The Village Manager serves as the Purchasing Agent for the village and is responsible for ensuring the village's compliance with village charter and ordinance purchasing requirements. The Village of Lake Orion is required by charter to solicit competitive price quotes or bids under policies established by the village council. The village council adopted the village's current purchasing ordinance on June 26, 2023.
Professional services (e.g., legal, architectural, engineering) are exempt from competitive bidding requirements, but the village frequently issues Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for these services at its discretion.
MITN Competitive Bid System
The village primarily utilizes the Michigan Intergovernmental Trade Network (MITN) bid system for its purchasing needs when competitive bids, competitive quotes, or proposals are needed for the village to purchase goods or services. Vendors are required to register on the MITN bid system to submit bids, quotes, or proposals, and registration is free of charge.
MITN also provides a "value-added" optional automatic notification service for an annual fee that permits MITN to notify your company by E-mail automatically whenever a bid opportunity is available related to your company's products or services. This E-mail service covers bid opportunities for the Village of Lake Orion as well as all other public agencies which utilize MITN.
From the MITN web site, you can:
- REGISTER AS A VENDOR on the Michigan Intergovernmental Trade Network (MITN) bid system AT NO COST to be able to view Village of Lake Orion bid opportunities and submit quotes or bids for products and services being purchased by the Village of Lake Orion or other Michigan municipalities. Voluntary fee-based subscription options are also available if you wish to have access to national bid opportunities and/or wish to receive automatic notifications of bid opportunities.
- VIEW VILLAGE OF LAKE ORION BID OPPORTUNITIES
- BROWSE OR SEARCH THE MITN BID SYSTEM for opportunities to submit a bid or quote to other public agencies.
MiDeal Purchasing Program
The village is also a member of the State of Michigan MiDEAL Purchasing Program and periodically waives local competitive bidding in favor of utilizing the state bids. Vendors are strongly encouraged to register with the MiDEAL program to ensure enhanced opportunities to do business with the village and other units of government.
Intergovernmental Cooperative Purchasing
The village may also periodically opt to utilize other governmental bids rather than engaging in its own competitive bid process when the village council deems it to be advantageous to the village to do so.