| Chapter 231 |
| 2024 -- S 3139 Enacted 06/24/2024 |
| A N A C T |
| RELATING TO PUBLIC PROPERTY AND WORKS -- STATE PURCHASES |
Introduced By: Senator Louis P. DiPalma |
| Date Introduced: June 04, 2024 |
| It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
| SECTION 1. Section 37-2-13.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 37-2 entitled "State |
| Purchases" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
| 37-2-13.1. Procurement regulations — Request for proposal. |
| (a) No request for proposal shall change to a master-price agreement unless the request for |
| proposal is cancelled and reissued as a master price agreement. |
| (b) No vendor, parent corporation, subsidiary, affiliate, or subcontractor of any state vendor |
| may bid on a request for proposal if that person or entity has or had any contractual, financial, |
| business, or beneficial interest with the state or a conflict of interest as defined in chapter 14 of title |
| 36 with any official, officer, or agency in charge of the request or if they materially participated or |
| were consulted with respect to the requirements, technical aspects, or any other part of the |
| formation and promulgation of the request for proposals except for the situations outlined in |
| subsection (f) of this section. |
| (c) Further, no person or entity who or that acts as an operator or vendor for the state may |
| participate in any request for proposal relating to any audit, examination, independent verification, |
| review, or evaluation of any of the person’s or entity’s work, financials or operations performed |
| for or on behalf of the state, or any official, officer, or agency. |
| (c)(d) Persons or entities certified as “sole source” providers under § 37-2-21 shall be |
| exempt from the requirements of subsection (b) of this section. |
| (d)(e) Any person or entity submitting a proposal in response to a request for proposal shall |
| make a written certification attesting under the penalty of perjury that the terms of subsection (b) |
| of this section have been complied with or that the person or entity is exempt under subsection |
| (c)(d) of this section. |
| (f) Requests for information formally issued by the division of purchases and emergency |
| procurements as defined in § 37-2-21 shall be exempt from subsection (b) of this section. Feasibility |
| studies and preliminary evaluations shall also be exempt from subsection (b) of this section if the |
| purchasing agent certifies in writing to the director of administration that a request for feasibility |
| studies or preliminary evaluations resulted in no responsive bids. However, the division of |
| purchases shall publicly disclose any final prior feasibility studies and/or evaluation reports |
| completed in a subsequent procurement regarding a project. |
| (g) All potential suppliers shall be given a fair opportunity to present their capabilities and |
| products. Reasonable effort shall be made to provide fair bidding opportunities to all qualified and |
| interested suppliers. |
| SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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| LC006235 |
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