78R9099 MTB-D
By: Swinford H.B. No. 3005
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to state contracts and procurement.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.063 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.063. CONTRACTS FOR TRANSPORTATION BROKERAGE
SERVICES. (a) The commission shall contract with a single
statewide transportation broker or with an appropriate number of
regional transportation brokers for administrative assistance in
providing transportation services under the medical transportation
program.
(b) The commission may contract under this section with any
person who meets the criteria established by the commission,
including a nonprofit organization, public entity, or private
contractor.
(c) A contract between the commission and a broker must:
(1) require the broker to act as a gatekeeper to
control costs and the use of transportation services, as well as to
ensure consistent quality of and access to those services;
(2) require the broker to implement procedures
designed to:
(A) prevent fraud and abuse in the medical
transportation program; and
(B) promote use of the most efficient and least
costly modes of transportation; and
(3) include an overall cap on the amount that may be
paid by the commission under the contract.
(d) The broker or brokers selected by the commission may
contract with transportation providers as necessary to provide
transportation services to persons eligible for those services.
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 2054, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 2054.062 to read as follows:
Sec. 2054.062. STATE AGENCY LETTERHEAD. The department
shall create a program that automatically generates letterhead for
a state agency on an agency computer.
SECTION 3. Section 2171.055, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
(f) An officer or employee of a public junior college, as
defined by Section 61.003, Education Code, or of a school district
who is engaged in official business may participate in the
commission's contract for travel services for the purpose of
obtaining reduced airline fares and reduced travel agent fees. The
commission may charge a participating public junior college or
school district a fee not to exceed the costs incurred by the
commission in providing services under this subsection. The
commission shall periodically review fees and shall adjust them as
needed to ensure recovery of costs incurred in providing services
to public junior colleges and school districts under this
subsection. The commission shall deposit the fees collected under
this subsection to the credit of the school district airline fares
account. The school district airline fares account is an account in
the general revenue fund that may be appropriated only for the
purposes of this chapter. The commission shall adopt rules and make
or amend contracts as necessary to administer this subsection.
SECTION 4. Subchapter H, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 201.616 to read as follows:
Sec. 201.616. CONSULTANT SELECTION PROCESS. The department
shall work with the consulting engineering design community to
improve its consultant selection process and with representatives
of other states to find ways to reduce administrative burdens on the
department and consulting firms.
SECTION 5. Subchapter H, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Sections 201.617 and 201.618 to read as
follows:
Sec. 201.617. PUBLIC-PRIVATE COMPETITION FOR HIGHWAY
MAINTENANCE. The department shall increase the number of highway
maintenance projects that are open to private competition and shall
contract with private businesses to perform highway maintenance if
a private business is capable of performing better maintenance than
the department is capable of performing at a lower cost than the
department's cost for the same maintenance.
Sec. 201.618. HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE PILOT PROJECT. (a) The
department shall create a pilot project to outsource highway
maintenance to private businesses. The project shall include all
aspects of highway maintenance, including capital work and bridge
maintenance, and shall focus on costs over the highway's life cycle
and encourage vendor innovation. The term of the project must be of
adequate duration and the highway segment of sufficient size to
allow the department to determine the effectiveness of the project.
(b) A project under this section may be a new project or a
renegotiation of an existing project.
(c) This section expires December 31, 2005.
SECTION 6. Subchapter I, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 201.708 to read as follows:
Sec. 201.708. PURCHASING METHOD. In purchasing goods and
services the department may use, but is not limited to, the reverse
auction procedure.
SECTION 7. Subchapter I, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Sections 201.711-201.714 to read as follows:
Sec. 201.711. JUST-IN-TIME INVENTORY PILOT PROGRAM. (a)
Before January 1, 2004, the Texas Building and Procurement
Commission and the department shall implement a just-in-time
inventory pilot program for the purchase of office and janitorial
supplies for the department in small quantities with frequent
deliveries.
(b) The Texas Building and Procurement Commission and the
department shall determine which office supplies and janitorial
items are to be included in the pilot program.
(c) To the extent necessary to implement the inventory pilot
program, the department or the Texas Building and Procurement
Commission, as applicable, may modify the terms of contracts
offered to vendors as part of the pilot program to ensure that items
are delivered to the department within 24 to 48 hours from the time
the department orders those items.
(d) To the extent practicable, items to be purchased under
the pilot program should not be inventoried at a regional supply
center or district warehouse of the department but should be
delivered directly to the location where they are to be used.
(e) The Texas Building and Procurement Commission and the
department shall use as the model for the pilot program under this
section the program for just-in-time inventory approaches for the
purchase of office supplies and the program for the purchase of
office or janitorial supplies adopted by other states with
populations that exceed the population of this state.
(f) Under the pilot program developed by the Texas Building
and Procurement Commission and the department, the department
should offer one contract for office supplies and a separate
contract for janitorial items. A contract offered under the pilot
program must:
(1) require service guarantees similar to those
required by the programs in the other states; and
(2) allow orders to be placed by telephone, facsimile,
mail, or the Internet, with the Internet to be used as the primary
communication mode.
