Senate Bill No. 305
(By Senators Snyder and Unger)
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[Introduced January 28, 2004; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto two new sections, designated §5A-3-55 and
§5A-3-55a, all relating to intrastate air transportation
services for state employees, legislators, members of various
state boards and commissions and members of the general
public; limiting the authority to contract to one year;
directing the solicitation of bids to provide the same;
outlining minimum bid specifications; authorizing the limited
underwriting of the cost of the same; and making certain
findings in relation thereto.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto two new sections, designated §5A-3-55 and
§5A-3-55a
, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. PURCHASING DIVISION.
§5A-3-55. Legislative findings.
The Legislature hereby finds that the absence of regularly
scheduled intrastate commercial passenger air service in the state
inhibits participation on state boards and commissions by citizens
living in distant areas of the state; results in the loss of
productivity by state employees and legislators traveling to and
from distant communities; and hampers economic development. The
Legislature further finds that it would well serve the state's
interests to partially underwrite the cost of providing air service
by soliciting competitive bids from responsible bidders in the
private sector to provide air service to the state.
§5A-3-55a. Director to solicit competitive bids to provide
partially underwritten intrastate passenger air
service at the lowest underwriting costs.
(a) The director may exercise the authority provided in this
article to solicit, from responsible bidders, bids to provide, for
a twelve-month period, partially underwritten, reliable, regularly
scheduled public passenger air service to state employees,
legislators, members of various state boards and commissions, and
members of the general public between and among communities in the
state: Provided, That the director's authority to contract for
services is limited to one twelve-month contract.
(b) To be eligible to respond to the solicitation, a bidder
shall offer to provide at a minimum: (1) Round trip prices per passenger which do not exceed three hundred dollars; (2) a flight
departure and arrival schedule which is determined by the director
to be efficient and appropriate to achieve optimum cost-benefit in
light of the official duties, responsibilities and work schedules
of the passengers using the service; (3) aircraft which seats at
least six passengers, and which meets other safety and comfort
specifications determined by the director; and (4) other
requirements and specifications determined by the director.
(c) At the conclusion of the bidding process, the director
may, pursuant to the procedures provided in this article, award a
contract to the lowest bidder, taking into consideration the
qualities of the articles to be supplied, their conformity to the
specifications, their suitability to the requirements of government
and the delivery terms. Any or all bids may be rejected. The
director may accept a bid and enter into a contract in which the
guarantee amount shall not exceed the amount that the Legislature
appropriated to the director for the air service for that fiscal
year: Provided, That the contract shall provide that the
administration of the air service to be rendered pursuant to the
contract shall be in accordance with the emergency rules as
promulgated by the director in accordance with section fifteen,
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the Director
of the Purchasing Division to solicit competitive bids and award a contract to provide underwritten intrastate air service for state
employees and others.
These sections are new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.