By West S.B. No. 820
75R7706 MLS-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the establishment and operation of an electronic
1-3 procurement marketplace, including an electronic commerce network.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subtitle D, Title 10, Government Code, is amended
1-6 by adding Chapter 2177 to read as follows:
1-7 CHAPTER 2177. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
1-8 Sec. 2177.001. ELECTRONIC PROCUREMENT MARKETPLACE. (a) The
1-9 commission shall establish and manage an electronic procurement
1-10 marketplace. The commission may enter into contracts with private
1-11 or public entities to establish or maintain all or part of the
1-12 databases comprising the marketplace, including contracts to
1-13 procure hardware or software. The commission shall procure all
1-14 goods and services related to the marketplace through a competitive
1-15 selection process appropriate for the good or service being
1-16 acquired.
1-17 (b) The commission 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
1-24 information from the marketplace.
2-1 (d) The commission may make state procurement information
2-2 available to political subdivisions through the electronic
2-3 procurement marketplace on a fee-for-service basis. The commission
2-4 shall set the fees in an amount that recovers the state's costs in
2-5 providing the access to a political subdivision.
2-6 (e) Before developing a contract for the procurement of a
2-7 good or service, a state agency shall use the electronic
2-8 procurement marketplace to determine the most appropriate method
2-9 for acquiring the good or service.
2-10 (f) The commission may adopt rules, prescribe forms, and
2-11 require information from state agencies to administer this section.
2-12 Sec. 2177.002. ELECTRONIC PROCUREMENT DATABASE. (a) The
2-13 commission may maintain in an electronic procurement database
2-14 information related to state procurement that the commission
2-15 considers to be useful. The database may contain:
2-16 (1) information relevant to the state's standard
2-17 procurement specifications for goods and services;
2-18 (2) information about vendors, including information
2-19 from the centralized master bidders list and vendor performance
2-20 information;
2-21 (3) information about products, including product
2-22 testing results; and
2-23 (4) historical purchasing information, qualified
2-24 purchase lists, and trends.
2-25 (b) The commission may require information from a state
2-26 agency for inclusion in the electronic procurement database.
2-27 Sec. 2177.003. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE NETWORK. (a) The
3-1 commission shall establish and manage an electronic commerce
3-2 network, to the extent feasible, under which the state's purchasing
3-3 transactions with vendors can be accomplished electronically by
3-4 means of facsimile transmissions and on-line transmission of
3-5 necessary information. The commission shall base the network on
3-6 the standard data protocol developed by the American National
3-7 Standards Institute known as electronic data interchange or on
3-8 other efficient standards as determined by the commission.
3-9 (b) The commission may enter into contracts with one or more
3-10 public or private entities to establish or support various elements
3-11 of the network. The commission shall procure all goods and
3-12 services related to the network through the competitive selection
3-13 process appropriate for the good or service being acquired.
3-14 (c) The commission may provide for a gateway between the
3-15 electronic procurement marketplace and the electronic commerce
3-16 network so that the elements of a procurement transaction that are
3-17 within state government and the elements of a procurement
3-18 transaction that involve communication with a vendor may all be
3-19 accomplished electronically.
3-20 (d) Each state agency that is capable of participating in
3-21 the electronic commerce network must participate in the network and
3-22 participate in contracts entered into by the commission for the
3-23 establishment or support of the network. The commission shall
3-24 charge an agency a fee for network services provided to the agency
3-25 by the commission or by a contractor, so that the cost of providing
3-26 network services to an agency is paid by the agency.
3-27 (e) The commission may allow political subdivisions and
4-1 other public entities that are members of the commission's
4-2 cooperative purchasing program to participate in the electronic
4-3 commerce network. The commission shall require that a
4-4 participating political subdivision or other entity is charged a
4-5 fee for the network services in the same manner that participating
4-6 state agencies are charged fees under Subsection (d).
4-7 (f) The commission may also charge private businesses a fee
4-8 for accessing the network.
4-9 (g) The commission may:
4-10 (1) adopt rules to administer this section; and
4-11 (2) require participating state agencies, political
4-12 subdivisions, and other public entities to designate a network
4-13 coordinator.
4-14 (h) The requirements of this section and Section 2177.004
4-15 are in addition to the requirements of other law relating to the
4-16 solicitation of bids, proposals, or expressions of interest for a
4-17 procurement by the commission or another state agency. This
4-18 section and Section 2177.004 do not affect any other law that
4-19 requires the commission or another state agency to award a
4-20 procurement contract through competitive bidding, competitive
4-21 sealed proposals, or another method.
