Senate Bill No. 626
(By Senator Deem and Craigo)
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[Introduced February 21, 2000; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section ten, article three, chapter
five-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to purchasing procedures;
requiring certain request for bids to be posted on agency
internet web sites; and requiring that the West Virginia
development office be notified of certain requisitions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten, 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-3-10. Competitive bids; publication of solicitations for sealed bids; purchase of products of nonprofit
workshops; employee to assist in dealings with
nonprofit workshops.
A purchase of and contract for commodities, printing and
services shall be based, whenever possible, on competitive bids.
The director shall solicit sealed bids for the purchase of
commodities and printing which is estimated to exceed ten thousand
dollars. No spending unit shall may issue a series of requisitions
which would circumvent this ten thousand dollar maximum. Any
spending unit which issues a requisition in excess of five hundred
thousand dollars shall notify the West Virginia development office.
The director may permit bids by facsimile transmission machine to
be accepted in lieu of sealed bids: Provided, That an original bid
is received within two working days following the date specified
for bid opening. Bids shall be obtained by public notice. The
notice may be published by any advertising medium the director
deems considers advisable. The request for bids shall also be
listed on the internet web page of the agency or political
subdivision for which the purchase is being made. The director may
also solicit sealed bids by sending requests by mail to prospective
suppliers and by posting notice on a bulletin board in his or her office: Provided, however, That the director shall, without
competitive bidding, purchase commodities and printing produced and
offered for sale by nonprofit workshops, as defined in section one,
article one of this chapter, which are located in this state:
Provided further, That such the commodities and printing shall be
of a fair market price and of like quality comparable to other
commodities and printing otherwise available as determined by the
director with the advice of the committee on the purchase of
commodities and services from the handicapped.
Toward the end of effecting the making of contracts for
commodities and printing of nonprofit workshops, the director shall
employ a person whose responsibilities in addition to other duties
shall be to identify all commodities and printing available for
purchase from such the nonprofit workshops, to evaluate the need of
the state for such the commodities and printing to coordinate the
various nonprofit workshops in their production efforts and to make
available to such the workshops information about available
opportunities within state government for purchase of commodities
or printing which might be produced and sold by such the workshops.
Funds to employ such a the person shall be included annually in the
budget.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the posting of
request for bids on agency internet web sites. The bill also
requires agencies requesting requisitions in excess of five hundred
thousand dollars to notify the West Virginia Development Office.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.