By McCall, Park, et al. H.B. No. 52
74R40 RWS-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the authority of state and local governments to make
1-3 purchases and contracts and to engage in certain projects.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 252.022(a), Local Government Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (a) This chapter does not apply to an expenditure for:
1-8 (1) a procurement made because of a public calamity
1-9 that requires the immediate appropriation of money to relieve the
1-10 necessity of the municipality's residents or to preserve the
1-11 property of the municipality;
1-12 (2) a procurement necessary to preserve or protect the
1-13 public health or safety of the municipality's residents;
1-14 (3) a procurement necessary because of unforeseen
1-15 damage to public machinery, equipment, or other property;
1-16 (4) a procurement for personal or professional
1-17 services;
1-18 (5) a procurement for work that is performed and paid
1-19 for by the day as the work progresses;
1-20 (6) a purchase of land or a right-of-way;
1-21 (7) a procurement of items that are available from
1-22 only one source, including:
1-23 (A) items that are available from only one
1-24 source because of patents, copyrights, secret processes, or natural
2-1 monopolies;
2-2 (B) films, manuscripts, or books;
2-3 (C) electricity, gas, water, and other utility
2-4 services;
2-5 (D) captive replacement parts or components for
2-6 equipment;
2-7 (E) books, papers, and other library materials
2-8 for a public library that are available only from the persons
2-9 holding exclusive distribution rights to the materials; and
2-10 (F) management services provided by a nonprofit
2-11 organization to a municipal museum, park, zoo, or other facility to
2-12 which the organization has provided significant financial or other
2-13 benefits;
2-14 (8) a purchase of rare books, papers, and other
2-15 library materials for a public library;
2-16 (9) paving drainage, street widening, and other public
2-17 improvements, or related matters, if at least one-third of the cost
2-18 is to be paid by or through special assessments levied on property
2-19 that will benefit from the improvements;
2-20 (10) a public improvement project, authorized by the
2-21 voters of the municipality, for which there is a deficiency of
2-22 funds for completing the project in accordance with the plans and
2-23 purposes authorized by the voters;
2-24 (11) a payment under a contract by which a developer
2-25 participates in the construction of a public improvement as
2-26 provided by Subchapter C, Chapter 212;
2-27 (12) personal property sold:
3-1 (A) at an auction by a state licensed
3-2 auctioneer;
3-3 (B) at a going out of business sale held in
3-4 compliance with Subchapter F, Chapter 17, Business & Commerce Code;
3-5 <or>
3-6 (C) by a political subdivision of this state, a
3-7 state agency of this state, or an entity of the federal government;
3-8 or
3-9 (D) under an interlocal agreement for
3-10 cooperative purchasing administered by a regional planning
3-11 commission established under Chapter 391; or <and>
3-12 (13) services performed by blind or severely disabled
3-13 persons.
3-14 SECTION 2. Section 262.030, Local Government Code, is
3-15 amended to read as follows:
3-16 Sec. 262.030. Alternative Competitive Proposal Procedure for
3-17 Insurance, <or> High Technology Items, AND SPECIAL SERVICES. (a)
3-18 The competitive proposal procedure provided by this section may be
3-19 used for the purchase of insurance, <or> high technology items, and
3-20 the following special services:
3-21 (1) janitorial services;
3-22 (2) landscape maintenance;
3-23 (3) travel management;
3-24 (4) recycling; or
3-25 (5) vending, concession, or commissary services.
3-26 (b) Quotations must be solicited through a request for
3-27 proposals. Public notice for the request for proposals must be
4-1 made in the same manner as provided in the competitive bidding
4-2 procedure. The request for proposals must specify the relative
4-3 importance of price and other evaluation factors. The award of the
4-4 contract shall be made to the responsible offeror whose proposal is
4-5 determined to be the lowest evaluated offer resulting from
4-6 negotiation, taking into consideration the relative importance of
4-7 price and other evaluation factors set forth in the request for
4-8 proposals.
4-9 (c) <(b)> If provided in the request for proposals,
4-10 proposals shall be opened so as to avoid disclosure of contents to
4-11 competing offerors and kept secret during the process of
4-12 negotiation. All proposals that have been submitted shall be
4-13 available and open for public inspection after the contract is
4-14 awarded, except for trade secrets and confidential information
4-15 contained in the proposals and identified as such.
4-16 (d) <(c)> As provided in the request for proposals and under
4-17 rules adopted by the commissioners court, discussions may be
4-18 conducted with responsible offerors who submit proposals determined
4-19 to be reasonably susceptible of being selected for award. Offerors
4-20 must be accorded fair and equal treatment with respect to any
4-21 opportunity for discussion and revision of proposals, and revisions
4-22 may be permitted after submission and before award for the purpose
4-23 of obtaining best and final offers.
