Invitations to Bid & Request for Proposals

City Surplus Auction

The City of Wasilla (the city) is funded by tax dollars.  As such, the city's purchasing procedures have been established to ensure that tax dollars are spent in the most efficient and economical way.  The city uses competitive means for the purchase of all goods and services as required by Wasilla Municipal Code 5.08.  The city also utilizes contracts and price agreements established by the State of Alaska, the Western States Contracting Alliance and other cooperatives or agencies when it is deemed to be in the best interest of the City.  The city believes in open, fair competition and strives to ensure that all vendors have equal opportunity to compete for city business.

The City of Wasilla operates under a decentralized purchasing system.  This means purchasing decision up to $5,000 is made independently by the departments in the city (with the exception of Management Information System purchases).  When the estimated amount for goods or services falls between $5,000 and $9,999, departments are required to obtain three quotes prior to purchase.  The departments may utilize the services of the Purchasing Officer for this process or may do it themselves; however, when this processed is selected, the Purchasing/Contracting Officer (PCO) must sign off on the final product prior to purchasing or contracting.

For purchases beyond $10,000, the city requires all departments to contact the PCO who will utilize the city's bid process according to Wasilla Municipal Code 5.08 .

The bid process is initiated through either an Invitation to Bid (ITB), used when the city knows exactly what specifications it needs for the purchase; or a Request for Proposal (RFP), used when the exact specifications or process is unknown.

Participating in the city's bid process is simple.  Businesses may register their goods or services based on the National Institute of Government Purchasing (NIGP) code with Demand Star (www.demandstar.com).  When a bid comes up that matches the selected NIGP code, the vendor is automatically notified that there is a bid available in their area of interest.  The cost for this service is $30 per borough/state each year.  Businesses interested in opportunities with the City of Wasilla should purchase access for the State of Alaska or the vendor may choose to monitor the city's web site on their own at no cost.  All of the city's bids for commodities are posted on the web site.

Each ITB and RFP distributed by the city is listed on the Demand Star web site by NIGP code and by location.  If the code distributed by the city matches the code of that input by an Alaska business, a fax is sent to the business notifying them that a bid has been issued by the City of Wasilla for their product or service.  The business can then download the ITB or RFP documents off the Internet, or have it faxed to them.

The status of the ITB/RFP is kept current on the Demand Star website .  Direct inquiries can by made via e-mail by clicking on the link below for the PCO.

Thank you for your interest in doing business with the City of Wasilla!

William Miller
Purchasing/Contracting Officer
Finance Department
(907) 373-9047