to Small Business Administration definitions

 In order for a business to be entitled to a local preference and a small business preference, the business must have a completed, approved, notarized Local Business Certificate on file with the City of Cedar Rapids Finance Department and must be registered with the Iowa Economic Development Targeted Small Business Program.

8. How does the Buy Local Program work?
Preference shall be applied to acceptable quotes, bids, and proposals greater than $5,000 from businesses within Linn County, Iowa who have submitted a notarized “Local Business Certificate”. 

Example A:  Preference shall be given in the procurement of goods and/or services by  bid or quote when a local vendor’s bid or quote exceeds the acceptable low bid by no more than:

10% for bids less than $25,000

5% for bids equal to or greater than $25,000 but less than $200,000

1% for bids equal to or greater than $200,000

• This bid is less than $25,000 so the preference is 10%

• Vendor B submitted the lowest bid of $14,770.55

• Vendor B is not a local business

• Vendor A submitted the next lowest bid of $15,147.99

• Vendor A is a certified local business

• $15,147.99 - $14,770.55 = $377.44 / 14,770.55 = 2.56%

• The difference between the two bids is 2.56% which is within 10% so the local preference applies

• The bid is awarded to the local vendor, Vendor A for $15,147.99

Example B:  Preference shall be given in the procurement of goods and/or services by Request for Proposal (RFP) by awarding additional points to the evaluation scores of proposals received from certified local businesses as follows:

10% of all available points for proposals less than $25,000

5% of all available points for proposals equal to or greater than $25,000 but less than $200,000

1% of all available points for proposals equal to or greater than $200,000

• This proposal is greater than $25,000 but less than $200,000 so the preference is 5%

• The total available points are 1,000 (5% of 1,000 points = 50 points)

• The proposal received from Vendor A was given 976.7 points by the evaluation team

• Vendor B and Vendor C each received 50 additional points per the local preference policy

• After the additional points were applied, Vendor A remained the highest-ranked proposal

• Local preference did not change the award in this case

2% small business preference will be applied at the same time as the local preference.