Florida Senate - 2011                       CS for CS for SB 386
       
       
       
       By the Committees on Community Affairs; and Governmental
       Oversight and Accountability; and Senators Bogdanoff, Fasano,
       and Gaetz
       
       
       578-04243A-11                                          2011386c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to preference to Florida businesses in
    3         procurement of personal property and services;
    4         providing a short title; amending s. 283.35, F.S.;
    5         requiring an agency, county, municipality, school
    6         district, or other political subdivision of the state
    7         to grant a specified preference to a vendor located
    8         within the state when awarding a contract for printing
    9         under certain circumstances; specifying the percentage
   10         of preference to be granted; amending s. 287.084,
   11         F.S.; requiring, rather than authorizing, an agency,
   12         county, municipality, school district, or other
   13         political subdivision of the state in making purchases
   14         of personal property through competitive solicitation
   15         to award a preference to a responsible and responsive
   16         vendor having a principal place of business within
   17         this state under specified circumstances; specifying
   18         the percentage of preference to be granted; deleting a
   19         provision to conform to changes made by the act;
   20         expressing legislative intent; requiring state
   21         agencies to develop and adopt assessment protocols to
   22         evaluate and determine whether equipment, machinery,
   23         or other inventory can be repaired or restored prior
   24         to a request to purchase replacement machinery,
   25         equipment, or inventory under certain circumstances;
   26         providing an effective date.
   27  
   28  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   29  
   30         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Buy Florida Act.”
   31         Section 2. Section 283.35, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   32  read:
   33         283.35 Preference given printing within the state.—Every
   34  agency, county, municipality, school district, or other
   35  political subdivision of this state shall give preference to the
   36  responsible and responsive vendor whose principal place of
   37  business is in this state vendors located within the state when
   38  awarding contracts to have materials printed, whenever such
   39  printing can be done at no greater expense than the expense of
   40  awarding a contract to a vendor located outside the state and
   41  can be done at a level of quality comparable to that obtainable
   42  from a vendor located outside the state. The preference shall be
   43  5 percent.
   44         Section 3. Section 287.084, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   45  read:
   46         287.084 Preference to Florida businesses.—
   47         (1) When an agency, county, municipality, school district,
   48  or other political subdivision of the state is required to make
   49  purchases of personal property through competitive solicitation
   50  and the responsive lowest-priced bid or responsive highest
   51  ranked lowest responsible and responsive bid, proposal, or reply
   52  is by a responsible vendor whose principal place of business is
   53  in a state other than this state or political subdivision
   54  thereof which grants a preference for the purchase of such
   55  personal property to a person whose principal place of business
   56  is in such state, then the agency, county, municipality, school
   57  district, or other political subdivision of this state shall may
   58  award a preference to the lowest responsible and responsive
   59  vendor having a principal place of business within this state,
   60  which preference is equal to the preference granted by the state
   61  or political subdivision thereof in which the lowest responsible
   62  and responsive vendor has its principal place of business. The
   63  preference given shall be 5 percent. However, this section does
   64  not apply to transportation projects for which federal aid funds
   65  are available.
   66         (2) If a solicitation provides for the granting of such
   67  preference as is provided in this section, Any vendor whose
   68  principal place of business is outside the State of Florida must
   69  accompany any written bid, proposal, or reply documents with a
   70  written opinion of an attorney at law licensed to practice law
   71  in that foreign state, as to the preferences, if any or none,
   72  granted by the law of that state to its own business entities
   73  whose principal places of business are in that foreign state in
   74  the letting of any or all public contracts.
   75         Section 4. It is the intent of the Florida Legislature that
   76  purchases of new equipment, machinery or inventory by state
   77  agencies that result from fire; smoke; water or any other
   78  disaster incident, be limited to those purchases that are
   79  absolutely necessary and are deemed to be in an un-repairable
   80  condition.
   81         By January 1, 2012, all state agencies shall develop and
   82  adopt assessment protocols which facilitate an agency’s best
   83  efforts to evaluate and make a determination whether equipment,
   84  machinery or any other inventory could be repaired or restored
   85  prior to any request to purchase replacement equipment,
   86  machinery or any other inventory is approved.
   87         Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.