Bill Text: NJ S3117 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Permits establishment of county-wide purchasing system by county employing qualified purchasing agent and requires participation by all municipalities and school districts within the county.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2011-12-01 - Withdrawn from Consideration [S3117 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-S3117-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator PAUL A. SARLO
District 36 (Bergen, Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Permits establishment of county-wide purchasing system by county employing qualified purchasing agent and requires participation by all municipalities and school districts within the county.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning county consolidated purchasing programs, amending P.L.2007, c.63, and supplementing P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) a. A local unit that is a county and that employs a qualified purchasing agent may adopt a resolution or ordinance, as the case may be in accordance with its form of government, establishing a county-wide purchasing system for providing certain services and goods, as specified below, to local contracting units within the county.
b. Specifically, in order to take advantage of economies of scales and administrative efficiencies in the purchase of goods and services, a county may mandate that the qualified county purchasing agent award a single County Wide Contract for county-provided services or goods to local contracting units within the county which use a private vendor to provide the good or service at issue.
c. (1) The county clerk of a county that establishes a county-wide purchasing system pursuant to subsections a. and b. of this section shall notify all of the local contracting units located within the county within 20 days of final adoption of the resolution or ordinance, as appropriate.
(2) A qualified purchasing agent of a county that establishes a county-wide purchasing system pursuant to subsections a. and b. of this section shall create and maintain a webpage on the county Internet website listing the services and goods for which the county has entered into a County Wide Contract.
(3) The qualified county purchasing agent shall award County Wide Contracts based on a best value at the lowest cost acquisition policy. The qualified purchasing agent of the county shall specify in the bidding document for a good or service that the low bid may be determined on a best value at the lowest cost acquisition policy and shall set forth the provisions of the policy in detail in the bidding document.
(4) Prior to awarding any contract the qualified county purchasing agent shall disclose the terms of all contracts pending final approval on the county's Internet website at least 20 days prior to the final approval of the contract.
(5) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a local contracting unit seeking a service or good subject to a County Wide Contract, shall acquire the service or good through that County Wide Contract. Any local unit bid document or contract for a good or service that is eligible to be acquired through a County Wide Contract shall be beyond the authority of the local unit to advertise or award, and shall be void from its inception.
(6) The qualified county purchasing agent may establish a set aside program for small and women-owned businesses pursuant to N.J.S.18A:18A-51 et seq. for the provision of county-wide services or goods, or both.
d. For the purposes of this section:
"Local contracting unit" or "contracting unit" means any entity subject to the "Local Public Contracts Law," P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-1 et seq.), and the "Public School Contracts Law," N.J.S.18A:18A-1 et seq.
"Best value at the lowest cost acquisition policy" means a competitive procurement policy whereby the award of a contract for supplies and materials may take into consideration any of the following factors:
(1) The total cost to the contracting unit of its use or consumption of supplies and materials;
(2) The operational cost or benefit incurred by the contracting unit as a result of the contract award;
(3) The value to the contracting unit of vendor-added services;
(4) The quality, effectiveness, and innovation of supplies, materials, and services;
(5) The reliability of delivery or installation schedules;
(6) The terms and conditions of product warranties and vendor guarantees;
(7) The financial stability of the vendor;
(8) The vendor's quality assurance program;
(9) The vendor's experience with the provision of similar supplies, materials, and services;
(10) The consistency of the vendor's proposed supplies, materials, and services with the county's overall supplies and materials procurement program;
(11) The vendor's use of water provided by public or nonpublic water systems that meet the requirements of the "Safe Drinking Water Act," P.L.1977, c.224 (C.58:12A-1 et seq.); and
(12) The economic benefits to the general community related to job creation or retention.
e. The best value at the lowest cost acquisition policy adopted pursuant to this section shall include the following:
(1) Price and service level proposals that reduce the contracting unit's overall operating costs;
(2) Compliance with applicable laws, including safety, environmental and labor standards;
(3) Adequate training programs and licensing for employees performing under the contract;
(4) Supplies and materials standards that support the contracting unit's strategic supplies and materials acquisition and management program direction; and
(5) A procedure for protest and resolution.
f. Nothing in this section shall require the privatization of a position currently filled by a public employee.
g. Any administrative personnel who lose their jobs due to implementation of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall receive terminal leave pay, as set forth in paragraph (2) of subsection a. of section 19 of the "Uniform Shared Services and Consolidation Act," P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-19).
2. Section 54 of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.18A:7-12) is amended to read as follows:
54. a. A local school district may apply to the executive county superintendent of schools to have school district services including, but not limited to, transportation, personnel, purchasing, payroll, and accounting, assumed by the office of the superintendent. If the executive county superintendent determines to assume a service, a fee may be assessed the school district for the service. The executive county superintendent of schools may utilize county special services school districts, jointure commissions, and educational services commissions to provide services to local school boards.
b. When the county governing body, wherein the school district is located, has adopted a resolution or ordinance, as the case may be, pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) to consolidate the purchasing of products and services within the county, the office of the superintendent and every local school district shall be required to participate in the county program.
(cf: P.L.2007, c.63, s.54)
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill is intended to promote the concept of shared and consolidated services through the use of county-wide contracts in order to reduce local government costs by taking advantage of economies of scales and administrative efficiencies when dealing with private vendors.
When a county that employs a qualified purchasing agent establishes a county-wide purchasing system, its clerk is required to notify all of the local contracting units within that county. The class of local contracting units consists of any entity that is subject to either the "Local Public Contracts Law," N.J.S.A.40A:11-1 et seq., or the "Public School Contracts Law," N.J.S.A.18A:18A-1 et seq. The county's qualified purchasing agent would maintain a webpage on the county's Internet website listing all of the goods and services for which the county has entered into a County Wide Contract. These contracts would be awarded to vendors on the basis of a best value at the lowest cost acquisition policy, which shall be set forth in detail in the bidding documents. Local contracting units within the county would be required to purchase through a County Wide Contract for a particular good or service, if such contract exists.
As part of the county-wide purchasing system, the qualified county purchasing agent could establish a set aside program for small and women-owned businesses pursuant to N.J.S.A.18A:18A-51 et seq. for the provision of county-wide services or goods, or both. The bill contains technical requirements for a "best value at the lowest cost acquisition policy," along with mandatory provisions. The bill also makes clear that a county-wide purchasing system is not intended to require the privatization of any position currently filled by a public employee, but that any administrator who loses their job due to a county-wide purchasing system will receive terminal leave pay pursuant to N.J.S.A.40A:65-19 of the "Uniform Shared Services and Consolidation Act."
