Chap. 273.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 29 of an act to provide a new
charter for the city of Richmond, approved March 24, 1926. [S B 292]

Approved March 19, 1942

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
twenty-nine of the act entitled an act to provide a new charter for the city
of Richmond, approved March twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and
twenty-six, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:
29. a—The mayor shall have authority to appoint a purchasing
agent who shall receive such salary as may be fixed by the advisory board
and shall hold office at the pleasure of the mayor and shall give such bond
as may be required by the advisory board. The purchasing agent shall
have power to appoint and remove, and fix the duties of such clerks, assist-
ants and subordinates, as shall be authorized by the advisory board; such
clerks, assistants and subordinates shall receive such salaries as may be
fixed by the advisory board.

b.—In the manner hereinafter provided, the purchasing agent shall
purchase for, on behalf of, and for the use of the city and all of its depart-
ments, bureaus, officers, boards, institutions, commissions, libraries and
other agencies, including courts of record, police courts, civil justice courts
and juvenile courts, except the city school board and the officers and
agents thereof, which are hereinafter referred to as using agencies, all
supplies, materials and equipment, except scientific instruments, medi-
cines and drugs, and except law books, and except manuscripts, maps,
books, pamphlets and periodicals desired by any city public library, and
except such perishable articles as may be prescribed by rules and regula-
tions of the purchasing agent hereunder, and except such supplies, ma-
terials and equipment as may be needed by a using agency in an emer-
gency. The purchasing agent shall make all contracts for services and
work to be performed by independent contractors, as distinguished from
officers, employees and servants of the city, for all using agencies, except
professional services and except such services and work as may be needed
by a using agency in an emergency.

c.—The purchasing agent shall determine, by rules and regulations
adopted with the approval of the advisory board, in what cases of emer-
gency a using agency may make purchases or contracts for services or
work, regardless of the character of the articles, services, or work desired,
and regardless of the amount of money involved.

d.—Whenever the comptroller certifies that there is to the credit of
the using agency an appropriation balance sufficient for the purpose, the
purchasing agent, with the approval of the advisory board, shall have
the authority to purchase any article whatsoever, or to contract for any
services or any work, regardless of the estimate of the cost and the char-
acter of such article, or work, if the using agency requests the purchasing
agent so to do; if the estimated cost thereof is not more than five hundred
dollars, then the approval of the advisory board need not be obtained be-
fore any such purchase or contract for services or work can be made, if the
comptroller makes the proper certificate and the using agency requests the.
purchasing agent to act. The purchasing agent shall have like authority
upon request from the city school board, or any officer or agent thereof,
to purchase or contract for services or work for the city school board, or
any officer or agent thereof, but without the necessity of obtaining the
approval of the advisory board and without the necessity of any certificate
from the comptroller as to an appropriation balance.

e-—The purchasing agent shall have authority to sell, or trade-in all
supplies, materials and equipment which he considers to be not needed for
public use, or to be unsuitable for use, and he shall have authority to trans-
fer between the using agencies any supplies, materials and equipment con-
sidered by him as not needed by one, but necessary to the conduct of an-
other or others; the proceeds of the sale of any supplies, materials and
equipment sold by him shall be paid into the general treasury; he shall
also have authority to establish, maintain and control suitable storerooms
and warehouses; he shall inspect or cause to be inspected all deliveries of
supplies, materials and equipment ordered by him for delivery at such
storerooms and warehouses and to the using agencies; he shall inspect or
cause to be inspected the performance of every contract for services, or
working contract made by him for any using agency, in order to determine
the quantity and quality and conformance with specifications of the sup-
plies, materials and equipment, and the character and extent of the per-
formance of services and work. ,

f—The purchasing agent shall have authority, with the approval of
the advisory board, to adopt and enforce reasonable rules and regulations
for governing the conduct of his office and for the purchasing, the selling,
and the trading-in of supplies, materials and equipment and for making
contracts for services and working contracts, not in conflict with this sec-
tion of the city charter.

g.—Except in cases of emergency, the purchasing agent shall not
issue any order for the delivery of articles, or the performance of services
or work on a contract, for one hundred dollars or more, unless and until
the city comptroller certifies that there is to the credit of each of the using
agencies concerned a sufficient appropriation balance, in excess of all
unpaid obligations, to defray the cost of such supplies, materials, equip-
ment and services and work to be purchased or contracted for on behalf
of the respective using agency, or unless there is a sufficient balance in the
revolving fund, when the supplies, materials or equipment is to be stored
or warehoused for the city generally. In case he is of opinion that an
emergency exists and that it is necessary to make a purchase, or to con-
‘tract for services or work, without the necessity of advertising for bids,
and without the approval of the advisory board, and without the necessity
of an appropriation balance to the credit of the using agency, the pur-
chasing agent may make such emergency purchase or contract for services
or work and the comptroller shall have authority to pay for the same.

h.—Every purchase of supplies, materials or equipment, and every
contract for services and every working contract, involving more than
five hundred dollars, shall be made on written contract, in accordance with
rules and regulations adopted by the purchasing agent with the approval
of the advisory board. Every such purchase and every such contract for
services and every such working contract, in excess of five hundred dol-
lars, for which there has been advertisement and competitive bidding,
shall be made from or awarded to the lowest reliable bidder, except that
the purchasing agent shall always have authority to reject any and all
bids and to order new bidding, or, with the approval of the advisory
board, to let the contract to any one, whether a former bidder or not,
without further bidding.

i——Equipment may be obtained under a lease by the purchasing
agent on the same terms and conditions and in the same manner as such
equipment may be bought and no using agency may obtain by lease, in-
dependently of the purchasing agent, any equipment that could not be
purchased by it independently of the purchasing agent, at the time that
the rental thereof is desired, under the authority of this section of the
charter.

j—The purchasing agent and the members of the advisory board,
personally or by deputy, shall constitute the board of standardization
whose duty it shall be to classify and standardize, and to prepare and adopt
written specifications for all supplies, materials, equipment, services and
work, used or needed by the various using agencies.
_ k-—The city council is authorized to appropriate from time to time
to the use of, and for the expenditure by the purchasing agent, sufficient
money for the purpose of the expenses of installation of the city purchas-
ing agent and his office, the administration thereof and the creation and
administration of a revolving fund.

1—Nothing in this section shall give the purchasing agent authority
to make any purchase, or to make any contract for services, or any work-
ing contract, for the city school board or any officer or agent thereof, or in
any way to regulate or standardize any purchases whatsoever for the city
school board or any officer or agent. thereof, except when specifically re-
quested so to do by the city school board or an officer or agent thereof.

2. Anemergency existing, this act shall be in force from its passage.