Senate Bill No. 741
(By Senators Wooton, Hunter, Kessler, Minard, Mitchell, Oliverio,
Rowe, Snyder, Deem and McKenzie)
____________
[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported March 1, 2002.]
_____________
A BILL to amend and reenact sections one and three, article three,
chapter five-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to the small
business state contracting act of 2002; providing definition
of small business; and authorizing the director of purchasing
to propose legislative rules to develop and implement a method
for spending units to purchase commodities from resident small
business vendors with a goal of twenty-three percent of state
contracts awarded to resident small businesses.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections one and three, article three, chapter five-a of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. PURCHASING DIVISION.
§5A-3-1. Division created; purpose; director; applicability of article; continuation.
(a) There is hereby created the purchasing division of the
department of administration for the purpose of establishing
centralized offices to provide purchasing, travel and leasing
services to the various state agencies.
(b) No person
shall may be appointed director of the
purchasing division unless that person is, at the time of
appointment, a graduate of an accredited college or university and
shall have who has spent a minimum of ten of the fifteen years
immediately preceding his or her appointment employed in an
executive capacity in purchasing for any unit of government or for
any business, commercial or industrial enterprise.
(c) The provisions of this article
shall apply to all of the
spending units of state government, except as
is otherwise provided
by this article or by law:
Provided, That the provisions of this
article
shall do not apply to the legislative branch unless
otherwise provided
by law or the Legislature or either house
thereof requests the director to render specific services under the
provisions of this chapter, nor to purchases of stock made by the
alcohol beverage control commissioner, nor to purchases of
textbooks for the state board of education.
(d) For the purposes of this section, a small business has the
same definition as set out in section seven-a, article thirteen-c,
chapter eleven of this code.
§5A-3-3. Powers and duties of director of purchasing.
(a) The director, under the direction and supervision of the
secretary, shall be the executive officer of the purchasing
division and shall have the power and duty to:
(1) Direct the activities and employees of the purchasing
division;
(2) Ensure that the purchase of or contract for commodities
and printing shall be based, whenever possible, on competitive bid;
(3) Purchase or contract for, in the name of the state, the
commodities and printing required by the spending units of the
state government;
(4) Apply and enforce standard specifications established in
accordance with section five of this article as hereinafter
provided;
(5) Transfer to or between spending units or sell commodities
that are surplus, obsolete or unused as hereinafter provided;
(6) Have charge of central storerooms for the supply of
spending units;
(7) Establish and maintain a laboratory for the testing of
commodities and make use of existing facilities in state
institutions for that purpose as hereinafter provided;
(8) Suspend the right and privilege of a vendor to bid on
state purchases when the director has evidence that such vendor has
violated any of the provisions of the purchasing law or the rules
and regulations of the director;
(9) Examine the provisions and terms of every contract entered
into for and on behalf of the state of West Virginia that impose any obligation upon the state to pay any sums of money for
commodities or services and approve each such contract as to such
provisions and terms; and the duty of examination and approval
herein set forth does not supersede the responsibility and duty of
the attorney general to approve such contracts as to form:
Provided, That the provisions of this subdivision do not apply in
any respect whatever to construction or repair contracts entered
into by the division of highways of the department of
transportation:
Provided, however, That the provisions of this
subdivision do not apply in any respect whatever to contracts
entered into by the university of West Virginia board of trustees
or by the board of directors of the state college system, except to
the extent that such boards request the facilities and services of
the director under the provisions of this subdivision;
and
(10) Assure that the specifications and commodity descriptions
in all "requests for quotations" are prepared so as to permit all
potential suppliers-vendors who can meet the requirements of the
state an opportunity to bid and to assure that the specifications
and descriptions do not favor a particular brand or vendor. If the
director determines that any such specifications or descriptions as
written favor a particular brand or vendor or if it is decided,
either before or after the bids are opened, that a commodity having
different specifications or quality or in different quantity can be
bought, the director may rewrite the "requests for quotations" and
the matter shall be rebid;
and
(11) Propose legislative rules to implement and develop the method for spending units of state government to purchase
commodities including personal computers, materials, supplies,
services and equipment from resident small business vendors. The
rules shall provide that the policy of the state is for small
businesses to be encouraged to bid for state contracts, with a goal
of at least twenty-three percent of contract bids going to state
small businesses as is the case in federal government contract
bids. Small businesses may join together to bid on contracts and
may not be limited by contract bundling by the state when it
prevents small businesses from bidding. The rules shall further
provide that small businesses may subcontract services on contracts
and may not be excluded from contract bids or from being awarded
contracts for the sole reason that the small business cannot comply
with performance bond requirements, financial statement
requirements or warranty specifications or can not provide any
other service, if the small business can satisfy these requirements
and others through subcontracts or other methods.
The rules shall further provide a method for monitoring the
implementation of the policy to encourage resident small businesses
to bid for state contracts, for determining whether the goal of
twenty-three percent has been met and for evaluating what further
steps must be taken to meet the goal of twenty-three percent of
state contract bids going to resident small businesses.
(b) The purchasing division is directed to collaborate with
the West Virginia small business development center in the drafting
of these rules and the monitoring of progress in attaining the goals of this section. The division shall submit a report to the
joint committee on government and finance prior to the first day of
July, two thousand three, and each succeeding year documenting
progress made towards meeting these goals and the means to be
implemented in future years for meeting the goals set forth in this
section.
(c) The purchasing division is further directed to conduct a
review of its rules to determine whether any previously adopted
rules are not in conformity with the new policy of encouraging
resident small businesses to bid on state contracts and the goal of
twenty-three percent of state contracts going to resident small
businesses and to recommend the adoption of new rules to ensure
future conformity with this new policy.
___________
(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a new public
policy encouraging resident small businesses to bid for state
contracts, to set a goal of twenty-three percent of all state
contracts for purchases going to resident small businesses and to
establish rules to fulfill this policy and monitor the progress
towards achieving these goals.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
