By Hernandez H.B. No. 727
74R2040 JRD-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the creation of a state business daily to give notice
1-3 before a state agency makes a procurement with a value that exceeds
1-4 $25,000.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Article 11, State Purchasing and General Services
1-7 Act (Article 601b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
1-8 adding Section 11.08 to read as follows:
1-9 Sec. 11.08. STATE BUSINESS DAILY; NOTICE REGARDING
1-10 PROCUREMENTS EXCEEDING $25,000. (a) This section applies to each
1-11 state agency making a procurement that will exceed $25,000 in
1-12 value, without regard to the source of funds the agency will use
1-13 for the procurement, including a procurement that will exceed that
1-14 amount and that:
1-15 (1) is otherwise exempt from the commission's
1-16 purchasing authority or the application of this Act;
1-17 (2) is made under delegated purchasing authority;
1-18 (3) is related to a construction project; or
1-19 (4) is a procurement of professional or consulting
1-20 services.
1-21 (b) The commission each business day shall publish a
1-22 business daily in a printed format and in an electronic format.
1-23 The commission shall publish in the business daily information as
1-24 prescribed by this section about commission or other state agency
2-1 procurements that will exceed $25,000 in value. The commission
2-2 shall also publish in the business daily other information relating
2-3 to the business activity of the state that the commission considers
2-4 to be of interest to the public.
2-5 (c) The commission shall make the printed business daily
2-6 available for a subscription fee set in an amount that recovers the
2-7 cost of making the printed daily available.
2-8 (d) The commission shall make the electronic business daily
2-9 available through the information service operated by the Texas
2-10 Department of Commerce known as the Texas Marketplace, or a
2-11 suitable successor information service. The commission and the
2-12 department shall cooperate in making the electronic business daily
2-13 available and shall charge a fee for access to the electronic daily
2-14 set in an amount that recovers the cost of making the electronic
2-15 daily available.
2-16 (e) The fee charged for the printed or electronic business
2-17 daily may not include an amount designed to also recover the cost
2-18 of preparing and gathering the information that is published in the
2-19 business daily.
2-20 (f) The commission shall include at a minimum the following
2-21 information for each procurement that the commission or another
2-22 state agency will make that is estimated to exceed $25,000 in
2-23 value:
2-24 (1) a description of the supplies, materials,
2-25 services, or equipment to be procured;
2-26 (2) the estimated cost of the procurement;
2-27 (3) the estimated quantity of supplies, materials,
3-1 services, or equipment to be procured;
3-2 (4) if applicable, the previous price paid by the
3-3 commission or other state agency for the same or similar supplies,
3-4 materials, services, or equipment;
3-5 (5) the estimated date on which the supplies,
3-6 materials, services, or equipment to be procured will be needed;
3-7 and
3-8 (6) the name, business mailing address, and business
3-9 telephone number of the commission or other state agency employee a
3-10 person can contact to obtain all necessary information related to
3-11 making a bid or proposal or other applicable expression of interest
3-12 for the procurement contract.
3-13 (g) The commission shall continue to publish the information
3-14 required under Subsection (f) of this section in each issue of the
3-15 business daily for at least 30 calendar days and at least weekly
3-16 after that period until the commission or other state agency awards
3-17 the procurement contract or decides not to make the procurement.
3-18 (h) The commission or other state agency may not award the
3-19 procurement contract and shall continue to accept bids or proposals
3-20 or other applicable expressions of interest for the procurement
3-21 contract for at least 30 calendar days after the date that the
3-22 commission first published information about the procurement under
3-23 Subsection (f) of this section. The 30-calendar-day requirement of
3-24 this subsection and Subsection (g) of this section does not apply
3-25 in an emergency requiring the commission or other state agency to
3-26 make the procurement more quickly to prevent a hazard to life,
3-27 health, safety, welfare, or property or to avoid undue additional
4-1 cost to the state.
4-2 (i) Each state agency that will award a procurement contract
4-3 estimated to exceed $25,000 in value shall send to the commission:
4-4 (1) the information the commission requires for
4-5 publication in the state business daily under this section; and
4-6 (2) a notice when the procurement contract has been
4-7 awarded.
4-8 (j) The commission may adopt rules, prescribe forms, and
4-9 require information to administer this section. The commission
4-10 shall send any proposed rules to the governor, Legislative Budget
4-11 Board, comptroller, state auditor, and Texas Department of Commerce
4-12 for review and comment.
4-13 (k) The requirements of this section are in addition to the
4-14 requirements of other law relating to the solicitation of bids,
4-15 proposals, or expressions of interest for a procurement by the
4-16 commission or another state agency. This section does not affect
4-17 whether the commission or other state agency is required to award a
4-18 procurement contract through competitive bidding, competitive
4-19 sealed proposals, or another method.
4-20 SECTION 2. The 30-day requirement of Sections 11.08(g) and
4-21 (h), State Purchasing and General Services Act (Article 601b,
4-22 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), as added by this Act, applies only
4-23 to a procurement contract awarded on or after July 1, 1996.
4-24 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect June 1, 1996, except that
4-25 the General Services Commission may adopt rules, procedures, and
4-26 forms and make agreements necessary to administer this Act
4-27 beginning September 1, 1995.
5-1 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.