H. B. 2976
(By Delegate Webb)
[Introduced February 26, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section eleven, article three,
chapter five-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the
purchasing division and eliminating the submission of
duplicate bids to the office of the state auditor.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eleven, article three, chapter five-a of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. PURCHASING DIVISION.
§5A-3-11. Purchasing in open market on competitive bids; bids to
be based on standard specifications; period for alteration or withdrawal of bids; awards to lowest responsible bidder; uniform bids; record of bids; and exception.
The director may make a purchase of commodities, printing
and services of ten thousand dollars or less in amount in the
open market, but such purchase shall, wherever possible, be based
on at least three competitive bids.
The director may authorize spending units to purchase
commodities, printing and services in the amount of one thousand
dollars in the open market without competitive bids.
Bids shall be based on the standard specifications
promulgated and adopted in accordance with the provisions of
section five of this article, and shall not be altered or
withdrawn after the appointed hour for the opening of such bids.
All open market orders, purchases based on advertised bid
requests or contracts made by the director or by a state
department shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder,
taking into consideration the qualities of the articles to be
supplied, their conformity with specifications, their suitability
to the requirements of the government and the delivery terms:
Provided, That state bids on school buses shall be accepted from
all bidders who shall then be awarded contracts if they meet the
state board's "Minimum Standards for Design and Equipment of
School Buses". County boards of education may select from those
bidders who have been awarded contracts and shall pay the
difference between the state aid formula amount and the actual
cost of bus replacement. Any or all bids may be rejected. If all bids received on a pending contract are for the same unit
price or total amount, the director shall have authority to
reject all bids, and to purchase the required commodities,
printing and services in the open market, if the price paid in
the open market does not exceed the bid prices.
All bidders submitting bid proposals to the purchasing
division are required to submit an extra or duplicate copy to the
state auditor.
Both copies The bids must be received
at the respective
offices prior to the specified date and time of the bid openings.
The failure to deliver or the nonreceipt of these bid forms
at
either of these offices prior to the appointed date and hour
are
grounds for shall result in rejection of the bids.
In the event
of any deviation between the copies submitted to the purchasing
division and the state auditor, such bids as to which there is
such deviation shall be rejected, if the deviation relates to the
quantity, quality or specifications of the commodities, printing
or services to be furnished or to the price therefor or to the
date of delivery or performance. After the award of the order or
contract, the director, or someone appointed by him
or her for
that purpose, shall indicate upon the successful bid
and its copy
in the office of the state auditor that it was the successful
bid. Thereafter, the
copy of each bid
in the possession of the
director and the state auditor shall be maintained as a public record by
both of them, the director and shall be open to public
inspection
in the offices of both the director and the state
auditor and
shall may not be destroyed
by either of them without
the written consent of the legislative auditor:
Provided, That
the board of regents may certify in writing to the director the
need for a specific item essential to a particular usage either
for instructional or research purposes at an institution of
higher education and the director upon review of such
certification may provide for the purchase of said specific items
in the open market without competitive bids. If the director
permits bids by facsimile transmission machine to be accepted in
lieu of sealed bids pursuant to the provisions of section ten of
this article, a duplicate facsimile transmission machine bid
shall be transmitted to the
state auditor director of purchasing
pursuant to this section:
Provided, however, That an original
bid is received by the
state auditor director of purchasing
within two working days following the date specified for bid
opening.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to delete the requirement
of submitting duplicate bids to the purchasing division and the
state auditor.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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