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OLR Bill Analysis
HB 5444
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A TEST BED TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM.
SUMMARY
This bill requires each state agency’s commissioner to administer
pilot test programs for using technologies, products, or processes (“test
subjects”) that promote operational cost reduction at the agency to
validate the test subjects’ effectiveness in reducing operational costs.
Relatedly, the bill creates a Test Bed Technologies Advisory Board to
recommend test subjects to be used in the operations of state agencies
on a temporary basis during a pilot test program.
The bill also establishes a process for the state to procure for state
agencies test subjects that had been successfully shown to promote
operational cost reduction. This process allows certain competitive bid
or proposal requirements in existing law to be waived.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2024
TEST BED TECHNOLOGI ES ADVISORY BOARD
The bill creates the board as an independent body within the Office
of Policy and Management (OPM) for administrative purposes only.
Under the bill, the board has four members: one each appointed by the
governor, the OPM secretary, the state treasurer, and the state
comptroller. All must have experience working in private sector
businesses or state agencies. Within available appropriations, the board
must meet at least twice each year to exercise its powers and duties.
OPERATIONAL COST REDUC TION PILOT PROGRAMS
Applications and Recommendations
Under the bill, applicants interested in participating in a pilot
program must submit an application to the commissioner of the agency 2024HB-05444-R000371-BA.DOCX
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that administers the program and, when applying, pay a $5,000 fee to
OPM, which must be paid to the state treasurer and credited to the
General Fund. The application must include an assessment of the
potential viability of the test subject to be used in the program that must
be done by an independent consulting firm or a market research firm
specializing in market research for similar test subjects. (Although the
bill does not define “applicant,” it presumably includes businesses that
manufacture or market test subjects.)
The commissioner must review the application for completeness
within 30 days after receiving it. Then, within 90 days after receiving the
application, the commissioner must decide whether to request from the
Test Bed Technologies Advisory Board a recommendation to test the
application’s test subject. If a request is made, it must include the
viability assessment described above.
Within 30 days after receiving a commissioner’s request for a
recommendation, the advisory board must evaluate the applicable test
subject and make a recommendation as required by the bill. More
specifically, the board must recommend that the agency undertake a
pilot test program using the test subject in the agency’s operation on a
temporary basis if it finds that doing so would promote operational cost
reduction, be feasible in the state agency’s operations, and not have any
detrimental effect on the operations. However, the bill expressly
prohibits the board from making a recommendation unless the business
that manufactures or markets the test subject shows that:
1. using it will not adversely affect safety;
2. it is presently available for commercial sale and distribution, or it
has potential for commercialization within two years after the
pilot test program’s completion; and
3. it was not developed by a business that is eligible to participate
in a separate state program in existing law, administered by
Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated, for testing new or
experimental technologies, products, or processes. 2024HB-05444-R000371-BA.DOCX
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Test Program Implementation
If the advisory board recommends that a state agency initiate a pilot
test program, the bill requires the agency to accept delivery of the test
subject and begin the program, regardless of the laws regulating state
purchases. The agency must use the test subject in the agency’s
operations on a temporary basis for 30 to 60 days.
The bill requires the program’s applicant to pay any costs associated
with the agency acquiring and using the test subject. Under the bill,
acquiring the test subject for the program must not be deemed a
purchase under the state procurement law’s provisions. The applicant
must maintain records related to the test program as required by the
advisory board. All proprietary information derived from the test
program is exempt from the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
Post-Testing Procurement
Under the bill, if the agency’s commissioner determines that the pilot
test program sufficiently shows that the test subject promotes
operational cost reduction, then the agency may ask the Department of
Administrative Services (DAS) commissioner to (1) procure the test
subject for the agency to use and (2) make the procurement under the
law that allows certain competitive bid or proposal requirements to be
waived (subject to approval by the Standardization Committee if the
procurement will cost at least $100,000). If the DAS commissioner grants
a request to procure a test subject for an agency, she must make
information about the procurement available to all state agencies on the
DAS website.
Municipal Test Subjects
The bill also allows a state agency commissioner to identify a test
subject that promotes operational cost reduction that a municipality has
procured, installed, and tested. The commissioner may file with the
advisory board a request for a recommendation to test the test subject.
Within 30 days after receiving the request, the board must evaluate the
test subject and make a recommendation using the same criteria
described above. If the board recommends the test subject, the agency
must begin a pilot test program under the same implementation and 2024HB-05444-R000371-BA.DOCX
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procurement provisions described above.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Energy and Technology Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 18 Nay 2 (03/21/2024)