By Hamric                                             H.B. No. 2268
         76R7377 E                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the award of state highway improvement contracts.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 223, Transportation Code,
 1-5     is amended by adding Section 223.0041 to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 223.0041.  AWARD OF CONTRACTS.  (a)  Except as provided
 1-7     by Section 223.005, all bids received and not rejected by the
 1-8     department shall be tabulated and forwarded to the commission and
 1-9     may be accepted or rejected by the commission.
1-10           (b)  Except as provided in Subsection (c), if the bids are
1-11     accepted, the commission shall award the contract to the lowest
1-12     bidder, subject to Section 223.045.
1-13           (c)  If the lowest bidder withdraws its bid prior to contract
1-14     award or fails to execute the contract, the director may recommend
1-15     that the commission award the contract to the second lowest bidder.
1-16     The commission may award the contract to the second lowest bidder
1-17     if the second lowest bidder agrees to accept the unit bid prices of
1-18     the lowest bidder.  The commission shall adopt rules governing the
1-19     conditions under which the department will allow the withdrawal of
1-20     a bid and consider awarding a contract to the second lowest bidder.
1-21     This subsection applies only to contracts involving an amount less
1-22     than $300,000.
1-23           SECTION 2.  Section 223.005, Transportation Code, is amended
1-24     to read as follows:
 2-1           Sec. 223.005.  BIDS ON CONTRACTS INVOLVING LESS THAN
 2-2     $300,000.  (a)  The commission by rule may allow bids on a contract
 2-3     estimated by the department to involve an amount less than $300,000
 2-4     to be filed with the district engineer at the headquarters for the
 2-5     district in which the improvement is to be made and opened and read
 2-6     at a public meeting held by the district engineer or the district
 2-7     engineer's designee.
 2-8           (b)  [Except as provided by Subsection (d), all bids received
 2-9     under this section and not rejected by the department shall be
2-10     tabulated and forwarded to the commission and may be accepted or
2-11     rejected by the commission.]
2-12           [(c)  If the bids are accepted, the commission shall award
2-13     the contract to the lowest bidder, subject to Section 223.045.]
2-14           [(d)]  The commission may delegate to the director or the
2-15     director's designee the right to:
2-16                 (1)  accept or reject bids received, subject to Section
2-17     223.045; and
2-18                 (2)  award a contract to the lowest bidder.
2-19           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-20     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-21     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-22     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-23     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-24     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-25     passage, and it is so enacted.