1-1     By:  Ogden                                             S.B. No. 555
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 17, 1999; February 18, 1999,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
 1-4     April 12, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 8, Nays 0; April 12, 1999,
 1-6     sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 555                     By:  Cain
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to the award of state highway improvement contracts.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 223, Transportation Code,
1-13     is amended by adding Section 223.0041 to read as follows:
1-14           Sec. 223.0041.  AWARD OF CONTRACTS.  (a)  Except as provided
1-15     by Section 223.005, all bids received and not rejected by the
1-16     department shall be tabulated and forwarded to the commission.
1-17           (b)  The commission may accept or reject the bids.  Except as
1-18     provided in Subsection (c), if the bids are accepted, the
1-19     commission shall award the contract to the lowest bidder, subject
1-20     to Section 223.045.
1-21           (c)  For a maintenance contract involving an amount less than
1-22     $100,000, if the lowest bidder withdraws its bid prior to contract
1-23     award or fails to execute the contract, the director may recommend
1-24     to the commission that the contract be awarded to the second lowest
1-25     bidder.  The commission may award the maintenance contract to the
1-26     second lowest bidder if the second lowest bidder agrees to accept
1-27     the unit bid prices of the lowest bidder.  The commission shall
1-28     adopt rules governing the conditions under which the department
1-29     will allow the withdrawal of the bid of the lowest bidder and
1-30     consider awarding a maintenance contract to the second lowest
1-31     bidder.
1-32           SECTION 2.  Subsections (b), (c), and (d), Section 223.005,
1-33     Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-34           (b)  [Except as provided by Subsection (d), all bids received
1-35     under this section and not rejected by the department shall be
1-36     tabulated and forwarded to the commission and may be accepted or
1-37     rejected by the commission.]
1-38           [(c)  If the bids are accepted, the commission shall award
1-39     the contract to the lowest bidder, subject to Section 223.045.]
1-40           [(d)]  The commission may delegate to the director or the
1-41     director's designee the right to:
1-42                 (1)  accept or reject bids received, subject to Section
1-43     223.045; and
1-44                 (2)  award a contract to the lowest bidder.
1-45           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-46     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-47     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-48     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-49     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-50     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-51     passage, and it is so enacted.
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