Bill Text: NY S08498 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Provides that an unsuccessful offerer may additionally request a written explanation comparable to such debriefing to be provided by mail or electronic mail, which the state agency shall provide within sixty days of the offerer's request for a written explanation; lengthens the period in which a debriefing shall be requested by the unsuccessful offerer and the length of time in which a state agency must respond from 15 days to 30 days.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-21 - PRINT NUMBER 8498A [S08498 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S08498-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         8498--A

                    IN SENATE

                                    February 6, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Procurement and  Contracts
          -- reported favorably from said committee and committed to the Commit-
          tee   on  Finance  --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,  ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to the debriefing  of
          certain contracts

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Paragraph c of subdivision 9 of section 163  of  the  state
     2  finance  law,  as  amended by section 2-b of part F of chapter 57 of the
     3  laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
     4    c. Where provided in the  solicitation,  state  agencies  may  require
     5  clarification  from offerers for purposes of assuring a full understand-
     6  ing of responsiveness to the solicitation requirements.  Where  provided
     7  for  in  the  solicitation, revisions may be permitted from all offerers
     8  determined to be susceptible of being selected for contract award, prior
     9  to award. Offerers shall be  accorded  fair  and  equal  treatment  with
    10  respect  to  their  opportunity for discussion and revision of offers. A
    11  state agency shall, upon request, provide a debriefing to any unsuccess-
    12  ful offerer that responded to a request for proposal  or  an  invitation
    13  for  bids,  regarding  the reasons that the proposal or bid submitted by
    14  the unsuccessful offerer was not selected for an award. The  opportunity
    15  for  an  unsuccessful offerer to seek a debriefing, and the availability
    16  of a written explanation, shall be stated in the solicitation.
    17    (i) A debriefing shall be requested by the unsuccessful offerer within
    18  [fifteen] thirty calendar days of release  by  the  state  agency  of  a
    19  notice  in  writing or electronically that the offerer's offer is unsuc-
    20  cessful.
    21    (ii) Such notice shall be provided to all unsuccessful offerers by the
    22  state agency for the specific procurement.
    23    (iii) The state agency, upon a request made  within  [fifteen]  thirty
    24  days  of release of the written or electronic notice from the unsuccess-
    25  ful offerer for a debriefing, shall schedule  the  debriefing  to  occur

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14018-02-4
        S. 8498--A                          2

     1  within a reasonable time of such request. Debriefings shall be conducted
     2  by  the  state agency with the unsuccessful offerer in-person, provided,
     3  however, the parties may mutually agree to utilize other means such  as,
     4  but  not  limited to, by telephone, video-conferencing or other types of
     5  electronic communications. State agency personnel participating  in  the
     6  debriefing  discussion  shall  have been involved with and knowledgeable
     7  about the procurement and the evaluation and selection of the successful
     8  offerer or offerers.
     9    (iv) Such debriefing shall include, but need not be  limited  to:  (A)
    10  the  reasons that the proposal, bid or offer submitted by the unsuccess-
    11  ful offerer was not selected for award; (B) the qualitative and  quanti-
    12  tative  analysis employed by the agency in assessing the relative merits
    13  of the proposals, bids or offers; (C) the application of  the  selection
    14  criteria  to  the  unsuccessful  offerer's  proposal;  and  (D) when the
    15  debriefing is held after the final award, the reasons for the  selection
    16  of  the  winning  proposal,  bid  or  offer.  The  debriefing shall also
    17  provide, to the extent practicable, general advice and guidance  to  the
    18  unsuccessful   offerer  concerning  potential  ways  that  their  future
    19  proposals, bids or offers could be more responsive.  Provided,  however,
    20  that an unsuccessful offerer may additionally request a written explana-
    21  tion  comparable to such debriefing to be provided by mail or electronic
    22  mail, which the state agency shall provide  within  sixty  days  of  the
    23  offerer's request for a written explanation.
    24    §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
    25  have become a law; provided, however, that the amendments to subdivision
    26  9 of section 163 of the state finance law made by section  one  of  this
    27  act  shall  not  affect  the  repeal of such section and shall be deemed
    28  repealed therewith.