Senate Bill No. 636
(By Senators Kessler, Snyder, Rowe, Ross, Deem, Oliverio,
McKenzie, Smith, White, Harrison, Minard, Weeks, Hunter and
Jenkins)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 19, 2003.]
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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; and to amend and reenact section six,
article three-a of said chapter, all relating to exemption of
commodities and services offered or produced by nonprofit
workshops from competitive bidding requirement.
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; and that section six, article three-a of
said chapter be amended and reenacted, all 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 issue a series of requisitions
which would circumvent this ten thousand-dollar maximum. 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
advisable. 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 office: Provided, however, That the
director shall, without competitive bidding, purchase commodities
and printing services 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
commodities and printing services shall be of a fair market price
and of like quality comparable to other commodities and printing
services 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 services of nonprofit workshops, the
director shall employ a person whose responsibilities in addition
to other duties shall be to identify all commodities and printing
services available for purchase from such nonprofit workshops, to
evaluate the need of the state for such commodities and printing
services to coordinate the various nonprofit workshops in their
production efforts and to make available to such workshops
information about available opportunities within state government
for purchase of commodities or printing services which might be
produced and sold by such workshops. Funds to employ such a person
shall be included annually in the budget.
ARTICLE 3A. CENTRAL NONPROFIT COORDINATING AGENCY AND COMMITTEE
FOR THE PURCHASE OF COMMODITIES AND SERVICES FROM THE
HANDICAPPED.
§5A-3A-6. Exceptions.
The purchasing unit is exempt from the operation of the
mandatory provisions of section ten, article three of this chapter
when:
(1) The director of purchasing determines that the commodity
or printing service so produced or provided does not meet the
reasonable requirements of the purchasing unit;
(2) The committee or central nonprofit agency determines that
a nonprofit workshop cannot reasonably provide the commodity or printing service;
(3) The purchasing director determines, after considering any
recommendation of the committee or bids which may have been
offered, that the commodity or printing service is not of a fair
market price; or
(4) The purchasing director determines, after consulting with
the committee, that the commodity or printing service is not of
like quality to other commodities or printing services available.
No purchasing unit may evade the intent of this section when
required goods or services are reasonably available from nonprofit
workshops.
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(Note: The purpose of this bill is to extend the exemption
from competitive bidding to services other than printing provided
by nonprofit workshops.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)