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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1076
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 5888
Referred to Committee on PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Introduced by:
(PD)
AN ACT CONCERNING CO OPERATIVE PURCHASING CONTRACTS .
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (b) of section 10-287 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 2
1, 2019): 3
(b) (1) All orders and contracts for school building construction 4
receiving state assistance under this chapter, except as provided in 5
subdivision (2) of this subsection, shall be awarded through a 6
cooperative purchasing contract available through a regional 7
educational service center or regional council of governments, or to the 8
lowest responsible qualified bidder only after a public invitation to 9
bid, which shall be advertised on the Internet web site of the 10
Department of Administrative Services or in a newspaper having 11
general circulation in the [town in which construction is to take place,] 12
state, except for (A) school building projects for which the town or 13
regional school district is using a state contract pursuant to subsection 14
(d) of section 10-292, and (B) change orders, those contracts or orders 15
costing less than ten thousand dollars and those of an emergency 16 Raised Bill No. 1076
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nature, as determined by the Commissioner of Administrative 17
Services, in which cases the contractor or vendor may be selected by 18
negotiation, provided no local fiscal regulations, ordinances or charter 19
provisions conflict. 20
(2) All orders and contracts for architectural or construction 21
management services shall be awarded from a pool of not more than 22
the four most responsible qualified proposers after a public selection 23
process. Such process shall, at a minimum, involve requests for 24
qualifications, followed by requests for proposals, including fees, from 25
the proposers meeting the qualifications criteria of the request for 26
qualifications process. Public advertisements shall be required in a 27
newspaper having circulation in the town in which construction is to 28
take place, except for school building projects for which the town or 29
regional school district is using a state contract pursuant to subsection 30
(d) of section 10-292. Following the qualification process, the awarding 31
authority shall evaluate the proposals to determine the four most 32
responsible qualified proposers using those criteria previously listed in 33
the requests for qualifications and requests for proposals for selecting 34
architectural or construction management services specific to the 35
project or school district. Such evaluation criteria shall include due 36
consideration of the proposer's pricing for the project, experience with 37
work of similar size and scope as required for the order or contract, 38
organizational and team structure for the order or contract, past 39
performance data, including, but not limited to, adherence to project 40
schedules and project budgets and the number of change orders for 41
projects, the approach to the work required for the contract and 42
documented contract oversight capabilities, and may include criteria 43
specific to the project. Final selection by the awarding authority is 44
limited to the pool of the four most responsible qualified proposers 45
and shall include consideration of all criteria included within the 46
request for proposals. As used in this subdivision, "most responsible 47
qualified proposer" means the proposer who is qualified by the 48
awarding authority when considering price and the factors necessary 49
for faithful performance of the work based on the criteria and scope of 50 Raised Bill No. 1076
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work included in the request for proposals. 51
Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 4b-91 of the general statutes is 52
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 53
1, 2019): 54
(a) (1) As used in this section, "prequalification classification" means 55
the prequalification classifications established by the Commissioner of 56
Administrative Services pursuant to section 4a-100, "public agency" 57
has the same meaning as provided in section 1-200, "awarding 58
authority" means the Department of Administrative Services, except 59
"awarding authority" means (A) the Joint Committee on Legislative 60
Management, in the case of a contract for the construction of or work 61
on a building or other public work under the supervision and control 62
of the joint committee, (B) a constituent unit of the state system of 63
higher education, in the case of a contract for the construction of or 64
work on a building or other public work under the supervision and 65
control of such constituent unit, or (C) the Military Department, in the 66
case of a contract for the construction of or work on a building or other 67
public work under the supervision and control of said department and 68
"community court project", "downtown Hartford higher education 69
center project", "correctional facility project", "juvenile detention center 70
project" and "priority higher education facility project" have the same 71
meanings as provided in section 4b-55. 72
(2) Except as provided in subdivision (3) of this subsection, every 73
contract for the construction, reconstruction, alteration, remodeling, 74
repair or demolition of any public building or any other public work 75
by the state that is estimated to cost more than five hundred thousand 76
dollars shall be awarded to the lowest responsible and qualified 77
general bidder who is prequalified pursuant to section 4a-100 on the 78
basis of competitive bids in accordance with the procedures set forth in 79
this chapter, after the awarding authority has invited such bids by 80
posting notice on the State Contracting Portal. The awarding authority 81
