HB 781 2024
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to unsolicited proposals for public -2
private partnerships; amending s. 255.065, F.S.; 3
revising provisions to authorize, rather than require, 4
a responsible public entity to publish notice of an 5
unsolicited proposal for a qualifying project in a 6
specified manner and accept other proposals for the 7
same project; authorizing a responsible public entity 8
to proceed with an unsolicited proposal for a 9
qualifying project without a public bidding process if 10
the responsible public entity holds a public meeting 11
that meets certain requirements and makes a certain 12
determination; requiring the responsible public entity 13
to consider certain factors; requiring the r esponsible 14
public entity to publish a certain report in the 15
Florida Administrative Register for a certain period 16
of time in certain circumstances; revising certain 17
determinations that a responsible public entity must 18
make before approving a comprehensive a greement; 19
conforming provisions to changes made by the act; 20
providing an effective date. 21
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Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 23
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Section 1. Paragraphs (c) through (f) of subsection (3) of 25
HB 781 2024
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
section 255.065, Florida Statutes, are r edesignated as 26
paragraphs (e) through (h), respectively, paragraph (b) and 27
present paragraph (d) of subsection (3) and paragraph (c) of 28
subsection (5) are amended, and new paragraphs (c) and (d) are 29
added to subsection (3) of that section, to read: 30
255.065 Public-private partnerships. — 31
(3) PROCUREMENT PROCEDURES. —A responsible public entity 32
may receive unsolicited proposals or may solicit proposals for a 33
qualifying project and may thereafter enter into a comprehensive 34
agreement with a private entity, or a consortium of private 35
entities, for the building, upgrading, operating, ownership, or 36
financing of facilities. 37
(b)1. The responsible public entity may request a proposal 38
from private entities for a qualifying project or, if the 39
responsible public enti ty receives an unsolicited proposal for a 40
qualifying project and the responsible public entity intends to 41
enter into a comprehensive agreement for the project described 42
in the unsolicited proposal, the responsible public entity may 43
shall publish notice in the Florida Administrative Register and 44
a newspaper of general circulation at least once a week for 2 45
weeks stating that the responsible public entity has received a 46
proposal and will accept other proposals for the same project. 47
2. The timeframe within w hich the responsible public 48
entity may accept other proposals shall be determined by the 49
responsible public entity on a project -by-project basis based 50
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
upon the complexity of the qualifying project and the public 51
benefit to be gained by allowing a longer or shorter period of 52
time within which other proposals may be received; however, the 53
timeframe for allowing other proposals must be at least 21 days, 54
but no more than 120 days, after the initial date of 55
publication. If approved by a majority vote of the resp onsible 56
public entity's governing body, the responsible public entity 57
may alter the timeframe for accepting proposals to more 58
adequately suit the needs of the qualifying project. A copy of 59
the notice must be mailed to each local government in the 60
affected area. 61
(c) The responsible public entity may proceed with an 62
unsolicited proposal for a qualifying project without engaging 63
in a public bidding process if the responsible public entity 64
holds a duly noticed public meeting at which the proposal is 65
presented, affected public entities and members of the public 66
are able to provide comment, and the responsible public entity 67
determines that the proposal is in the public's interest. In 68
making the public interest determination, the responsible public 69
entity must consider all of the following factors: 70
1. The benefits to the public. 71
2. The financial structure of and the economic 72
efficiencies achieved by the proposal. 73
3. The qualifications and experience of the private entity 74
that submitted the proposal and such entity's ability to perform 75
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the project. 76
4. The project's compatibility with regional 77
infrastructure plans. 78
5. Public comments submitted at the meeting. The 79
responsible public entity must provide a statement that explains 80
why the proposal should procee d and addresses such comments . 81
(d) If the responsible public entity decides to proceed 82
with an unsolicited proposal without engaging in a public 83
bidding process, the responsible public entity must publish in 84
the Florida Administrative Register for at lea st 7 days a report 85
that provides the public interest determination required under 86
paragraph (c) and includes the factors considered in making such 87
public interest determination. 88
(f)(d) Before approving a comprehensive agreement, the 89
responsible public en tity must determine that the proposed 90
project: 91
1. Is in the public's best interest , if the proposal was 92
solicited. If the proposal was unsolicited, the responsible 93
public entity must determine that the proposed project has been 94
determined to be in the pu blic's interest in accordance with 95
paragraph (c). 96
2. Is for a facility that is owned by the responsible 97
public entity or for a facility for which ownership will be 98
conveyed to the responsible public entity. For a proposed 99
project that was unsolicited, if ownership will not be conveyed 100
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to the responsible public entity within 10 years after initial 101
public operation begins, the public benefits apart from 102
ownership must be identified and stated by the responsible 103
public entity. 104
3. Has adequate safeguards in place to ensure that 105
additional costs or service disruptions are not imposed on the 106
public in the event of material default or cancellation of the 107
comprehensive agreement by the responsible public entity. 108
4. Has adequate safeguards in place to ensure that the 109
responsible public entity or private entity has the opportunity 110
to add capacity to the proposed project or other facilities 111
serving similar predominantly public purposes. 112
5. If the proposal was solici ted, will be owned by the 113
responsible public entity upon completion, expiration, or 114
termination of the comprehensive agreement and upon payment of 115
the amounts financed. 116
(5) PROJECT QUALIFICATION AND PROCESS. — 117
(c) After the public notification period ha s expired in 118
the case of an unsolicited proposal that is submitted and 119
noticed for public bidding , the responsible public entity shall 120
rank the proposals received in order of preference. In ranking 121
the proposals, the responsible public entity may consider 122
factors that include, but are not limited to, professional 123
qualifications, general business terms, innovative design 124
techniques or cost-reduction terms, and finance plans. The 125
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
responsible public entity may then begin negotiations for a 126
comprehensive agreem ent with the highest -ranked firm. If the 127
responsible public entity is not satisfied with the results of 128
the negotiations, the responsible public entity may terminate 129
negotiations with the proposer and negotiate with the second -130
ranked or subsequent -ranked firms, in the order consistent with 131
this procedure. If only one proposal is received, the 132
responsible public entity may negotiate in good faith, and if 133
the responsible public entity is not satisfied with the results 134
of the negotiations, the responsible publ ic entity may terminate 135
negotiations with the proposer. Notwithstanding this paragraph, 136
the responsible public entity may reject all proposals at any 137
point in the process until a contract with the proposer is 138
executed. 139
Section 2. This act shall take ef fect July 1, 2024. 140