WEST virginia Legislature

2016 regular session

Introduced

Senate Bill 575

By Senator Blair

[Introduced February 10, 2016;
Referred to the Committee on Government Organization.]

A BILL to amend and reenact §5A-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to the rules of the Purchasing Division of the Department of Administration; requiring that state leases for office space provide that the landlord or owner is responsible for cleaning or janitorial services; and prohibiting the Purchasing Division from requiring the landlord or owner to use any particular cleaning or janitorial services provider.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §5A-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

 ARTICLE 3. PURCHASING DIVISION.

§5A-3-4. Rules of director.

(a) The director shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to:

(1) Authorize a spending unit to purchase specified commodities and services directly and prescribe the manner in which such purchases shall be made;

(2) Authorize, in writing, a spending unit to purchase commodities and services in the open market for immediate delivery in emergencies, define emergencies and prescribe the manner in which such purchases shall be made and reported to the director;

(3) Prescribe the manner in which commodities and services shall be purchased, delivered, stored and distributed;

(4) Prescribe the time for making requisitions and estimates of commodities and services, the future period which they are to cover, the form in which they shall be submitted and the manner of their authentication;

(5) Prescribe the manner of inspecting all deliveries of commodities, and making chemical and physical tests of samples submitted with bids and samples of deliveries to determine compliance with specifications;

(6) Prescribe the amount and type of deposit or bond to be submitted with a bid or contract and the amount of deposit or bond to be given for the faithful performance of a contract;

(7) Prescribe a system whereby the director shall be required, upon the payment by a vendor of an annual fee established by the director, to give notice to such vendor of all bid solicitations for commodities and services of the type with respect to which such vendor specified notice was to be given, but no such fee shall exceed the cost of giving the notice to such vendor, nor shall such fee exceed the sum of $125 per fiscal year nor shall such fee be charged to persons seeking only reimbursement from a spending unit;

(8) Prescribe that each state contract entered into by the Purchasing Division shall contain provisions for liquidated damages, remedies or provisions for the determination of the amount or amounts which the vendor shall owe as damages, in the event of default under such contract by such vendor, as determined by the director;

(9) Prescribe contract management procedures for all state contracts except government construction contracts including, but not limited to, those set forth in article twenty-two, chapter five of this code;

(10) Prescribe procedures by which oversight is provided to actively monitor spending unit purchases, including, but not limited to, all technology and software commodities and services exceeding $1 million, approval of change orders and final acceptance by the spending units;

(11) Prescribe that each state contract entered into by the Purchasing Division contain provisions for the cancellation of the contract upon thirty days’ notice to the vendor;

(12) Prescribe that each state contract entered into by the Purchasing Division for the lease of office space contain provisions for the owner or landlord of the premises to provide cleaning or janitorial services:  Provided, That the Purchasing Division may not require the owner or landlord of the premises to use any particular person, firm or company to provide the cleaning or janitorial services;

(12) (13) Prescribe procedures for selling surplus commodities to the highest bidder by means of an Internet auction site;

(13) (14) Provide such other matters as may be necessary to give effect to the foregoing rules and the provisions of this article; and

(14) (15) Prescribe procedures for encumbering purchase orders to ensure that the proper account may be encumbered before sending purchase orders to vendors.

(b) The director shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to prescribe qualifications to be met by any person who is to be employed in the Purchasing Division as a state buyer. The rules must provide that a person may not be employed as a state buyer unless he or she at the time of employment either is:

(1) A graduate of an accredited college or university; or

(2) Has at least four years’ experience in purchasing for any unit of government or for any business, commercial or industrial enterprise.

Persons serving as state buyers are subject to the provisions of article six, chapter twenty-nine of this code.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that state leases for office space require that the landlord is responsible for cleaning or janitorial services.  The bill also prohibits the Purchasing Division from requiring the owner or landlord to use of any particular cleaning or janitorial services provider.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.