WEST virginia Legislature
2017 regular session
By
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to the Committee on Government Organization then Finance.
A BILL to amend and
reenact §5A-3-10 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend
said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §12-3-10h, all relating
to purchasing requirements for the Division of Highways; permitting the
Division of Highways to make purchases of up to $100,000 without engaging in
competitive bidding and prohibiting the Division of Highways from requiring
purchasing card users in district offices to secure bids for purchases under a
certain amount.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5A-3-10 of the
Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that
said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §12-3-10h,
all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 5A. DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION.
ARTICLE 3. PURCHASING DIVISION.
§5A-3-10. Competitive bids; publication of
solicitations for sealed bids; purchase of products of nonprofit workshops;
employee to assist in dealings with nonprofit workshops.
(a)
A purchase of and contract for commodities, printing and services shall be
based, whenever possible, on competitive bids.
(b)
The director shall solicit sealed bids for the purchase of commodities and
printing which is estimated to exceed $25,000: Provided, That
the requirements of this subsection do not apply to the Division of Highways
purchases. No spending unit shall
issue a series of requisitions or divide or plan procurements to circumvent
this $25,000 threshold or otherwise avoid the use of sealed bids. Any spending unit which awards multiple
contracts for the same or similar commodity or service to an individual vendor
over any twelve-month period, the total value of which exceeds $25,000, shall
file copies of all contracts awarded to the vendor within the twelve preceding
months with the director immediately upon exceeding the $25,000 limit, along
with a statement explaining how the multiple contract awards do not circumvent
the $25,000 threshold. If the spending
unit does not immediately report to the director, the director may suspend the
purchasing authority of the spending unit until the spending unit complies with
the reporting requirement of this subsection.
The director may conduct a review of any spending unit to ensure
compliance with this subsection.
Following a review, the director shall complete a report summarizing his
or her findings and forward the report to the spending unit. In addition, the director shall report to the
Joint Committee on Government and Finance on January 1, and July of each year
the spending units which have reported under this subsection and the findings
of the director.
(c)
The director may permit bids by electronic transmission to be accepted in lieu
of sealed bids.
(d)
Bids shall be solicited by public notice.
The notice may be published by any advertising medium the director deems
advisable. The director may also solicit
sealed bids by sending requests by mail or electronic transmission to
prospective vendors.
(e)
The director shall, without competitive bidding, purchase commodities and services
produced and offered for sale by nonprofit workshops, as defined in section
one, article one of this chapter, which are located in this state: Provided, That such commodities and
services shall be of a fair market price and of like quality comparable to
other commodities and services otherwise available as determined by the
director with the advice of the committee on the purchase of commodities and
services from the handicapped.
To
encourage contracts for commodities and services with nonprofit workshops, the
director shall employ a person whose responsibilities in addition to other
duties shall be to identify all commodities and services available for purchase
from nonprofit workshops, to evaluate the need of the state for commodities and
services to coordinate the various nonprofit workshops in their production
efforts and to make available to such workshops information about available
opportunities within state government for purchase of commodities or services
which might be produced and sold by such workshops. Funds to employ such a person shall be
included annually in the budget.
(f)
The director shall solicit sealed bids for any purchase of commodities and
printing by the Division of Highways which is estimated to exceed
$100,000. The Division of Highways may
not issue a series of requisitions or divide or plan procurements to circumvent
the $100,000 threshold or otherwise avoid the use of sealed bids. If the Division of Highways awards multiple
contracts for the same or similar commodity or service to an individual vendor
over any twelve-month period, the total value of which exceeds $100,000, the
Commissioner of Highways shall file copies of all contracts awarded to the
vendor within the twelve preceding months with the director immediately upon
exceeding the $100,000 limit, along with a statement explaining how the
multiple contract awards do not circumvent the $100,000 threshold. If the Division of Highways does not
immediately report to the director, the director may suspend the purchasing
authority of the Division of Highways until the Division of Highways complies
with the reporting requirement of this subsection. The director may conduct a review of the
Division of Highways to ensure compliance with this subsection. Following a review, the director shall
complete a report summarizing his or her findings and forward the report to the
Division of Highways. In addition, the
director shall report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance on
January 1 and July 1 of each year whether the Division of Highways has reported
under this subsection and the findings of the director.
CHAPTER 12. PUBLIC
MONEYS AND SECURITIES.
ARTICLE 3.
APPROPRIATIONS, EXPENDITURES AND DEDUCTIONS.
§12-3-10h. Purchasing
card requirements for district offices of the Division of Highways.
(a) Definitions. -- For the purposes of this section “district” means
one of the ten road maintenance districts established by the West Virginia
Division of Highways.
(b) Findings.-- According to an independent audit report submitted to
the Joint Committee on Government and Finance on January 10, 2016:
(1) Certain requirements
for Division of Highways purchasing card transactions at the district-level are
outdated, as the cost of materials and equipment have increased since the last
purchasing manual update;
(2) Processing purchase
orders through Division of Highways headquarters can be time consuming; and
(3) An increase in
thresholds for purchasing card transaction requirements can expedite the processing
duration for purchasing orders.
(c) Purchasing card requirements for district offices.--
(1) Notwithstanding any
other provision of this code or legislative rule to the contrary, the Division
of Highways may not require an authorized purchasing card user for a district
office to secure verbal bids before using a purchasing card to make a purchase
that is less than $10,000.
(2) Notwithstanding any
other provision of this code or legislative rule to the contrary, the Division
of Highways may not require an authorized purchasing card user for a district
office to secure written bids before using a purchasing card to make a purchase
that is less than $25,000.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is
to increase the threshold cost of purchases which the Division of Highways may
make without engaging in competitive bidding from $25,000 to $100,000 and to
prohibit the Division of Highways from requiring purchasing card users in
district offices to secure bids for purchases under a certain amount.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.