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Procurement
The public purchasing process — quotes, bids or a cooperative contract — that a municipal course has to run any significant purchase through.
Thresholds vary by state and city. Below one number a manager can buy on a card; above it needs quotes; above another it needs a formal bid. Annual software under the first threshold is a purchase order; the same software billed to a department budget as a capital project is a six-month process.
A vendor who cannot produce a W-9, a certificate of insurance and a plain invoice on request is a vendor a city cannot buy from, regardless of the product.