Florida Senate - 2005 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1784
Barcode 695532
CHAMBER ACTION
Senate House
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11 The Committee on Regulated Industries (Wise) recommended the
12 following amendment:
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14 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
15 Delete everything after the enacting clause
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17 and insert:
18 Section 1. Paragraphs (d) and (g) of subsection (2),
19 paragraph (a) of subsection (3), and paragraphs (b) and (c) of
20 subsection (4) of section 287.055, Florida Statutes, are
21 amended, and paragraph (l) is added to subsection (2) of that
22 section, to read:
23 287.055 Acquisition of professional architectural,
24 engineering, landscape architectural, or surveying and mapping
25 services; definitions; procedures; contingent fees prohibited;
26 penalties.--
27 (2) DEFINITIONS.--For purposes of this section:
28 (d) "Compensation" means the total amount paid by the
29 agency for professional services regardless of whether stated
30 as compensation or stated as hourly rates, overhead rates, or
31 other figures or formulas from which compensation can be
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Florida Senate - 2005 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1784
Barcode 695532
1 calculated.
2 (g) A "continuing contract" is a contract for
3 professional services entered into in accordance with all the
4 procedures of this act between an agency and a firm whereby
5 the firm provides professional services to the agency for
6 projects in which construction costs do not exceed $1 million,
7 for study activity when the fee for such professional service
8 does not exceed $50,000, or for work of a specified nature as
9 outlined in the contract required by the agency, with no time
10 limitation except that the contract must provide a termination
11 clause. Firms providing professional services under continuing
12 contracts shall not be required to bid against one another.
13 (l) "Negotiate" or any form of that word means to
14 conduct legitimate, arms length discussions and conferences to
15 reach an agreement on a term or price. For purposes of this
16 section, the term does not include presentation of flat-fee
17 schedules with no alternatives or discussion.
18 (3) PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT AND QUALIFICATION
19 PROCEDURES.--
20 (a)1. Each agency shall publicly announce, in a
21 uniform and consistent manner, each occasion when professional
22 services must be purchased for a project the basic
23 construction cost of which is estimated by the agency to
24 exceed the threshold amount provided in s. 287.017 for
25 CATEGORY FIVE or for a planning or study activity when the fee
26 for professional services exceeds the threshold amount
27 provided in s. 287.017 for CATEGORY TWO, except in cases of
28 valid public emergencies certified by the agency head. The
29 public notice must include a general description of the
30 project and must indicate how interested consultants may apply
31 for consideration.
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Florida Senate - 2005 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1784
Barcode 695532
1 2. Each agency shall provide a good faith estimate in
2 determining whether the proposed activity meets the threshold
3 amounts referred to in this paragraph.
4 3. If an agency determines that a proposed activity
5 does not meet the monetary thresholds referred to in this
6 paragraph and proceeds to solicit bids for the activity, and
7 if the average of all of the responsive bids actually received
8 by the agency exceeds such thresholds for the specified
9 activity, the agency shall reject all bids and proceed in
10 accordance with the provisions of this section.
11 (4) COMPETITIVE SELECTION.--
12 (b) The agency shall select in order of preference no
13 fewer than three firms deemed to be the most highly qualified
14 to perform the required services. In determining whether a
15 firm is qualified, the agency shall consider such factors as
16 the ability of professional personnel; whether a firm is a
17 certified minority business enterprise; past performance;
18 proven capability willingness to meet time and budget
19 requirements; location, if the agency has adopted a
20 local-preference program; recent, current, and projected
21 workloads of the firms; and the volume of work previously
22 awarded to each firm by the agency, with the object of
23 effecting an equitable distribution of contracts among
24 qualified firms, provided such distribution does not violate
25 the principle of selection of the most highly qualified firms.
26 The agency may request, accept, and consider proposals for the
27 compensation to be paid under the contract only during
28 competitive negotiations under subsection (5).
29 (c) This subsection does not apply to a professional
30 service contract for a project the basic construction cost of
31 which is estimated by the agency to be not in excess of the
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Florida Senate - 2005 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1784
Barcode 695532
1 threshold amount provided in s. 287.017 for CATEGORY FIVE or
2 for a planning or study activity when the fee for professional
3 services is not in excess of the threshold amount provided in
4 s. 287.017 for CATEGORY TWO. However, when such an
5 alternative-procurement process is used, the agency shall, if
6 the compensation proposed by a majority of the firms that
7 submit bids exceeds the amount of such threshold estimate,
8 reject all proposals and reinstate procurement under this
9 subsection.
10 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.
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14 And the title is amended as follows:
15 Delete everything before the enacting clause
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17 and insert:
18 An act relating to professional services
19 acquisition; amending s. 287.055, F.S.;
20 revising certain definitions; defining the term
21 "negotiate"; providing additional criteria for
22 processing bids to purchase professional
23 services which exceed certain threshold
24 amounts; revising the criteria for the
25 competitive selection of bids to purchase
26 professional services; providing an effective
27 date.
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