Authorizes a municipally sponsored, owned or operated public transit system to utilize an existing public contract when procuring vehicles, supplies, or equipment

Section 2-contains the effective date.

Existing law

§ 103 of the General Municipal Law concerns the competitive bidding requirements for public work contracts and limits the ability of a county or any other political subdivision within a county to jointly competitively bid for goods and services with another county or political subdivision within the county unless such counties or political subdivisions within a county are adjoining.

Justification

Regional public transportation authorities are currently able to participate in joint and/or piggyback procurement arrangements without geographic limitations and, as a result, are realizing significant efficiencies and cost savings from this flexibility in purchasing buses, equipment and other supplies that are unique to a public transit operation. However, § 103 of the General Municipal Law prohibits municipalities from participating in similar joint procurement arrangements unless the municipalities are contiguous to one another.

This proposal would allow a county or municipality to use an existing contract between a vendor and another municipality or public transportation system or the State of New York, located anywhere in the state, which has been contracted through a competitive process, to procure vehicles, supplies, equipment or services to be used by the municipally owned or operated public transit system. The competitive bidding requirements of § 103 are preserved in this proposal by requiring that such other municipal public transportation sponsor or authority or the State used a process of competitive bidding or a process of competitive requests for proposals to award such contract. The governing body of the municipality must also authorize by resolution the county or other political subdivision to enter into such procurement arrangements.

Enactment of this proposal would mitigate duplication of effort between non-adjoining municipalities and result in savings to municipal transit systems, and ultimately the traveling public. For example, a small transit system, which may need to buy only one bus, would be able to avoid having to research and develop specifications for the bus. The bus manufacturer would be able to avoid the cost of meeting the unique specifications for the one bus. While this provision is expected to benefit municipal public transportation sponsors anywhere in the state that provide or sponsor transit services, it will have a profound effect on upstate small and rural systems that currently do not possess the technical or financial capability or the optimum contract quantity required to effect procurement efficiencies. These systems, with often much smaller budgets, may realize significant savings and greatly improve the quality or usefulness of the procurement.

Legislative history

2008: S.1136 Local Government 2007: S.1136 Passed Senate 2005/06: S.730 Passed Senate 2003/04: S.4360 Local Government

Fiscal implications

This proposal is revenue neutral to the State. It would result in procurement savings, the amount not quantified at this time, for counties and other municipal transit sponsors.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.