(g) This section expires December 31, 2005.
Sec. 201.712. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT GROUP. (a) The
department shall create a supply chain management group to lead the
application of "best practices" in logistics and materials
management throughout the department. The group shall be placed
within the purchasing section of the department's general services
division at a level that supports organizational visibility.
(b) The supply chain management group may not be composed of
more than five employees located at the department's Austin
headquarters. At least two members of the group should have
private-sector experience in supply chain management and possess
professional certification in that area. The remaining group
members should be recruited from within the department and have
demonstrated innovative work in purchasing or warehousing.
(c) As its initial task, the supply chain management group
shall review all existing reports, including the June 1997 KPMG
Peat Marwick report and the November 1998 report by the state
auditor, identify viable recommendations, develop implementation
strategies, and seek approval from executive management to
implement those recommendations.
(d) After the supply chain management group completes its
task under Subsection (c), the group shall travel to the department
districts and divisions and facilitate the establishment of
permanent supply chain committees, composed of seven to nine
members from within the department having staggered terms to ensure
continuity. Purchasing, warehousing, and district or division
management personnel shall select representatives from end user
groups to fill the remaining positions on the committee.
(e) The supply chain management group shall focus its
efforts on conducting "yellow pages tests" to determine whether the
department should do particular jobs if there are businesses that
advertise in the telephone directory yellow pages that can do those
jobs better and at a lower cost. The group should first review
warehousing operations and then review other areas of supply chain
management.
Sec. 201.713. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT TRAINING. (a) The
department shall collaborate with private-sector logistics
organizations to provide supply chain management training for the
department's purchasing and warehouse managers.
(b) The supply chain management group established under
Section 201.712 may assist in providing training under Subsection
(a). In addition, and so as to complement the efforts of the supply
chain management group and to integrate supply chain management
principles throughout the department's divisions and districts,
the department shall encourage department purchasing and warehouse
managers to pursue additional training and certification.
Sec. 201.714. EVALUATION OF WAREHOUSE SPACE. (a) The
department shall evaluate the department's warehouse space and
determine how to maximize the use of that space.
(b) If the implementation of Sections 201.711-201.713
results in the identification or creation of warehouse space that
is not being used by the department, and depending on the amount of
that unused space, the department shall consider leasing the unused
space to other entities or converting the space to other uses.
SECTION 8. Subchapter I, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 201.715 to read as follows:
Sec. 201.715. CERTAIN CONTRACTS WITH THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT
OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE. The department shall renegotiate a contract
for signs with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as
necessary to reduce:
(1) the sign inventory of the department; and
(2) the number of days allowed for the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice to deliver signs.
SECTION 9. Section 202.055, Transportation Code, is amended
by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) The department shall:
(1) seek information from potential lessees of rest
areas to determine interest in leasing rest areas and ways that rest
areas could be used to benefit the public and reduce state expenses;
and
(2) consider, in determining proposed uses of a rest
area, the opinions of government officials serving the area in
which the rest area is located and of businesses and residents in
that area.
SECTION 10. Subchapter A, Chapter 223, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 223.017 to read as follows:
Sec. 223.017. PREQUALIFICATION-BASED BIDDING. (a) The
department shall establish a formal process to establish strict
initial prequalification criteria and provide for ongoing
follow-up evaluations to assess the quality of work performed by
bidders. The process must be simple and straightforward so as to
minimize the administrative burden of the department and
contractors.
(b) The department shall evaluate each project of the
department after completion and compile a performance index for
each contractor. The performance index may be used to increase or
decrease the amount of work a contractor may be given on the basis
of the prequalification limit. A higher performance index shall
allow bidding on larger jobs. To reduce concerns of the
contractors, information collected under this subsection may not be
used to adjust bid prices.
(c) The department shall tier the qualifications so that
specialized expertise is necessary only if that element is included
in the particular bid under consideration.
SECTION 11. Subchapter B, Chapter 223, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 223.049 to read as follows:
Sec. 223.049. USE OF WARRANTIES. (a) The department shall
increase its use of warranties.
(b) The department shall begin implementing warranties in a
sample of new construction contracts with appropriate associated
surety provisions. The use of warranties may be extended as the
department and contractors and insurers develop experience and
expertise. In implementing warranties, the department shall
develop strict prequalification guidelines to ensure that this
state receives the maximum benefit.
(c) The department shall determine warranty length based on
its experience, construction practices, and the project involved.
Life cycle cost analysis shall be used to determine when to use
warranties. Appropriate quality control processes must remain in
place for the projects.
(d) The department shall conduct analyses of warranties in
high-volume restricted access road projects, such as interstate
highways, toll roads, and bridges. The department shall also
analyze warranties for specific elements of larger projects, such
as asphalt-concrete pavement, bridge decks, bridge painting, and
bridge expansion dams.
(e) For a contract that combines both the design and
construction elements, including an exclusive developer agreement,
the department must include as part of the bidding process an option
for an extended warranty for items such as pavement so that life
cycle cost analysis can determine cost-effectiveness.
SECTION 12. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.