Florida Senate - 2014                              CS for SB 612
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability;
       and Senator Hays
       
       
       
       
       585-02205-14                                           2014612c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to government contracting; amending s.
    3         215.985, F.S.; revising information to be posted on
    4         the Chief Financial Officer’s contract tracking system
    5         to conform to changes made by the act; amending s.
    6         287.084, F.S.; expanding provisions that require an
    7         agency, university, college, school district, or other
    8         political subdivision of the state to provide
    9         preferential consideration to a Florida business in
   10         awarding competitively bid contracts to purchase
   11         personal property to include the purchase of
   12         construction services; providing an exception;
   13         requiring counties and municipalities to provide such
   14         preferential consideration; providing that for
   15         specified competitive solicitations the authority to
   16         grant a preference supersedes any local ordinance or
   17         regulation that restricts specified contractors from
   18         competing for an award based upon certain conditions;
   19         requiring a university, college, county, municipality,
   20         school district, or other political subdivision to
   21         make specified disclosures in competitive solicitation
   22         documents; providing that a university, college,
   23         county, municipality, school district, or other
   24         political subdivision is not prohibited from awarding
   25         a contract to a vendor under certain circumstances;
   26         amending s. 287.1335, F.S.; defining terms; requiring
   27         agencies to provide the Department of Management
   28         Services with copies of vendor complaints and names of
   29         suspended and terminated vendors; authorizing local
   30         governmental entities to provide such information to
   31         the department; requiring the department to maintain
   32         certain information regarding vendors on its website;
   33         requiring an agency to submit specified information to
   34         the department on a quarterly basis; authorizing a
   35         local governmental entity to submit such information
   36         on the same basis; requiring a vendor responding to an
   37         agency’s competitive solicitation to disclose certain
   38         information; specifying certain requirements for
   39         considering a response to a competitive solicitation
   40         or entering a contract; providing an effective date.
   41          
   42  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   43  
   44         Section 1. Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (14) of
   45  section 215.985, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   46         215.985 Transparency in government spending.—
   47         (14) The Chief Financial Officer shall establish and
   48  maintain a secure contract tracking system available for viewing
   49  and downloading by the public through a secure website. The
   50  Chief Financial Officer shall use appropriate Internet security
   51  measures to ensure that no person has the ability to alter or
   52  modify records available on the website.
   53         (a) Within 30 calendar days after executing a contract,
   54  each state entity shall post the following information relating
   55  to the contract on the contract tracking system:
   56         1. The names of the contracting entities.
   57         2. The procurement method.
   58         3. The contract beginning and ending dates.
   59         4. The nature or type of the commodities or services
   60  purchased.
   61         5. Applicable contract unit prices and deliverables.
   62         6. Total compensation to be paid or received under the
   63  contract.
   64         7. All payments made to the contractor to date.
   65         8. Applicable contract performance measures.
   66         9. If a competitive solicitation was not used to procure
   67  the goods or services, the justification of such action,
   68  including citation to a statutory exemption or exception from
   69  competitive solicitation, if any.
   70         10. Electronic copies of the contract and procurement
   71  documents that have been redacted to exclude confidential or
   72  exempt information.
   73         11. Whether the contractor was listed on the vendor
   74  complaint list, suspended vendor list, or terminated vendor list
   75  under s. 287.1335 at the time the contract was initially entered
   76  into.
   77         Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 287.084, Florida
   78  Statutes, is amended to read:
   79         287.084 Preference to Florida businesses.—
   80         (1)(a) If When an agency, university, college, school
   81  district, or other political subdivision of the state is
   82  required to make purchases of personal property or construction
   83  services through competitive solicitation and the lowest
   84  responsible and responsive bid, proposal, or reply is by a
   85  vendor whose principal place of business is in a state or
   86  political subdivision thereof which grants a preference for the
   87  purchase of such personal property or construction services to a
   88  person whose principal place of business is in such state, then
   89  the agency, university, college, school district, or other
   90  political subdivision of this state shall award a preference to
   91  the lowest responsible and responsive vendor having a principal
   92  place of business within this state, which preference is equal
   93  to the preference granted by the state or political subdivision
   94  thereof in which the lowest responsible and responsive vendor
   95  has its principal place of business. In a competitive
   96  solicitation in which the lowest bid is submitted by a vendor
   97  whose principal place of business is located outside the state
   98  and that state does not grant a preference in competitive
   99  solicitation to vendors having a principal place of business in
  100  that state, the preference to the lowest responsible and
  101  responsive vendor having a principal place of business in this
  102  state shall be 5 percent.
  103         (b) To ensure the availability of federal aid funds,
  104  paragraph (a) does not apply to contracts for transportation
  105  projects procured by the Department of Transportation for which
  106  federal aid funds are available.
