Guide to County Purchasing: Procurement Documents

It is important to have a basic understanding of what is meant by "procurement documents". These documents describe the full contractual relationship between a county and a supplier of goods or services. Procurement documents are:

• Solicitations - These are invitations for bid, requests for quotations, and requests for proposals. These documents may result in a binding contract.
• Offers - These are bids, proposals, and quotes made by businesses to supply goods or services.
• Contracts - These are the final signed agreements between the government and the supplier to buy/sell. (Note that a purchase order is a type of contract.)
• Amendments/modifications - These are changes to solicitation documents, to offers, and to contracts.
• RFQ - Request For Qualifications in compliance with the Professional Procurement Act.

Many other documents are created during the process of making a purchase and kept in the purchase file, but they are not technically "procurement documents." These other documents include requests (requisitions) by offices for purchase of items; notes to file to explain why a particular course of action was chosen; original specifications from requesting department; final specifications; bidders notified of solicitations; copy of advertisements, etc.