Florida Senate - 2013                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 602
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 898158                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                   Comm: RS            .                                
                  03/14/2013           .                                
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       The Committee on Community Affairs (Bradley) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 100 - 193
    4  and insert:
    5         9. To an independent special district if the governing
    6  board of the independent special district local government
    7  complies with all of the requirements of this subparagraph,
    8  conducts a public meeting under s. 286.011 after public notice,
    9  and finds by majority vote of the governing board that it is in
   10  the public’s best interest to perform the project using its own
   11  services, employees, and equipment. The public notice must be
   12  published at least 21 days before the date of the public meeting
   13  at which the governing board takes final action. The notice must
   14  identify the project, the components and scope of the work, and
   15  the estimated cost of the project using generally accepted cost
   16  accounting principles that fully account for all costs
   17  associated with performing and completing the work, including
   18  employee compensation and benefits, equipment cost and
   19  maintenance, insurance costs, and materials. The notice must
   20  specify that the purpose for the public meeting is to consider
   21  whether it is in the public’s best interest to perform the
   22  project using the independent special district’s local
   23  government’s own services, employees, and equipment. Upon
   24  publication of the public notice and for 21 days thereafter, the
   25  independent special district local government shall make
   26  available for public inspection, during normal business hours
   27  and at a location specified in the public notice, a detailed
   28  itemization of each component of the estimated cost of the
   29  project and documentation explaining the methodology used to
   30  arrive at the estimated cost. At the public meeting, any
   31  qualified contractor or vendor who could have been awarded the
   32  project had the project been competitively bid shall be provided
   33  with a reasonable opportunity to present evidence to the
   34  governing board regarding the project and the accuracy of the
   35  independent special district’s local government’s estimated cost
   36  of the project. In deciding whether it is in the public’s best
   37  interest for the independent special district local government
   38  to perform a project using its own services, employees, and
   39  equipment, the governing board must consider the estimated cost
   40  of the project and the accuracy of the estimated cost in light
   41  of any other information that may be presented at the public
   42  meeting and whether the project requires an increase in the
   43  number of district government employees or an increase in
   44  capital expenditures for public facilities, equipment, or other
   45  capital assets. The independent special district local
   46  government may further consider the impact on local economic
   47  development, the impact on small and minority business owners,
   48  the impact on state and local tax revenues, whether the private
   49  sector contractors provide health insurance and other benefits
   50  equivalent to those provided by the independent special district
   51  local government, and any other factor relevant to what is in
   52  the public’s best interest.
   53         10. If the governing board of the local government
   54  determines upon consideration of specific substantive criteria
   55  that it is in the best interest of the local government to award
   56  the project to an appropriately licensed private sector
   57  contractor pursuant to administrative procedures established by
   58  and expressly set forth in a charter, ordinance, or resolution
   59  of the local government adopted before July 1, 1994. The
   60  criteria and procedures must be set out in the charter,
   61  ordinance, or resolution and must be applied uniformly by the
   62  local government to avoid awarding a project in an arbitrary or
   63  capricious manner. This exception applies only if all of the
   64  following occur:
   65         a. The governing board of the local government, after
   66  public notice, conducts a public meeting under s. 286.011 and
   67  finds by a two-thirds vote of the governing board that it is in
   68  the public’s best interest to award the project according to the
   69  criteria and procedures established by charter, ordinance, or
   70  resolution. The public notice must be published at least 14 days
   71  before the date of the public meeting at which the governing
   72  board takes final action. The notice must identify the project,
   73  the estimated cost of the project, and specify that the purpose
   74  for the public meeting is to consider whether it is in the
   75  public’s best interest to award the project using the criteria
   76  and procedures permitted by the preexisting charter, ordinance,
   77  or resolution.
   78         b. The project is to be awarded by any method other than a
   79  competitive selection process, and the governing board finds
   80  evidence that:
   81         (I) There is one appropriately licensed contractor who is
   82  uniquely qualified to undertake the project because that
   83  contractor is currently under contract to perform work that is
   84  affiliated with the project; or
   85         (II) The time to competitively award the project will
   86  jeopardize the funding for the project, materially increase the
   87  cost of the project, or create an undue hardship on the public
   88  health, safety, or welfare.
   89         c. The project is to be awarded by any method other than a
   90  competitive selection process, and the published notice clearly
   91  specifies the ordinance or resolution by which the private
   92  sector contractor will be selected and the criteria to be
   93  considered.
   94         d. The project is to be awarded by a method other than a
   95  competitive selection process, and the architect or engineer of
   96  record has provided a written recommendation that the project be
   97  awarded to the private sector contractor without competitive
   98  selection, and the consideration by, and the justification of,
   99  the government body are documented, in writing, in the project
  100  file and are presented to the governing board prior to the
  101  approval required in this paragraph.
  102         11. To projects subject to chapter 36.
  103  
  104  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  105         And the title is amended as follows:
  106         Delete lines 4 - 6
  107  and insert:
  108         removing an exemption of certain local government
  109         entities from the requirement to competitively award
  110         contracts for public construction; providing an
  111         effective