State contractual services and requiring the exercise of rule-making authority

Under this bill, these services remain exempt from the requirements, but an engineer or an architect at DOA must determine if the project could be completed more effectively and efficiently with state employees before DOA may approve the contract.

Current law also exempts from the requirements contracts with the Department of Transportation (DOT). Instead, under current law, DOT must, in accordance with standards prescribed by DOT, conduct a uniform cost-benefit analysis, or continued appropriateness review, of each proposed engagement that involves an estimated expenditure of more than $25,000. Under this bill, DOT must submit a report, with respect to the previous fiscal year, to the governor and the legislature on the following:

1. The number, value, and nature of contractual engagements of services authorized by DOT.

2. A summary of the cost-benefit analyses completed.

3. Recommendations for elimination of unneeded contractual engagements of services and for consolidation or resolicitation of existing contractual engagements of services.

4. An identification of all contractors engaged, contract amount, duration, and services to be provided, as well as aggregated value of contracts for each contractor, distinguishing between initial contracts and extended or renewed contracts and specifying the termination date of each contract.

5. A summary of DOT's contract review activities.

6. An identification of contract services by code according to the type of services.

7. An identification of any contracts awarded by other than usual and customary contracting procedures, including any single-source contracts.

Then, under this bill, within 30 days of completion of a contract for engagements of services that involves an expenditure of more than $50,000, DOT must submit to the governor and the legislature a summary of the purpose of the contract, including why it was necessary to enter into the contract; the amount spent on the contract; if the contract was awarded by other than usual and customary contracting procedures and, if it was a single-source contract, an explanation of why there was only a single source for the services; and a performance evaluation of the work done under the contract.

This bill also requires DOT to establish a methodology to determine the percentage of work for which DOT has responsibility that DOT may outsource to persons not employed by DOT and to set forth a process by which DOT could attain staffing levels sufficiently proficient to ensure that not more than 50 percent of work for which DOT has responsibility is outsourced to persons not employed by DOT.

Finally, under this bill, within six months of the enactment of this bill, DOT must submit a report to the Joint Committee on Finance that contains recommendations on actions that DOT and local governments can take to improve the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and timeliness of local road construction projects and proposed legislative changes to help to implement those recommendations. In addition, this bill requires DOT to submit to the legislature by February 1, 2013, a report on the work for which DOT has responsibility and that DOT has, during the previous three fiscal years, outsourced to persons not employed by DOT, including any outsourced projects for which DOT has encumbered, expended, or otherwise committed any funding. In this report, DOT must denote work that was committed from funding provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.