By: West, Truan S.B. No. 820
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the establishment and operation of an electronic
1-2 procurement marketplace, including an electronic commerce network.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subtitle D, Title 10, Government Code, is amended
1-5 by adding Chapter 2177 to read as follows:
1-6 CHAPTER 2177. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
1-7 Sec. 2177.001. ELECTRONIC PROCUREMENT MARKETPLACE. (a) The
1-8 commission shall establish and manage an electronic procurement
1-9 marketplace. The commission may enter into contracts with private
1-10 or public entities to establish or maintain all or part of the
1-11 databases comprising the marketplace, including contracts to
1-12 procure hardware or software. The commission shall procure all
1-13 goods and services related to the marketplace through a competitive
1-14 selection process appropriate for the good or service being
1-15 acquired.
1-16 (b) The commission, in consultation with the Department of
1-17 Information Resources, shall define standards, including keyword
1-18 and product code standards, for the electronic procurement
1-19 marketplace. The marketplace may include databases that contain
1-20 information about the availability of surplus property.
1-21 (c) The commission may adopt rules relating to the design
1-22 and use of the electronic procurement marketplace, including rules
1-23 that require state agencies to provide information for or receive
2-1 information from the marketplace.
2-2 (d) The commission may make state procurement information
2-3 available to political subdivisions through the electronic
2-4 procurement marketplace on a fee-for-service basis. The commission
2-5 shall set the fees in an amount that recovers the state's costs in
2-6 providing the access to a political subdivision.
2-7 (e) Before developing a contract for the procurement of a
2-8 good or service, a state agency shall use the electronic
2-9 procurement marketplace to determine the most appropriate method
2-10 for acquiring the good or service.
2-11 (f) The commission may adopt rules, prescribe forms, and
2-12 require information from state agencies to administer this section.
2-13 Sec. 2177.002. ELECTRONIC PROCUREMENT DATABASE. (a) The
2-14 commission may maintain in an electronic procurement database
2-15 information related to state procurement that the commission
2-16 considers to be useful. The database may contain:
2-17 (1) information relevant to the state's standard
2-18 procurement specifications for goods and services;
2-19 (2) information about vendors, including information
2-20 from the centralized master bidders list and vendor performance
2-21 information;
2-22 (3) information about products, including product
2-23 testing results; and
2-24 (4) historical purchasing information, qualified
2-25 purchase lists, and trends.
3-1 (b) The commission may require information from a state
3-2 agency for inclusion in the electronic procurement database.
3-3 Sec. 2177.003. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE NETWORK. (a) The
3-4 commission shall establish and manage an electronic commerce
3-5 network, to the extent feasible, under which the state's purchasing
3-6 transactions with vendors can be accomplished electronically by
3-7 means of facsimile transmissions and on-line transmission of
3-8 necessary information. The commission shall comply with applicable
3-9 rules of the Department of Information Resources to the extent that
3-10 they are based on the standard data protocol developed by the
3-11 American National Standards Institute known as electronic data
3-12 interchange or on other efficient standards as determined by the
3-13 commission.
3-14 (b) The commission may enter into contracts with one or more
3-15 public or private entities to establish or support various elements
3-16 of the network. The commission shall procure all goods and
3-17 services related to the network through the competitive selection
3-18 process appropriate for the good or service being acquired.
3-19 (c) The commission may provide for a gateway between the
3-20 electronic procurement marketplace and the electronic commerce
3-21 network so that the elements of a procurement transaction that are
3-22 within state government and the elements of a procurement
3-23 transaction that involve communication with a vendor may all be
3-24 accomplished electronically.
3-25 (d) Each state agency that is capable of participating in
4-1 the electronic commerce network must participate in the network and
4-2 participate in contracts entered into by the commission for the
4-3 establishment or support of the network. The commission shall
4-4 charge an agency a fee for network services provided to the agency
4-5 by the commission or by a contractor so that the cost of providing
4-6 network services to an agency is paid by the agency.
4-7 (e) The commission may allow political subdivisions and
4-8 other public entities that are members of the commission's
4-9 cooperative purchasing program to participate in the electronic
4-10 commerce network. The commission shall require that a
4-11 participating political subdivision or other entity is charged a
4-12 fee for the network services in the same manner that participating
4-13 state agencies are charged fees under Subsection (d).
4-14 (f) The commission may also charge private businesses a fee
4-15 for accessing the network.
4-16 (g) The commission may:
4-17 (1) adopt rules to administer this section; and
4-18 (2) require participating state agencies, political
4-19 subdivisions, and other public entities to designate a network
4-20 coordinator.
4-21 (h) The requirements of this section and Section 2177.004
4-22 are in addition to the requirements of other law relating to the
4-23 solicitation of bids, proposals, or expressions of interest for a
4-24 procurement by the commission or another state agency. This
4-25 section and Section 2177.004 do not affect any other law that
5-1 requires the commission or another state agency to award a
5-2 procurement contract through competitive bidding, competitive
5-3 sealed proposals, or another method.
