H. B. 2454
(By Delegates Faircloth, Trump, Gallagher, and
Houvouras)
[Introduced March 3, 1993; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section seven, article six, chapter
five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section
one, article twenty-two of said chapter, all relating
legislative findings; building contracts for the state and
its subdivisions; and requiring successful bidders to
provide materials and supplies quotes from state licensed
vendors to the state or its subdivision before a contract
may be awarded.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seven, article six, chapter five of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that section one, article twenty-
two of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 6. STATE BUILDING COMMISSION.
§5-6-7. Contracts with commission to be secured by bond;
competitive bids required for certain contracts.
The commission shall construct a project pursuant to a
contract or contracts. Every such contract shall be secured by
a bond meeting the requirements of section thirty-nine, article
two, chapter thirty-eight of this code.
No contract or contracts for the construction, remodeling,
renovation or repair of any building or buildings or any
approaches, structures or facilities incidental thereto, or for
the equipping and furnishing of any building or buildings, when
the anticipated expenditure therefor will exceed the sum of five
thousand dollars, shall be entered into except upon the basis of
competitive sealed bids:
Provided,
That effective with the
effective date of the amendments to this section, no contract or
contracts for the construction, remodeling, renovation or repair
of any building or buildings or any approaches, structures or
facilities incidental thereto, or for the equipping and
furnishing of any building or buildings, when the anticipated
expenditure therefor will exceed the sum of ten thousand dollars,
shall be entered into except upon the basis of such bids. Such
bids shall be obtained by public notice soliciting such bids
published as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with
the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code,
and the publication area for such publication shall be the county
in which any such contract is to be performed. The publication
shall be completed at least fourteen days prior to the final date
for the submission of bids. The commission may in addition tosuch publication also solicit sealed bids by sending requests by
mail to prospective bidders. The contract shall be awarded to
the lowest responsible bidder, unless any and all bids are
rejected, in which event new bids shall be sought by again
publishing notice as aforesaid. Any bid, with the name of the
bidder, shall be entered on a record and each record, with the
successful bid indicated thereon, shall, after the award of any
contract, be open to public inspection in the office of the
secretary of the commission.
The Legislature hereby finds and declares that in order to
generate revenues, create jobs and provide for the welfare of the
citizens of this state, it is in the interest of the state to
ensure that resident vendors are considered when a state
authorized building contract is awarded. Therefore, a contract
may not be awarded to the successful bidder unless the successful
bidder submits to the state or its subdivision at least two
written quotes from different vendors licensed to conduct
business and who have a business in this state. These quotes
shall include the cost to the bidder of supplies and building
materials to substantially complete the project if the supplies
and materials were purchased from either of the state licensed
vendors. The provisions of this section do not require
successful bidders to purchase supplies and materials from any
state licensed vendor providing quotes.
ARTICLE 22. GOVERNMENT CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS.
§5-22-1. Bidding required; government construction contracts togo to qualified responsible bidder; exceptions.
As used in this section, "the state and its subdivisions"
means the state of West Virginia, every political subdivision
thereof, every administrative entity that includes such a
subdivision, all municipalities and all county boards of
education.
The state and its subdivisions shall except as provided in
this section solicit competitive bids for every construction
project exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars in total cost.
Following the solicitation of such bids the construction contract
shall be awarded to the lowest qualified responsible bidder, who
shall furnish a sufficient performance and payment bond:
Provided,
That the state and its subdivisions may reject all bids
and solicit new bids on said project.
The Legislature hereby finds and declares that in order to
generate revenues, create jobs and provide for the welfare of the
citizens of this state, it is in the interest of the state to
ensure that resident vendors are considered when a state
authorized building contract is awarded. Therefore, a contract
may not be awarded to the successful bidder unless the successful
bidder submits to the state or its subdivision at least two
written quotes from different vendors licensed to conduct
business and who have a business in this state. These quotes
shall include the cost to the bidder of supplies and building
materials to substantially complete the project if the supplies
and materials were purchased from either of the state licensedvendors. The provisions of this section do not require
successful bidders to purchase supplies and materials from any
state licensed vendor providing quotes.
Nothing in this section shall apply to work performed on
construction or repair projects by regular full-time employees of
the state or its subdivisions, nor shall anything in this section
prevent students enrolled in vocational educational schools from
being utilized in construction or repair projects when such use
is a part of the students training program.
Nothing herein shall apply to emergency repairs to building
components and systems. For the purpose of this paragraph,
emergency repairs means repairs that if not made immediately will
seriously impair the use of such building components and systems,
or cause danger to those persons using such building components
and systems.
Nothing herein shall apply to any situation where the state
or a subdivision thereof shall come to an agreement with
volunteers, or a volunteer group, whereby the governmental body
will provide construction or repair materials, architectural,
engineering, technical or any other professional services and the
volunteers will provide the necessary labor without charge to, or
liability upon, the governmental body.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require successful
bidders on state building projects to obtain materials and
supplies quotes from at least two licensed vendors of building
materials and supplies who have a business located in this statebefore a contract for the project may be awarded to the
successful bidder. The bill does not require that the bidder
purchase the supplies and materials from any state licensed
vendor.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.