By: Ellis S.B. No. 1469
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to construction projects managed by the General Services
1-2 Commission.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 2166.001(8), Government Code, is amended
1-5 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 2166.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-7 (1) "Construction" includes acquisition and
1-8 reconstruction.
1-9 (2) "Cost of a project" includes the cost of:
1-10 (A) real estate;
1-11 (B) other property;
1-12 (C) rights and easement;
1-13 (D) utility services;
1-14 (E) site development;
1-15 (F) construction and initial furnishing and
1-16 equipment;
1-17 (G) architectural, engineering, and legal
1-18 services;
1-19 (H) surveys, plans, and specification; and
1-20 (I) other costs, including those incurred by the
1-21 commission, that are necessary or incidental to determining the
2-1 feasibility or practicability of a project.
2-2 (3) "Private design professional" means a design
2-3 professional as described by Subdivisions (6)(A) and (B)(ii).
2-4 (4) "Project" means a building construction project
2-5 that is financed wholly or partly by a specific appropriation, a
2-6 bond issue, or federal money. The term includes the construction
2-7 of:
2-8 (A) a building, structure, or appurtenant
2-9 facility or utility, including the acquisition and installation of
2-10 original equipment and original furnishings; and
2-11 (B) an addition to, or alteration,
2-12 rehabilitation, or repair of, an existing building, structure, or
2-13 appurtenant facility or utility.
2-14 (5) "Project analysis" means work done before the
2-15 legislative appropriation for a project to develop a reliable
2-16 estimate of the cost of the project to be used in the
2-17 appropriations request.
2-18 (6) "Design professional" means an individual
2-19 registered as an architect under Chapter 478, Acts of the 45th
2-20 Legislature, Regular Session, 1937 (Article 249a, Vernon's Texas
2-21 Civil Statutes), or a person registered as a professional engineer
2-22 under The Texas Engineering Practice Act (Article 3271a, Vernon's
2-23 Texas Civil Statutes):
2-24 (A) who provides professional architectural or
2-25 engineering services and has overall responsibility for the design
3-1 of a building construction undertaking; and
3-2 (B) who:
3-3 (i) is employed on a salary basis; or
3-4 (ii) is in private practice and is
3-5 retained for a specific project under a contract with the
3-6 commission.
3-7 (7) "Rehabilitation" includes renewal, restoration,
3-8 extension, enlargement, and improvement.
3-9 (8) "Small construction project" means a project with
3-10 an estimated value of less than $100,000, which requires the
3-11 advance preparation of working plans or drawings.
3-12 (9) [(8)] "Staged construction" means the construction
3-13 of a project in phases, with each phase resulting in one or more
3-14 trade packages, features, buildings or structures that individually
3-15 or together may be built [are capable of use], regardless of
3-16 whether later phases of the project are authorized.
3-17 (10) [(9)] "Using agency" means:
3-18 (A) an instrumentality of the state that
3-19 occupies and uses a state-owned or state-leased building; or
3-20 (B) the commission, with respect to a
3-21 state-owned building maintained by the commission.
3-22 SECTION 2. Section 2166.203, Government Code, is amended to
3-23 read as follows:
3-24 Sec. 2166.203. Interview Notification to Private Design
3-25 Professional. (a) The commission shall notify a private design
4-1 professional selected for an interview on a project of the person's
4-2 selection not later than the 30th day before the date of the
4-3 interview to allow preparation for the interview[.] provided,
4-4 however, that interviews for private design professionals selected
4-5 to perform small construction projects may occur no less than 14
4-6 days after notification to the private design professional.
4-7 (b) Subsection (a) does not apply in an emergency situation
4-8 that:
4-9 (1) presents an imminent peril to the public health,
4-10 safety, or welfare;
4-11 (2) presents an imminent peril to property;
4-12 (3) requires expeditious action to prevent a hazard to
4-13 life, health, safety, welfare, or property; or
4-14 (4) requires expeditious action to avoid undue
4-15 additional cost to the state.
4-16 SECTION 3. Section 2166.253, Government Code, is amended to
4-17 read as follows:
4-18 Sec. 2166.253. Bidding Procedures. (a) After final
4-19 approval of a project's working plans and specifications and their
4-20 acceptance by a using agency, the commission shall advertise in one
4-21 [two or more] newspaper[s] of general circulation and the Texas
4-22 Register for bids or proposals for the construction of and related
4-23 work on the project.
4-24 (b) The commission shall allow bidders not less than 30 days
4-25 after the date the commission issues the bid documents to respond
5-1 to an invitation to bid[.] for a project; provided, however, that
5-2 invitations for bids for small construction projects shall allow
5-3 bidders not less than 14 days after the date the commission issues
5-4 the bid documents to respond. The commission may shorten the time
5-5 for response to prevent undue additional costs to a state agency
5-6 or, for emergency projects, to prevent or remove a hazard to life
5-7 or property.
5-8 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
5-9 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
5-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.