Purchasing Information

The Procurement Department is responsible for purchasing supplies, materials, equipment, revenue and non-revenue vehicles, professional services and construction services with the objective that these goods and services are available at the proper time, place, quantity and quality, and are at fair and reasonable prices.

As a special-purpose government agency supported by tax dollars and the fares of the riding public, it is vital that procurement practices are conducted with integrity, consistent with sound business practices and applicable laws and regulations.

Our Procurement guidelines have been developed to maintain compliance with governing laws and standards, and are designed to maximize fair and open competition while satisfying the needs of the organization.

Bids for Bus & Rail, and Construction are opened publicly in accordance with the Bid documents. Proposers for Professional Services will be notified of their standing once the Contract has been executed.

Bus & Rail/Small Purchases

Contract Administration - Bus & Rail: purchases supplies, materials, equipment, vehicles, maintenance/on-call services, and the like. Bids are solicited for those items or services exceeding the annual expenditure threshold to establish Contracts for such purchases, while purchases under this threshold are purchased in accordance with the small purchase procedures.

Construction

Contract Administration – Construction: facilitates bidding and award of all construction projects including general, electrical, plumbing and mechanical services.

Professional Services

Contract Administration – Professional Services: solicits procurements of professional services. We follow a formal Request for Proposal or Request for Qualification process. Procurements of professional services include, but are not limited to: information technology consultants, legal services, architect and engineering services, etc.

August 1, 2019

Dear Valued Port Authority of Allegheny County Supplier or Potential Supplier:

Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAAC) has a requirement to conduct its business in writing utilizing responsible accounting practices and payment processing controls. Therefore, effective September 1, 2019, PAAC will be enforcing a strict "No PO, No Pay" requirement whereby all purchases from suppliers must be based on an approved PAAC Purchase Order (PO). PAAC requires that a written PO be issued to a supplier before the supplier provides the requested materials and/or services or otherwise issues an invoice for payment by PAAC. Should the supplier fail to comply with this requirement, PAAC cannot and will not process the invoice for payment. If you have any questions about the assigned PO for an order, please contact the Port Authority employee who placed the order.

Additionally, PAAC's preferred method of payment is through Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfer. Please include your electronic payment information using the attached ACH Approval Form. For any questions regarding invoicing or ACH, please contact accountspayable@portauthority.org.

As a further reminder, it is your obligation to ensure that all of your company's supplier/vendor contact information is accurate. You may login to our ebusiness website with your username and password to update your vendor information. Access E-Business.

To reiterate, in order to be timely paid by PAAC for requested materials and/or services after September 1, 2019, suppliers must have a Port Authority-issued PO number at the time the materials and/or services order is made, and that PO number must be included on the supplier's invoice when issued to Port Authority. It is essential that your company is in full compliance with PAAC's "No PO, No Pay" requirement. Kindly share the content of this letter throughout your organization as necessary and instruct all appropriate employees to ensure compliance. Any questions regarding this communication should be directed to Erica Costa, Procurement Representative at (412) 566-5143 or via e-mail at ecosta@portauthorlty.org.

Thank you for your attention and cooperation on this matter,

Anthony Trona
Director of Purchasing and Materials Management
Port Authority of Allegheny County

We promote equal opportunity in all forms: affirmative action in employment and contract participation by Disadvantaged Business Enterprises.

Procedures for submitting bids or proposals to us are identified within the solicitation documents. Please contact the Contract Specialist identified on the solicitation page.

For procurements of professional services greater than $100,000, we follow a formal Request for Proposal or Request for Qualification process.

All applicable vendors/consultants in the Vendor Database are notified of a specific procurement. The procurement is publicly advertised (in the legal notice section) at least three times and proposals are accepted until the advertised deadline for receipt of proposals.

Complete documents, including plans, specifications and proposal forms are available to vendors, consultants and/or contractors. Instructions on how to secure these documents (including the document cost when applicable) as well as a list of all currently available documents are available here.

We reserves the right to reject all proposals.

Bid Protest Procedures can be found here.