1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to transportation; modifying certain state 
  1.3             contract procedures; providing for posting highway 
  1.4             construction and maintenance bids or bid records 
  1.5             electronically or over the Internet; modifying 
  1.6             seasonal highway weight limitations; making clarifying 
  1.7             changes; amending Minnesota Statutes 2000, sections 
  1.8             16C.06, subdivision 2; 161.32, subdivisions 1, 1b, 1e; 
  1.9             169.825, subdivision 11; 169.87, by adding a 
  1.10            subdivision. 
  1.11  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.12     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 16C.06, 
  1.13  subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  1.14     Subd. 2.  [SOLICITATION PROCESS.] (a) A formal solicitation 
  1.15  must be used to acquire all goods, service contracts, and 
  1.16  utilities estimated at or more than $25,000, or in the case of a 
  1.17  department of transportation solicitation, at or more than 
  1.18  $50,000, unless otherwise provided for.  All formal responses 
  1.19  must be sealed when they are received and must be opened in 
  1.20  public at the hour stated in the solicitation.  Formal responses 
  1.21  must be authenticated by the responder in a manner specified by 
  1.22  the commissioner.  
  1.23     (b) An informal solicitation may be used to acquire all 
  1.24  goods, service contracts, and utilities that are estimated at 
  1.25  less than $25,000, or in the case of a department of 
  1.26  transportation solicitation, at or less than $50,000.  The 
  1.27  number of vendors required to receive solicitations may be 
  1.28  determined by the commissioner.  Informal responses must be 
  2.1   authenticated by the responder in a manner specified by the 
  2.2   commissioner. 
  2.3      Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 161.32, 
  2.4   subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  2.5      Subdivision 1.  [ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS.] The commissioner 
  2.6   may conduct the work or any part thereof of the work incidental 
  2.7   to the construction and maintenance of the trunk highways by 
  2.8   labor employed therefor to do the work or by contract.  In cases 
  2.9   of construction work, the commissioner shall first advertise for 
  2.10  bids for contracts, and if no satisfactory bids are received, 
  2.11  may either reject all bids and readvertise, or do the work by 
  2.12  labor employed therefor to do the work.  Except as hereinafter 
  2.13  provided in subdivision 3 or 4, when work is to be done under 
  2.14  contract, the commissioner shall advertise for bids once each 
  2.15  week for three successive weeks prior to the date such the bids 
  2.16  are to be received.  The advertisement for bids shall must be 
  2.17  published in a newspaper or other periodical of general 
  2.18  circulation in the state and may be placed on the Internet.  The 
  2.19  plans and specifications for the proposed work shall must be on 
  2.20  file in the commissioner's office prior to the first call for 
  2.21  bids. 
  2.22     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 161.32, 
  2.23  subdivision 1b, is amended to read: 
  2.24     Subd. 1b.  [LOWEST RESPONSIBLE BIDDER.] Bidders may submit 
  2.25  bids electronically in a form and manner required by the 
  2.26  commissioner.  Trunk highway construction contracts, including 
  2.27  design-build contracts, must be awarded to the lowest 
  2.28  responsible bidder, taking into consideration conformity with 
  2.29  the specifications, the purpose for which the contract or 
  2.30  purchase is intended, the status and capability of the vendor, 
  2.31  and other considerations imposed in the call for bids.  The 
  2.32  commissioner may decide which is the lowest responsible bidder 
  2.33  for all contracts and may use the principles of life-cycle 
  2.34  costing, where when appropriate, in determining the lowest 
  2.35  overall bid.  Any or all bids may be rejected.  In a case 
  2.36  where When competitive bids are required and where all bids are 
  3.1   rejected, new bids, if solicited, must be called for as in the 
  3.2   first instance, unless otherwise provided by law. 
  3.3      Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 161.32, 
  3.4   subdivision 1e, is amended to read: 
  3.5      Subd. 1e.  [RECORD.] A record must be kept of all bids, 
  3.6   including names of bidders, amounts of bids, and each successful 
  3.7   bid.  After the contract is awarded, this record is open to 
  3.8   public inspection and may be posted on the Internet. 
  3.9      Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 169.825, 
  3.10  subdivision 11, is amended to read: 
  3.11     Subd. 11.  [GROSS WEIGHT SEASONAL INCREASES.] (a) The 
  3.12  limitations provided in this section are increased:  
  3.13     (1) by ten percent from January 1 to March 7 between the 
  3.14  dates set by the commissioner based on frost depth each winter, 
  3.15  statewide; 
  3.16     (2) by ten percent from December 1 through December 31 
  3.17  between the dates set by the commissioner based on frost depth 
  3.18  each winter, in the zone bounded as follows:  beginning at 
  3.19  Pigeon River in the northeast corner of Minnesota; thence in a 
  3.20  southwesterly direction along the north shore of Lake Superior 
  3.21  along trunk highway No. 61 to the junction with trunk highway 
  3.22  No. 210; thence westerly along trunk highway No. 210 to the 
  3.23  junction with trunk highway No. 10; thence northwesterly along 
  3.24  trunk highway No. 10 to the Minnesota-North Dakota border; 
  3.25  thence northerly along that border to the Minnesota-Canadian 
  3.26  Border; thence easterly along said Border to Lake Superior; and 
  3.27     (3) by ten percent from the beginning of harvest to 
  3.28  November 30 each year for the movement of sugar beets and 
  3.29  potatoes within an area having a 75-mile radius from the field 
  3.30  of harvest to the point of the first unloading.  The 
  3.31  commissioner shall not issue permits under this clause if to do 
  3.32  so will result in a loss of federal highway funding to the state.
  3.33     (b) The duration of a ten percent increase in load limits 
  3.34  is subject to limitation by order of the commissioner, subject 
  3.35  to implementation of springtime load restrictions, or March 7.  
  3.36     (c) When the ten percent increase is in effect, a permit is 
  4.1   required for a motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer 
  4.2   combination that has a gross weight in excess of 80,000 pounds, 
  4.3   an axle group weight in excess of that prescribed in subdivision 
  4.4   10, or a single axle weight in excess of 20,000 pounds and which 
  4.5   travels on interstate routes.  
  4.6      (d) In cases where gross weights in an amount less than 
  4.7   that set forth in this section are fixed, limited, or restricted 
  4.8   on a highway or bridge by or under another section of this 
  4.9   chapter, the lesser gross weight as fixed, limited, or 
  4.10  restricted may not be exceeded and must control instead of the 
  4.11  gross weights set forth in this section.  
  4.12     (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
  4.13  subdivision, no vehicle may exceed a total gross vehicle weight 
  4.14  of 80,000 pounds on routes which have not been designated by the 
  4.15  commissioner under section 169.832, subdivision 11. 
  4.16     (f) The commissioner may, after determining the ability of 
  4.17  the highway structure and frost condition to support additional 
  4.18  loads, grant a permit extending seasonal increases for vehicles 
  4.19  using portions of routes falling within two miles of the 
  4.20  southern boundary of the zone described under paragraph (a), 
  4.21  clause (2). 
  4.22     Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 169.87, is 
  4.23  amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  4.24     Subd. 7.  [READY-MIX VEHICLES.] Until June 30, 2004, weight 
  4.25  restrictions imposed under subdivisions 1 and 2 do not apply to 
  4.26  a vehicle that does not exceed 14,000 pounds per single axle 
  4.27  while carrying ready-mix and traveling to or from a job site.