Senate Bill No. 477
(By Senator Buckalew)
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[Introduced February 12, 1998; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization; and then to the Committee
on Finance.]
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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 state
purchasing on competitive bids; and removing requirement of
submitting to the state auditor a duplicate copy of such
bids.
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withdrawn after the appointed hour for the opening of such bids.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 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 by the director, and shall be open to
public inspection in the offices of both the director and the
state auditor and shall not be destroyed by either of them
without the written consent of the legislative auditor:
Provided, That the board of regents directors of the state
college system and board of trustees of the state university
system 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 pursuant to this
section: Provided, however, That an original bid is received by
the state auditor director within two working days following the date specified for bid opening.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement
that a duplicate copy of competitive bids on state purchases be
sent to the state auditor.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.