Authorizes the commissioner of the office of general services and state agencies to develop alternative procurement methods; and authorizes competitive negotiation concluding with a

Section 2 of the proposal provides for an immediate effective date and provides that the provisions of section one of the proposal shall apply to any procurement initiated on or after such date and provides that the amendments to Section 163 of the State Finance Law shall not affect the repeal of such section and shall be deemed repealed therewith.

Prior legislative history

New Bill

Justification

Alternative Procurements: When a State agency develops a procurement method that does not fit within the requirements of the Procurement Stewardship Act (the Act), the agency should be able to use such an alternative method for a specific contract award if certain conditions are met. The bill authorizes the State Comptroller to approve a contract awarded on the basis of an alternative procurement method as long as (i) the contracting agency makes a determination, documented in the procurement record, that such alternative procurement method better serves the interest of the State than other procurement methods available under the Act and can be applied on a fair and equitable basis; and (ii) the State Comptroller approves the alternative procurement method prior to the procurement. In order to effectively monitor the success or failure of the alternative procurement method the procuring State agency must file a report with the Governor, State Comptroller and heads of the Legislative Fiscal Committees by the mid-term of the resulting contract concerning the benefits of the alternative method and comparing results to other procurement methods

Competitive Negotiation with Best and Final Offer: This amendment expands available procurement options to include competitive negotiation with multiple vendors to obtain the best result for taxpayers. The State Comptroller anticipates this change would be useful in highly complex procurements where approaches to meeting the requirements are not pre-defined, to encourage innovative solutions amidst changing industry capabilities, or where there may be opportunities for the state to mitigate risk or expense through non-material tradeoffs.

Where the basis of award is best value and after completing an initial evaluation and scoring, a state agency may choose to make an award at that time based on best value. Or, if the agency believes a better price or outcome can be achieved, competitive negotiations can be conducted with vendors that fall in a competitive range and could potentially be selected based on the final outcome.

The State Comptroller urges the passage of this proposed legislation.

Fiscal implications for state

None. However, this proposal facilitates the use of new methods that will result in more effective and efficient procurements at reduced costs and provides additional transparency to the procurement process.

Effective date

Provides for an immediate effective date and states that certain provisions shall only apply to any procurement initiated on or after such date; and further provides that the amendments to Section 163 of the State Finance Law shall not affect the repeal of such Section and shall be deemed repealed therewith.