Senate Bill No. 413

(By Senator Chafin)

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[Introduced March 6, 2001; referred to the Select Committee on Economic Development; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section fifteen, article fifteen-a, chapter thirty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to competitive bids; and removing the threshold for bids on infrastructure construction projects.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fifteen, article fifteen-a, chapter thirty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 15A. WEST VIRGINIA INFRASTRUCTURE AND JOBS DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL.

§31-15A-15. Projects not to be considered public improvements; competitive bid requirements.

(a) No project or infrastructure project acquired, constructed, maintained or financed, in whole or in part, by the water development authority shall be considered to be a "public improvement" within the meaning of the provisions of article five-a, chapter twenty-one of this code, as a result of such financing.
(b) The state and its subdivisions shall, except as provided in this subsection (c), solicit competitive bids and require the payment of prevailing wage rates as provided in article five-a, chapter twenty-one of this code for every project or infrastructure project funded pursuant to this article exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars in total cost.
Following the solicitation of the 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 the project.
(c) Nothing in this subsection applies This section does not:
(1) Apply to work performed on construction or repair projects not exceeding a total cost of twenty-five thousand dollars by regular full-time employees of the state or its subdivisions;
(2) nor shall anything in this subsection prevent Prevent students enrolled in vocational educational schools from being utilized in the construction or repair projects when such use is a part of the students' training program;
(3) Nothing in this subsection applies Apply to emergency repairs to building components and systems: Provided, however, That the the term "emergency repairs" means repairs that if not made immediately will seriously impair the use of the building components and systems or cause danger to those persons using the building components and systems; or
(4) This subsection shall not apply Apply to any situation where the state or a subdivision thereof comes 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. Provided further, That the total cost of the construction or repair projects does not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars.
(c) (d) The provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall not apply to privately owned projects or infrastructure projects constructed on lands not owned by the state or a subdivision of the state.




NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the threshold amount for competitive bids on certain infrastructure construction projects.

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