Chapter 261
2011 -- S 0772 SUBSTITUTE A AS
AMENDED
Enacted 07/09/11
A N A C T
RELATING TO
PUBLIC PROPERTY AND WORKS
Introduced By: Senators Perry, Miller, Nesselbush, DeVall, and Metts
Date Introduced: March 24, 2011
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Title 37 of the General Laws entitled
"PUBLIC PROPERTY AND
WORKS" is hereby
amended by adding thereto the following chapter:
CHAPTER
2.4
HABILITATION
PROCUREMENT PROGRAM
37-2.4-1. Definitions. -- The
words defined in this section have the meanings set forth
below whenever they appear in this chapter, unless context
in which they are used clearly requires
a different meaning or a different definition as
prescribed for a particular section, group of
sections, or provision:
(1) "Board"
means the habilitation procurement board created under this section;
(2)
"Habilitation facility" means a program that is operated primarily
for the purpose of
the employment and training of persons with a disability
by a government agency or a qualified
organization licensed by the State of
people with disabilities, and:
(i)
Maintains an employment ratio of at least sixty percent (60%) of the program
employees under the procurement contract in question have
severe disabilities;
(ii) Complies with
any applicable occupational health and safety standards prescribed by
the
State of
(iii)
Has its principal place of business in
(iv)
Produces any goods provided under this section in
(v) The services
provided, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, are provided
by individuals with the majority being domiciled
residents of the State of
(3) "Person with
a disability" means any individual who has a severe physical or mental
impairment which constitutes a substantial barrier to
employment, as certified by the department
of human services or the department of behavioral health
care, developmental disabilities and
hospitals.
37-2.4-2.
Habilitation Procurement Board. -- (a) There is created the habilitation
procurement board within the division of purchasing and general
services of the department of
administration. The board shall be composed of the following five
(5) members:
(1) The chief
purchasing officer as defined in subdivision 37-2-7(3) or his/her
designee;
(2) The director of
the department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities
and hospitals created under title 40.1 or his/her
designee;
(3) The director of
the department of human services created under title 40 or his/her
designee;
(4) A person with a
disability who shall be appointed to a three (3) year term by the
governor with the advice and consent of the senate;
(5) A
representative of the private business community who shall be appointed to a
three
(3) year term by the governor
with the advice and consent of the senate;
(b) The board shall
meet, as needed, to facilitate the procurement of goods and services
from habilitation facilities by a public procurement unit
under this chapter by:
(1) Identifying goods
and services that are available from habilitation
facilities according
to the requirements under subsections 37-2.4-3(a),(b)
and (c);
(2) Helping to ensure
that the goods and services are provided at reasonable quality and
delivery levels;
(3) Recommending to
the chief purchasing officer prices in accordance with subdivision
37-2.4-3(a)(3) for goods and
services that are identified in subdivision (b)(1) of this section;
(4) Developing,
maintaining, and recommending to the chief purchasing officer a
preferred procurement contract list of goods and services
identified and priced under subdivisions
(b)(1) and (2) of this
section;
(5) Reviewing bids
received by a habilitation facility and making a recommendation of
contract award to the chief purchasing officer, the awarding
authority that will issue the final
purchase order and renew specified contracts for set contract
times, without competitive bidding,
for the purchase of goods and services as provided for in
section 37-2.4-3; and
(6) Collecting and
reporting program data.
(c) The provisions of
subsection 37-2.4-2(b) and subdivision 37-2.4-3(1) are an exception
to the procurement provisions under this chapter.
(d) If two (2) or
more certified habilitation facilities bid on the solicitation of services, the
purchasing agent, as defined in subdivision 37-2-7(19), of
the state agency shall award a contract
to one of the certified habilitation facility based on a
competitive price determination.
(e) The board is
authorized to create advisory committees to assist it in the performance
of the board’s responsibilities.
37 2.4-3. Purchasing. -- (a) This
section shall not apply with respect to the procurement
of any commodity which is available for procurement from
an entity established pursuant to
chapter 13-7 ("Prisoner Made Goods") or chapter
40-9 ("Services for People who are Blind or
Visually Impaired") of the general laws and as
provided under subsection (e) of this section and
notwithstanding any provision in this chapter or the general or
public laws to the contrary, any
state agency shall purchase goods and services produced by
a habilitation facility using the
preferred procurement contract list approved pursuant to
subdivision 37-2.4-2(b)(3) providing
that:
(1) The goods or
services offered for sale by a habilitation facility reasonably conform to
the needs and specifications of the public procurement
unit;
(2) The habilitation
facility can supply the goods or services within a reasonable time;
and
(3) The price of the
goods or services is reasonably competitive with the cost of
procuring the goods or services from another source.
(b) If there is no
price agreement in place that a state agency plans to use, a price can be
negotiated between the habilitation facility that can meet the
specifications of the board. The
board will make a recommendation to the director of
administration.
(c) Existing
multi-year contracts can continue through their term. New multi-year
requirements for services must follow the process for purchasing
from the habilitation facility.
(d) Each habilitation
facility:
(1) May submit a
price for a product or service to the board at any time and not
necessarily in response to a request for bids; and
(2) Shall certify on
any bid it submits to the board or to a public procurement unit under
this section that is claiming a preference under this
section.
(e) During a fiscal
year, the requirement for a public procurement unit to purchase goods
and services produced by a habilitation facility under
the preferred procurement list under
subsections 37-2.4-4(a), (b) and (c) does not apply if the
division of purchasing and general
services determines that the total amount of procurement
contracts with habilitation facilities has
reached three million dollars ($3,000,000) for that fiscal
year. The total amount of procurement
contracts can be changed with a recommendation by the board and
approval from the director of
administration.
(f) Any state agency
that has awarded a solicitation for goods and services to a certified
habilitation facility shall, before the expiration of the
term of the contract, renegotiate a fair and
reasonable price for the services with the certified
habilitation facility that has performed the
services for the state agency. The state agency is not
permitted to solicit new bids for the product
or service unless one of the following occurs:
(1) The certified habilitation
facility no longer wishes to perform the services for the state
agency;
(2) The state agency
decides to perform the services internally and hires employees who
will be employees of the state to perform the services;
(3) The state agency
no longer needs the service that was provided by the habilitation
facility;
(4) The habilitation
facility has not met the requirements for the services offered; or
(5) The habilitation
facility and the state agency are unable to agree to fair and reasonable
terms of a new contract for the habilitation facility’s
services during the negotiation process.
(g) Any state agency
that has awarded a solicitation for services to a certified habilitation
facility shall report to the board regarding the
progress of the solicitation once a year.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
=======
LC01974/SUB A
=======