4-24 SECTION 3. Section 262.031(b), Local Government Code, is
4-25 amended to read as follows:
4-26 (b) If a change order involves an increase or decrease in
4-27 cost of $50,000 <$15,000> or less, the commissioners court may
5-1 grant general authority to an employee to approve the change
5-2 orders. However, the original contract price may not be increased
5-3 by more than 25 percent unless the change order is necessary to
5-4 comply with a federal or state statute, rule, regulation, or
5-5 judicial decision enacted, adopted, or rendered after the contract
5-6 was made. The original contract price may not be decreased by 18
5-7 percent or more without the consent of the contractor.
5-8 SECTION 4. Section 263.152(a), Local Government Code, is
5-9 amended to read as follows:
5-10 (a) The commissioners court of a county may:
5-11 (1) periodically sell the county's surplus or salvage
5-12 property by competitive bid or auction, except that competitive
5-13 bidding or an auction is not necessary if the purchaser is another
5-14 county;
5-15 (2) offer the property as a trade-in for new property
5-16 of the same general type if the commissioners court considers that
5-17 action to be in the best interests of the county; or
5-18 (3) order any of the property to be destroyed or
5-19 otherwise disposed of as worthless if the commissioners court
5-20 undertakes to sell that property under Subdivision (1) and is
5-21 unable to do so because no bids are made.
5-22 SECTION 5. Chapter 271, Local Government Code, is amended by
5-23 adding Subchapter F to read as follows:
5-24 SUBCHAPTER F. COOPERATIVE PURCHASING PROGRAM
5-25 Sec. 271.101. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
5-26 (1) "Local cooperative organization" means an
5-27 organization established to provide local governments access to
6-1 contracts with vendors for the purchase of materials, supplies,
6-2 services, or equipment.
6-3 (2) "Local government" means a county, municipality,
6-4 special district, school district, junior college district, or
6-5 other political subdivision of the state.
6-6 Sec. 271.102. COOPERATIVE PURCHASING PROGRAM PARTICIPATION.
6-7 (a) A local government may participate in a cooperative purchasing
6-8 program with another local government or a local cooperative
6-9 organization.
6-10 (b) A local government that is participating in a
6-11 cooperative purchasing program may sign an agreement with another
6-12 participating local government or a local cooperative organization
6-13 stating that the signing local government will:
6-14 (1) designate a person to act under the direction of,
6-15 and on behalf of, that local government in all matters relating to
6-16 the program;
6-17 (2) make payments to another participating local
6-18 government or a local cooperative organization or directly to a
6-19 vendor under a contract made under this subchapter, as provided in
6-20 the agreement between the participating local governments or
6-21 between a local government and a local cooperative organization;
6-22 and
6-23 (3) be responsible for a vendor's compliance with
6-24 provisions relating to the quality of items and terms of delivery,
6-25 to the extent provided in the agreement between the participating
6-26 local governments or between a local government and a local
6-27 cooperative organization.
7-1 (c) A local government that purchases under this program
7-2 complies with the competitive bidding requirements of this title or
7-3 other state law if the entity that awards the contract complies
7-4 with applicable competitive bidding requirements.
7-5 SECTION 6. Subchapter Z, Chapter 271, Local Government Code,
7-6 is amended by adding Section 271.904 to read as follows:
7-7 Sec. 271.904. INDEMNIFICATION. (a) A contract for design
7-8 or engineering services to which a governmental agency is a party
7-9 may not include a provision requiring a design professional
7-10 registered under The Texas Engineering Practice Act (Article 3271a,
7-11 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) to indemnify the governmental agency
7-12 for damages arising from the sole negligence of the governmental
7-13 agency.
7-14 (b) A provision in violation of this section is void.
7-15 (c) In this section, "governmental agency" has the meaning
7-16 assigned by Section 271.003.
7-17 SECTION 7. Section 19, The Texas Engineering Practice Act
7-18 (Article 3271a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
7-19 as follows:
7-20 Sec. 19. PUBLIC WORK. (a) It is unlawful for this State or
7-21 for any of its political subdivisions, including any county, city,
7-22 or town, to engage in the construction of any public work involving
7-23 professional engineering, where public health, public welfare or
7-24 public safety is involved, unless the engineering plans and
7-25 specifications and estimates have been prepared by, and the
7-26 engineering construction is to be executed under the direct
7-27 supervision of a registered professional engineer. <However
8-1 nothing in this Act shall be held to apply to any public work
8-2 wherein the contemplated expenditure for the completed project does
8-3 not exceed Eight Thousand ($8,000.00) Dollars.>
8-4 (b) This Act shall not apply to:
8-5 (1) a public work that involves structural,
8-6 electrical, or mechanical engineering and for which the
8-7 contemplated expenditure for the completed project does not exceed
8-8 $8,000;
8-9 (2) a public work that does not involve structural,
8-10 electrical, or mechanical engineering and for which the
8-11 contemplated expenditure for the completed project does not exceed
8-12 $20,000; and
8-13 (3) <and> road maintenance or betterment work
8-14 undertaken by the commissioners court of a county <the County
8-15 Commissioners' Court>.
8-16 SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
8-17 SECTION 9. The importance of this legislation and the
8-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
8-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
8-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
8-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.