House Bill hb1485

    Florida House of Representatives - 2002                HB 1485

        By Representative Mealor






  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to state contracting; providing

  3         a preference in awarding state contracts for

  4         services to Florida-based companies, as

  5         defined; prescribing duties of state agencies;

  6         providing exceptions; providing an effective

  7         date.

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  9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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11         Section 1.  Each state agency shall give a preference

12  in the award of a contract for services to any proposed

13  contract vendor that has its principal place of employment and

14  operations in this state; such a vendor is referred to in this

15  section as a Florida-based company. This preference shall

16  cause a contract for services to be awarded to a Florida-based

17  company if it is the only Florida-based company proposing to

18  offer the services requested. If more than one Florida-based

19  company has proposed to offer the services requested, the

20  preference applies equally to all the Florida-based companies,

21  and the award must be made to one of the Florida-based

22  companies instead of to a company that does not meet that

23  criterion. Any request for proposals or invitation to bid

24  between an agency of this state and contract vendors shall

25  include notice of this preference. A company shall be deemed

26  to have its principal base of employment and operations in

27  this state if the company employs more workers in this state

28  than it employs in any other state. A company seeking to

29  provide services to the state that does not meet this

30  criterion shall be given the same preference for contract

31  awards as a Florida-based company if it enters into a

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2002                HB 1485

    784-113-02






  1  joint-venture relationship with a Florida-based corporate

  2  partner that has a substantial interest in the joint venture

  3  to offer the services requested. This preference in contract

  4  awards for Florida-based companies or joint ventures

  5  containing a Florida-based company may be waived by an agency

  6  only if there are no contract vendors that are Florida-based

  7  companies or joint ventures that have a Florida-based company

  8  as one of the joint venture partners proposing to offer the

  9  services requested or if the agency determines in writing that

10  waiving the preference is necessary for the state to receive

11  the best value.

12         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2002.

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15                       LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY

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      Requires state agencies seeking to acquire services
17    contractually to provide a preference to Florida-based
      companies and to non-Florida-based companies that enter
18    into joint ventures with Florida-based companies. Allows
      the preference to be waived when the agency determines in
19    writing that waiver is in the state's best interest.

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.