5-4 Sec. 2177.004. PARTICIPATION BY STATE AGENCIES IN ELECTRONIC
5-5 COMMERCE NETWORK. (a) Each state agency shall send to the
5-6 commission for posting on the electronic commerce network
5-7 information on each procurement contract the value of which will
5-8 exceed the amount of the agency's delegated purchasing authority
5-9 under Section 2155.132:
5-10 (1) without regard to the source of funds the agency
5-11 will use for the procurement; and
5-12 (2) including a procurement that is:
5-13 (A) a procurement by a state agency that is
5-14 otherwise exempt from the commission's purchasing authority;
5-15 (B) made under delegated purchasing authority
5-16 under Section 2155.131;
5-17 (C) related to a construction project; or
5-18 (D) a procurement of professional or consulting
5-19 services.
5-20 (b) The commission and each state agency shall include in
5-21 the information placed on the electronic commerce network, to the
5-22 extent it is feasible, the following information for each
5-23 procurement that the commission will make or that another state
5-24 agency will make under Subsection (a):
5-25 (1) a description of the goods or services to be
6-1 procured;
6-2 (2) the estimated quantity of the goods or services to
6-3 be procured;
6-4 (3) if applicable, the previous price paid by the
6-5 commission or another state agency for the same or similar goods or
6-6 services;
6-7 (4) the estimated date on which the goods or services
6-8 to be procured will be needed; and
6-9 (5) the name, business mailing address, and business
6-10 telephone number of the commission employee or other state agency
6-11 employee a person can contact to obtain all necessary information
6-12 relating to making a bid or proposal or other applicable expression
6-13 of interest for the procurement contract.
6-14 (c) The commission shall also post on the electronic
6-15 commerce network other information relating to the business
6-16 activity of the state that the commission considers to be of
6-17 interest to the public. Each state agency shall provide the
6-18 commission with information the commission requires for purposes of
6-19 this subsection in a format prescribed by the commission.
6-20 (d) Each state agency that will award a contract that has
6-21 been placed on the electronic commerce network under Subsection (a)
6-22 shall place notification of the awarding of the contract on the
6-23 electronic commerce network.
6-24 SECTION 2. Section 2155.264, Government Code, is amended to
6-25 read as follows:
7-1 Sec. 2155.264. AGENCY SOLICITATION OF BIDS OR PROPOSALS FOR
7-2 ACQUISITION OVER $15,000. A state agency that proposes to make a
7-3 purchase or other acquisition that will cost more than $15,000
7-4 shall solicit bids or proposals from each eligible vendor on the
7-5 master bidders list that serves the agency's geographic region. A
7-6 state agency may also solicit bids or proposals through the use of
7-7 on-line electronic transmission or the electronic commerce network.
7-8 SECTION 3. Section 2156.005, Government Code, is amended to
7-9 read as follows:
7-10 Sec. 2156.005. BID SUBMISSION AND OPENING; PUBLIC
7-11 INSPECTION. (a) A bidder must submit a sealed bid to the
7-12 commission. The bid must be identified on the envelope as a bid.
7-13 (b) Subsection (a) does not apply to bids submitted through
7-14 the use of facsimile transmission, on-line electronic transmission,
7-15 or the electronic commerce network. The commission may adopt rules
7-16 to ensure the identification, security, and confidentiality of bids
7-17 submitted through the use of facsimile transmission, on-line
7-18 electronic transmission, or the electronic commerce network.
7-19 (c) The commission shall open bids at the time and place
7-20 stated in the invitation to bid.
7-21 [(c) The state auditor or a member of the state auditor's
7-22 staff may be present at a bid opening.]
7-23 (d) The commission shall keep a tabulation of all bids
7-24 received available for public inspection under rules adopted by the
7-25 commission.
8-1 SECTION 4. Section 2156.063, Government Code, is amended to
8-2 read as follows:
8-3 Sec. 2156.063. SOLICITATION OF BIDS. The commission shall
8-4 solicit bids under this subchapter by:
8-5 (1) direct mail;
8-6 (2) [,] telephone;
8-7 (3) [, or] telegraph;
8-8 (4) facsimile transmission;
8-9 (5) on-line electronic transmission; or
8-10 (6) posting on the electronic commerce network.
8-11 SECTION 5. Section 271.083, Local Government Code, is
8-12 amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
8-13 (c) The provisions of Chapter 2177, Government Code, shall
8-14 apply to a local government that exercises the ability to
8-15 electronically send purchase orders and information under the
8-16 provisions of this section.
8-17 SECTION 6. The General Services Commission shall gradually
8-18 phase in, in the most cost-effective manner and in accordance with
8-19 available appropriations, the changes in law made by this Act that
8-20 require the commission to establish electronic marketplaces,
8-21 databases, or networks.
8-22 SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
8-23 SECTION 8. The importance of this legislation and the
8-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
8-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
9-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
9-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.