During the January 15, 2019 Town of Miami Lakes Council Meeting, the Town awarded Contract 2018-31 to Southeastern Engineering Contractors, Inc., for construction relating to the N.W. 67^th Avenue Widening Project. In an effort to reduce costs, Town Staff engaged Southeastern Engineering Contractors, Inc. in discussions regarding possible savings in the purchase of constructions materials. Specifically, through due diligence, Procurement discovered that Pursuant to Florida Statutes § 212.08(6), as described in Chapter 12A-1.094 of the Florida Administrative Code and titled the Florida Owner-Direct Purchase Program, the Town of Miami Lakes may purchase tax-free supplies used in the contract project. Currently, Florida levies a sales tax of 6% over the price of goods.

In order to use this purchase mechanism, the Town will make payments direct to the vendor utilizing the following procedures. Namely, the Town will issue a Direct Purchase Order to the vendor supplying the contractor's materials, a Direct Invoice from vendor supplying the materials will be issued to the Town, Direct Payment will be made from the Town to the vendor using public funds, and issuance of a Certificate of Entitlement by the Town to each vendor affirming that all materials purchased will go into or become a part of a public work.

The bid form submitted by Southeastern Engineering Contractors, Inc. for this project included a column reflecting the savings amount if Town procured material for the following items:

In order to capture these savings, the Town will execute a Deductive Change Order to reflect the above-referenced changes to Contract.

Moving forward, the Town will incorporate these cost saving mechanisms into our bidding process in order to maximize our purchase power and continue to investigate the possibility of other cost saving mechanisms.