AB 792

Currently, the Department of Administration (DOA) or any state agency to

which DOA delegates purchasing authority may contract for services if the services

can be performed more efficiently or economically by contract than by state

employees. This bill allows contracting for services if at least two of the following

three conditions are met: 1) The services may be performed more economically by

contract than by state employees; 2) When considering expertise, the services can be

performed more efficiently by contract than by use of current full-time state

positions; or 3) When considering timeliness, the services can be performed more

efficiently by contract than by state employees. If the estimated cost of the services

exceeds $25,000, DOA must solicit bids or competitive sealed proposals. Under

current law, DOA must provide notice of the solicitation and the notice may be

provided either by a class 2 notice or on an Internet site determined by DOA. Under

this bill the notice must provided on the Internet site determined by DOA and may

be posted as a class 2 notice.

Currently, under rules promulgated by DOA, certain persons aggrieved by a

solicitation for, or an award of, a contract have five days from the solicitation or

award to file a notice of intent to protest with the agency soliciting the services or

awarding the contract and ten days to serve that agency with the written protest.

This bill extends the time to file a notice of intent to protest to seven working days

and the time to file a protest to 12 working days and permits both to be done

electronically.

Under current law, if a state agency enters into or renews a contract for services

that involves an estimated expenditure of more than $25,000, the agency must

conduct either a uniform cost-benefit analysis, for a new contract, or a continued

appropriateness review, for a contract renewal. This bill requires a cost-benefit

analysis or continued appropriateness review to consider all relevant costs including

salaries and benefits, training requirements, liability insurance, overhead, facility

costs, and taxes. Under this bill, no cost-benefit analysis may be shown to any bidder

until a letter of intent to contract has been issued. This bill generally requires that,

if a contract is for more than $25,000, any expenditures of the contractor that exceed

the bid by more than 10 percent may be paid only if the secretary of administration

approves payment of the increased amount and submits to the Joint Committee on

Finance (JCF) his or her rationale for approval. In addition, this bill requires each

contracting agency to perform periodic audits on its cost-benefit analyses and

continued appropriateness reviews and on its subsequent contracts.

The bill requires the Division of Legal Services in DOA to develop standard

performance measures, as well as benchmark indicators, to evaluate services

performed by contract for a state agency and to determine what actions taken by the

contractor would result in the state agency recovering the expenditures it paid to the

contractor. The division also must promulgate rules on signing bonuses,