Senate Bill No. 44
(By Senator Deem)
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[Introduced February 14, 2001; 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
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.