TITLE

ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 2-11.1 OF THE CODE OF MIAMI-DADE
COUNTY, FLORIDA, RELATING TO THE CONE OF SILENCE; AMENDING
EXCEPTION TO CONE OF SILENCE; PROVIDING SEVERABILITY, INCLUSION
IN THE CODE, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE

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BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA:

Section 1. Section 2-11.1 of the Code of Miami-Dade County,
Florida, is hereby amended to read as follows: 1 Sec. 2-11.1.
Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance.

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(t) Cone of Silence.

1. Contracts for the provision of goods and service
other than audit and independent private sector inspector
general (IPSIG) contracts.

(a) "Cone of Silence" is hereby defined
to mean a prohibition on: (i) any communication regarding a
particular RFP, RFQ or bid between a potential vendor, service
provider, bidder, lobbyist, or consultant and the County's
professional staff including, but not limited to, the County
Manager and his or her staff; (ii) any communication regarding a
particular RFP, RFQ or bid between the Mayor, County
Commissioners or their respective staffs and any member of the
County's professional staff including, but not limited to, the
County Manager and his or her staff; (iii) any communication
regarding a particular RFP, RFQ or bid between a potential
vendor, service provider, bidder, lobbyist, or consultant and
any member of the selection committee therefor; (iv) any
communication regarding a particular RFP, RFQ or bid between the
Mayor, County Commissioners or their respective staffs and any
member of the selection committee therefor; (v) any
communication regarding a particular RFP, RFQ or bid between a
potential vendor, service provider, bidder, lobbyist, or
consultant and the Mayor, County Commissioners and their
respective staffs; and (vi) any communication regarding a
particular RFP, RFQ or bid between any member of the County's
professional staff and any member of the selection committee
therefor. The County Manager and the Chairperson of the
selection committee may communicate about a particular selection
committee recommendation, but only after the committee has
submitted an award recommendation to the Manager and provided
that should any change occur in the committee recommendation,
the content of the communication and of the corresponding change
shall be described in writing and filed by the Manager with the
Clerk of the Board and be included in any recommendation
memorandum submitted by the Manager to the Board of County
Commissioners. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Cone of
Silence shall not apply to (i) competitive processes for the
award of CDBG, HOME, SHIP and Surtax Funds administered by the
Miami-Dade County Office of Community and Economic Development;
(ii) communications with the County Attorney and his or her
staff; (iii) communications between a potential vendor, service
provider, bidder, consultant or lobbyist and employees of the
Management and Technical Assistance Unit of the Department of
Business Development regarding small business and/or minority
business programs the Community Business Enterprise and
Equitable Distribution Programs; (iv) communications between a
potential vendor, service provider, bidder, consultant or
lobbyist and employees responsible for administering
disadvantaged business enterprise programs in County departments
receiving federal funds, provided the communications are limited
strictly to matters of programmatic process or procedure; (v)
duly noticed site visits to determine the competency of bidders
regarding a particular bid during the time period between the
opening of bids and the time the County Manager makes his or her
written recommendation; (vi) any emergency procurement of goods
or services pursuant to Administrative Order 3-2; (vii)
communications regarding a particular RFP, RFQ or bid between
>>any person<< [[potential vendor, service provider, bidder,
lobbyist or consultant]] and the Vendor Information Center
staff, the procurement agent or contracting officer responsible
for administering the procurement process for such RFP, RFQ or
bid, provided the communication is limited strictly to matters
of process or procedure already contained in the corresponding
solicitation document; and (viii) communications regarding a
particular RFP, RFQ or bid between the procurement agent or
contracting officer, or their designated secretarial/clerical
staff responsible for administering the procurement process for
such RFP, RFQ or bid and a member of the selection committee
therefor provided the communication is limited strictly to
matters of process or procedure already contained in the
corresponding solicitation document.



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Section 2. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause
or provision of this ordinance is held invalid, the remainder of
this ordinance shall not be affected by such invalidity.

Section 3. It is the intention of the Board of County
Commissioners, and it is hereby ordained that the provisions of
this ordinance, including any sunset provision, shall become and
be made a part of the Code of Miami-Dade County, Florida. The
sections of this ordinance may be renumbered or relettered to
accomplish such intention, and the word "ordinance" may be
changed to "section," "article," or other appropriate word.

Section 4. This ordinance shall become effective upon this
Board's approval of amendments to the existing Administrative
Orders which implement this ordinance and shall apply to
contracts and purchases advertised after such effective date.

Section 5. This ordinance does not contain a sunset
provision.

1 Words stricken through and/or [[double bracketed]] shall
be deleted. Words underscored and/or >>double arrowed<<
constitute the amendment proposed. Remaining provisions are now
in effect and remain unchanged.