§ 2-102. Definitions.

When used in this article, the following terms are to be defined and construed as follows:

Administrator means the county administrator, or designee.

Agreement means the same as and is fully synonymous with "contract".

Bid or bids means a formal written price offer by a vendor to the county to furnish goods and/or services in response to a solicitation for bids or request for proposals. The term bid or bids shall include, but not be limited to, invitations for bids, requests for proposal, request for qualifications and competitive negotiations.

Board means the Hernando County Board of County Commissioners.

Business means any corporation, partnership, individual, sole proprietorship, joint stock company, joint venture, or any other private legal entity.

Competitive award means to award contracts based on the submission of sealed bids, proposals submitted in response to a request for proposals, proposals submitted in response to a request for qualifications, or proposals submitted for competitive negotiation.

Competitive negotiations means a solicitation of responses for a good and/or service where the competitive award may be based on negotiations with competitors submitting bids under a request for proposals or a request for qualifications.

Chief procurement officer means the person holding the position created in Hernando County Code section 2-104 (creation of the office of the chief procurement officer) as the head of the central procurement office of the county.

Construction means the process of building, altering, repairing, improving, or demolishing any structure, building, road, bridge, sidewalk, drainage facility, water distribution system, sewer collection system, water or sewer treatment plant, or other improvements of any kind to any real property. It does not include the routine operation, repair or maintenance of existing structures, buildings or real property.

Consultant services means any narrow discipline wherein a known practitioner has, through education and experience, developed expert advisory and programming skills as a vocation; any service performed primarily by vocational personnel which requires the analysis or certification of a professional before the services are acceptable to the user of the services; or any other advisory, study, or programming activity. For the purposes of this article, the term "consultant services" does not include those services defined and prescribed under Florida Statute 287.055.

Contract is used in a legal sense and means a promissory agreement between two (2) or more parties that creates, modifies or destroys a legal relation. It includes all types of county agreements regardless of what they may be called, for the purchase or disposal of goods or services or performance of construction with the following exceptions: Salaries/employee benefits, taxes, judgements, travel, dues, pensions, utilities, subscriptions, debt service requirements, and postage. It includes contracts for a fixed price, cost, cost plus a fixed fee, or incentive contracts, contracts providing for issuance of job or task orders, leases, letter contracts and purchase orders.

Contract modification means any written alteration in specifications, delivery point, rate of delivery, period of performance, price, quantity, or other provisions of any contract or purchase order accomplished by mutual action of the parties to the contract.

Data means recorded information, regardless of form or characteristic.

Designee means a duly authorized representative of a person holding a superior position.

Electronic means electrical, digital, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, or any other similar technology.

Emergency purchase means a procurement of goods and/or services made in response to a requirement when the delay incident to complying with all governing rules, regulations, and/or procedures would be detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the county and/or its citizens.

Goods means any tangible personal property other than services or real property.

Invitation for bids means all documents, whether attached or incorporated by reference, utilized for soliciting bids.

Lease means a contract where one party (lessee) has use and possession of an asset owned by another party (lessor) for a specified period of time for a monetary payment. Under a straight lease contract, title of the asset remains with the owner.

Lease/purchase means a lease contract where, upon completion of the specified lease period, in consideration of the monies paid during the term of the lease agreement or an additional buyout payment, title to the leased asset passes to the lessee.

Local business means a vendor or contractor who does business in Hernando County by providing goods, services, or construction; and maintains a physical business address located within the jurisdictional limits of Hernando County in an area zoned for the conduct of such business from which the vendor or contractor operates or performs business on a day-to-day basis, and has for at least twelve (12) months prior to bid or proposal opening date. Post office boxes shall not be used for the purpose of establishing said physical address.

May denotes the permissive.

Must denotes the imperative.

Personal property means all tangible property which is not real estate, land, buildings or fixtures on land or buildings. Personal property includes, without limitation, all goods, materials, supplies, equipment and vehicles owned, leased or used by the county.

Procurement means buying, purchasing, renting, leasing or otherwise acquiring any goods and/or services for public purposes in accordance with the laws, rules, regulations and procedures intended to provide for the economic expenditure of public funds. It includes, but is not limited to, all functions which pertain to the obtaining of any supplies, materials, equipment and/or services, including construction projects, as defined herein, required by any department or agency of county government regardless of the source of funds or for which payment is made from county funds.

Professional services means architectural, engineering, landscape architectural, and registered land surveying services, as defined and prescribed under Florida Statute § 287.055.

Public notice means the distribution or dissemination of information to interested parties using methods that are reasonably available. Such methods will often include publication in newspapers of general circulation in the county, electronic or paper mailing lists, and web site(s) designated by the county and maintained for that purpose.

Purchase order means the county's contract document used to authorize the purchase of personal property or services.

Purchasing agency means any governmental employee or body other than the Chief Procurement Officer which is authorized by this Ordinance or its implementing regulations, or by way of delegation from the Chief Procurement Officer, to enter into contracts.

Real property means, generally, real estate, including land, the buildings and other fixed improvements on the land, all objects growing on the land, and all other objects which are reasonably considered to be affixed to the land.

Request for proposal (RFP) means a solicitation of responses for a good and/or service for which the scope of work, specifications or contractual conditions cannot reasonably be closely defined. Evaluation of a proposal is based on prior established criteria wherein the RFP shall state the relative importance of price and other evaluation factors.

Request for qualifications means a solicitation of responses for services for which the competitive award will be based on the qualifications of the responding bidders. Request for qualifications shall be used in the solicitation of, but not be limited to, professional services, design build services and construction management services.

Regulation means a government body's statement, having general or particular applicability and future effect, designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe law or policy, or describing organization, procedure, or practice requirements, which has been promulgated in accordance with applicable law.

Responsible bid/bidder means an individual, partnership, firm, association, corporation or business which has submitted a bid, offer, proposal, quotation, or response, which has the capability, as determined by the county, in all respects to fully perform the contract requirements, and the integrity and reliability which give reasonable assurance of good faith and performance.

Responsive bid/bidder means an individual, partnership, firm, association, corporation or business which has submitted a bid, offer, proposal, quotation, or response, which, as determined by the county, conforms in all material respects to a solicitation or request for proposals.

Services means the furnishing primarily of labor, time, and/or effort.

Shall denotes the imperative.

Sole source means the only existing source of the required item which meets the needs of the county, as determined by a reasonably thorough analysis of the marketplace.

Specification(s) means a concise statement of a set of requirements to be satisfied by a product, material, service or process used in a solicitation for bid or request for proposal to describe the goods and/or service to be purchased or otherwise acquired.

State contract means a current, valid, continuing or term contract or agreement which has been publicly bid or negotiated by a department, division or agency of the State of Florida.

Supplies means all property including, but not limited to, equipment, materials, printing, insurance, and leases, but excluding land or permanent interest in land.

Vendor means an actual or potential supplier of a good and/or service.

Written or in writing means the product of any method of forming characters on paper, other materials, or viewable screen, which can be read, retrieved, and reproduced, including information that is electronically transmitted and stored.

(Ord. No. 93-16, § II(G), 7-13-93; Ord. No. 02-23, § I, 12-17-02; Ord. No. 2011-3, § 1, 1-11-11; Ord. 2013-23, § 1, 7-23-13)

Cross reference

Definitions and rules of construction generally, § 1-2.