  107         (c)1. For a competitive solicitation in which payment for
  108  the personal property or construction services is to be made in
  109  whole or in part from funds appropriated by the state, this
  110  section preempts and supersedes any local ordinance or
  111  regulation that restricts a contractor certified under s.
  112  489.105(8) from competing for an award based upon:
  113         a. The vendor maintaining an office or place of business
  114  within a particular local jurisdiction;
  115         b. The vendor hiring employees or subcontractors from
  116  within a particular local jurisdiction; or
  117         c. The vendor’s prior payment of local taxes, assessments,
  118  or duties within a particular local jurisdiction.
  119         2. In any competitive solicitation subject to this section,
  120  a university, college, county, municipality, school district, or
  121  other political subdivision of this state shall disclose in the
  122  solicitation document whether payment will come from funds
  123  appropriated by the state and, if known, the amount of such
  124  funds or the percentage of such funds as compared to the
  125  anticipated total cost of the personal property or construction
  126  services.
  127         3. Except as provided in subparagraph 1., this section does
  128  not prohibit a university, college, county, municipality, school
  129  district, or other political subdivision of this state from
  130  awarding a contract to a vendor in accordance with applicable
  131  state laws or local ordinances or regulations.
  132         (c) As used in this section, the term “other political
  133  subdivision of this state” does not include counties or
  134  municipalities.
  135         Section 3. Section 287.1335, Florida Statutes, is created
  136  to read:
  137         287.1335 Vendors; reporting by agencies and local
  138  governmental entities.—
  139         (1) As used in this section, the term:
  140         (a) “Suspended vendor list” means a list compiled by the
  141  department of all reported vendors whose ability to bid or
  142  perform state or local government contracts has been temporarily
  143  suspended by an agency or a participating local governmental
  144  entity due to a contract default by the vendor or for other good
  145  cause.
  146         (b) “Terminated vendor list” means a list compiled by the
  147  department of all reported vendors whose contracts have been
  148  terminated by an agency or a participating local governmental
  149  entity due to a contract default by the vendor or for other good
  150  cause.
  151         (c) “Vendor” means an entity or person in a contractual
  152  relationship with an agency or a local governmental entity.
  153         (d) “Vendor complaint list” means a list compiled by the
  154  department of complaints that have been issued to vendors by an
  155  agency or participating local governmental entity.
  156         (2) An agency shall provide the department with copies of
  157  complaints issued to vendors and the names of suspended and
  158  terminated vendors for the vendor complaint list, the suspended
  159  vendor list, and the terminated vendor list, respectively. A
  160  local governmental entity may provide such information to the
  161  department.
  162         (3) The department shall maintain and update, on its
  163  website, the vendor complaint list, the suspended vendor list,
  164  and the terminated vendor list. In addition, the department
  165  shall provide public access through its website of copies of
  166  complaints issued to a vendor by an agency or participating
  167  local governmental entity.
  168         (4) An agency shall provide the department each quarter
  169  with updated information necessary to maintain the vendor
  170  complaint list, the suspended vendor list, and the terminated
  171  vendor list. A local governmental entity may provide such
  172  information to the department each quarter. An agency shall
  173  report to the department all instances of a material breach of a
  174  contract or a notice of default and subsequent termination
  175  within 30 days after such occurrence.
  176         (5)(a) An agency shall require that a vendor responding to
  177  a competitive solicitation disclose whether the vendor has,
  178  within the previous 5 years, had a contract terminated by a
  179  federal, state, or local governmental entity after defaulting on
  180  a contract; paid a fine or penalty incurred by nonperformance of
  181  a federal, state, or local government contract; or entered into
  182  an agreement with a federal, state, or local governmental entity
  183  in settlement of any issues related to default or nonperformance
  184  of a contract. An agency may consider a vendor’s failure to
  185  disclose such information in determining whether the vendor is
  186  in breach of any resulting contract.
  187         (b) A local governmental entity may require such
  188  disclosures from a vendor in response to a competitive
  189  solicitation.
  190         (6) When evaluating bids, proposals, or replies to
  191  competitive solicitations, an agency must consider information
  192  available on the vendor complaint list, suspended vendor list,
  193  and terminated vendor list in determining whether the vendor
  194  submitting a response to the competitive solicitation is a
  195  responsible and responsive vendor. If an agency enters into a
  196  contract with a vendor on the vendor complaint list, suspended
  197  vendor list, or terminated vendor list, the contract file must
  198  contain documentation specifying that the agency’s designee with
  199  authority to sign the contract was aware that the contracted
  200  vendor was named on the vendor complaint list, suspended vendor
  201  list, or terminated vendor list at the time the contract was
  202  initially entered into.
  203         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.