C.S.H.B. 593 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


C.S.H.B. 593
By: Dukes
State Affairs
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a state agency may not accept a bid from, or award a
contract to, a person who received compensation for participating in
developing the bid specifications or developing the request for proposals.
However, many persons would be willing to assist in developing
specifications at no charge if the specifications can be narrowly drawn so
as to assure them of receiving the resulting contract.  The purpose of
C.S.H.B. 593 is to prohibit a state agency from accepting a bid from, or
awarding a contract to, a person who participated in the development of
the bid specifications if the specifications are so narrowly defined as to
limit or exclude competition. 

In addition, current law does not expressly prohibit a state agency from
accepting a bid or awarding a contract to an individual who is barred from
participating in state contracts by the Texas Building and Procurement
Commission.  C.S.H.B. 593 would enact such a prohibition. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the committee that this bill does not expressly
delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer,
department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 593 amends Section 2155.004 of the Government Code to provide
that a state agency may not accept a bid or award a contract to a person
if: 

_the person participated in the development of the bid specifications or
request for proposals; and 
_the specifications are either specific to that person or so narrowly
defined as to limit or exclude competition. 

C.S.H.B. 593 also prohibits a state agency from accepting a bid or
awarding a contract to an individual or entity that is barred from
participating in state contracts by the Texas Building and Procurement
Commission under Section 2155.077, Government Code. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2003.  The Act applies only in relation to a contract for
which the requests for bids or proposals or other applicable expressions
of interest are made public on or after the effective date of the Act.  


COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

The original bill prohibited a state agency from accepting a bid from, or
awarding a contract to, a person who participated to any extent in the
development of the bid specifications or request for proposals on which
the bid or contract is based.  C.S.H.B. 593 permits a state agency to
award a contract to a person who participated in the development of the
bid specifications or request for proposals, provided that the
specifications or request for proposals are not so narrowly defined as to
be specific to that person or to otherwise limit or exclude competition.