4-22 Sec. 2177.004. PARTICIPATION BY STATE AGENCIES IN ELECTRONIC
4-23 COMMERCE NETWORK. (a) Each state agency shall send to the
4-24 commission for posting on the electronic commerce network
4-25 information on each procurement contract the value of which will
4-26 exceed the amount of the agency's delegated purchasing authority
4-27 under Section 2155.132:
5-1 (1) without regard to the source of funds the agency
5-2 will use for the procurement; and
5-3 (2) including a procurement that is:
5-4 (A) a procurement by a state agency that is
5-5 otherwise exempt from the commission's purchasing authority;
5-6 (B) made under delegated purchasing authority
5-7 under Section 2155.131;
5-8 (C) related to a construction project; or
5-9 (D) a procurement of professional or consulting
5-10 services.
5-11 (b) The commission and each state agency shall include in
5-12 the information placed on the electronic commerce network, to the
5-13 extent it is feasible, the following information for each
5-14 procurement that the commission will make or that another state
5-15 agency will make under Subsection (a):
5-16 (1) a description of the goods or services to be
5-17 procured;
5-18 (2) the estimated quantity of the goods or services to
5-19 be procured;
5-20 (3) if applicable, the previous price paid by the
5-21 commission or another state agency for the same or similar goods or
5-22 services;
5-23 (4) the estimated date on which the goods or services
5-24 to be procured will be needed; and
5-25 (5) the name, business mailing address, and business
5-26 telephone number of the commission employee or other state agency
5-27 employee a person can contact to obtain all necessary information
6-1 relating to making a bid or proposal or other applicable expression
6-2 of interest for the procurement contract.
6-3 (c) The commission shall also post on the electronic
6-4 commerce network other information relating to the business
6-5 activity of the state that the commission considers to be of
6-6 interest to the public. Each state agency shall provide the
6-7 commission with information the commission requires for purposes of
6-8 this subsection in a format prescribed by the commission.
6-9 (d) Each state agency that will award a contract that has
6-10 been placed on the electronic commerce network under Subsection (a)
6-11 shall place notification of the awarding of the contract on the
6-12 electronic commerce network.
6-13 SECTION 2. Section 2155.264, Government Code, is amended to
6-14 read as follows:
6-15 Sec. 2155.264. AGENCY SOLICITATION OF BIDS OR PROPOSALS FOR
6-16 ACQUISITION OVER $15,000. A state agency that proposes to make a
6-17 purchase or other acquisition that will cost more than $15,000
6-18 shall solicit bids or proposals from each eligible vendor on the
6-19 master bidders list that serves the agency's geographic region. A
6-20 state agency may also solicit bids or proposals through the use of
6-21 on-line electronic transmission or the electronic commerce
6-22 network.
6-23 SECTION 3. Section 2156.005, Government Code, is amended to
6-24 read as follows:
6-25 Sec. 2156.005. BID SUBMISSION AND OPENING; PUBLIC
6-26 INSPECTION. (a) A bidder must submit a sealed bid to the
6-27 commission. The bid must be identified on the envelope as a bid.
7-1 (b) Subsection (a) does not apply to bids submitted through
7-2 the use of facsimile transmission, on-line electronic transmission,
7-3 or the electronic commerce network. The commission may adopt rules
7-4 to ensure the identification, security, and confidentiality of bids
7-5 submitted through the use of facsimile transmission, on-line
7-6 electronic transmission, or the electronic commerce network.
7-7 (c) The commission shall open bids at the time and place
7-8 stated in the invitation to bid.
7-9 [(c) The state auditor or a member of the state auditor's
7-10 staff may be present at a bid opening.]
7-11 (d) The commission shall keep a tabulation of all bids
7-12 received available for public inspection under rules adopted by the
7-13 commission.
7-14 SECTION 4. Section 2156.063, Government Code, is amended to
7-15 read as follows:
7-16 Sec. 2156.063. SOLICITATION OF BIDS. The commission shall
7-17 solicit bids under this subchapter by:
7-18 (1) direct mail;
7-19 (2) [,] telephone;
7-20 (3) [, or] telegraph;
7-21 (4) facsimile transmission;
7-22 (5) on-line electronic transmission; or
7-23 (6) posting on the electronic commerce network.
7-24 SECTION 5. The General Services Commission shall gradually
7-25 phase in, in the most cost-effective manner and in accordance with
7-26 available appropriations, the changes in law made by this Act that
7-27 require the commission to establish electronic marketplaces,
8-1 databases, or networks.
8-2 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
8-3 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
8-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
8-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
8-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
8-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.