shall indicate the prequalification classification required for the 82
contract in such notice. 83 Raised Bill No. 1076
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(3) The requirements set forth in subdivision (2) of this subsection 84
shall not apply to (A) a public highway or bridge project or any other 85
construction project administered by the Department of 86
Transportation, or (B) a contract awarded by the Commissioner of 87
Administrative Services for (i) any public building or other public 88
works project administered by the Department of Administrative 89
Services that is estimated to cost one million five hundred thousand 90
dollars or less, (ii) a community court project, (iii) the downtown 91
Hartford higher education center project, (iv) a correctional facility 92
project, (v) a juvenile detention center project, or (vi) a student 93
residential facility for the Connecticut State University System that is a 94
priority higher education facility project. 95
(4) Every contract for the construction, reconstruction, alteration, 96
remodeling, repair or demolition of any public building or any other 97
public work by a public agency that is paid for, in whole or in part, 98
with state funds and that is estimated to cost more than five hundred 99
thousand dollars shall be awarded to a bidder that is prequalified 100
pursuant to section 4a-100 after the public agency has invited such bids 101
by posting notice on the State Contracting Portal, except for (A) a 102
public highway or bridge project or any other construction project 103
administered by the Department of Transportation, [or] (B) any public 104
building or other public works project administered by the 105
Department of Administrative Services that is estimated to cost one 106
million five hundred thousand dollars or less. The awarding authority 107
or public agency, as the case may be, shall indicate the prequalification 108
classification required for the contract in such notice, or (C) a 109
cooperative purchasing contract utilized by such agency and offered 110
through a regional educational service center or regional council of 111
governments. 112
(5) (A) The Commissioner of Administrative Services may select 113
contractors to be on lists established for the purpose of providing 114
contractor services for the construction, reconstruction, alteration, 115
remodeling, repair or demolition of any public building or other public 116
works project administered by the Department of Administrative 117 Raised Bill No. 1076
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Services involving an expense to the state of one million five hundred 118
thousand dollars or less. The commissioner sha ll use the 119
prequalification classifications established pursuant to section 4a-100 120
to determine the specific categories of services that contractors may 121
perform after being selected in accordance with this subparagraph and 122
subparagraph (B) of this subdivision and awarded a contract in 123
accordance with subparagraph (C) of this subdivision. The 124
commissioner may establish a separate list for projects involving an 125
expense to the state of less than five hundred thousand dollars for the 126
purpose of selecting and utilizing the services of small contractors and 127
minority business enterprises, as such terms are defined in section 4a-128
60g. 129
(B) The commissioner shall invite contractors to submit 130
qualifications for each specific category of services sought by the 131
department by posting notice of such invitation on the State 132
Contracting Portal. The notice shall be in the form determined by the 133
commissioner, and shall set forth the information that a contractor is 134
required to submit to be considered for selection. Upon receipt of the 135
submittal from the contractor, the commissioner shall select, for each 136
specified category, those contractors who (i) are determined to be the 137
most responsible and qualified, as such terms are defined in section 4b-138
92, to perform the work required under the specified category, (ii) have 139
demonstrated the skill, ability and integrity to fulfill contract 140
obligations considering their past performance, financial responsibility 141
and experience with projects of the size, scope and complexity 142
required by the state under the specified category, and (iii) for projects 143
with a cost exceeding five hundred thousand dollars, have the ability 144
to obtain the requisite bonding. The commissioner shall establish the 145
duration that each list remains in effect, which in no event may exceed 146
three years. 147
(C) For any public building or public works project involving an 148
expense to the state of one million five hundred thousand dollars or 149
less, the commissioner shall invite bids from only those contractors 150
selected pursuant to subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this subdivision for 151 Raised Bill No. 1076
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the specific category of services required for the particular project. The 152
commissioner shall determine the form of bid invitation, the manner 153
of, and time for, submission of bids, and the conditions and 154
requirements of such bids. The contract shall be awarded to the lowest 155
responsible and qualified bidder, subject to the provisions of sections 156
4b-92 and 4b-94. In the event that fewer than three bids are received in 157
response to an invitation to bid under this subdivision, or that all the 158
bids are in excess of the amount of available funds for the project, the 159
commissioner may negotiate a contract with any of the contractors 160
submitting a bid, or reject the bids received and rebid the project in 161
accordance with this section. 162
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2019 10-287(b)
Sec. 2 July 1, 2019 4b-91(a)
Statement of Purpose:
To authorize the use of cooperative purchasing contracts in certain
building projects.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]