Minnesota Session Laws - 2000, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 420-S.F.No. 2972 
                  An act relating to state government; authorizing open 
                  bidding for state purchases; amending Minnesota 
                  Statutes 1998, sections 16C.03, subdivision 3; and 
                  16C.10, by adding a subdivision. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 16C.03, 
        subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
           Subd. 3.  [ACQUISITION AUTHORITY.] The commissioner shall 
        acquire all goods, services, and utilities needed by agencies.  
        The commissioner shall acquire goods, services, and utilities by 
        requests for bids, requests for proposals, reverse auctions as 
        provided in section 16C.10, subdivision 7, or other methods 
        provided by law, unless a section of law requires a particular 
        method of acquisition to be used.  The commissioner shall make 
        all decisions regarding acquisition activities.  The 
        determination of the acquisition method and all decisions 
        involved in the acquisition process, unless otherwise provided 
        for by law, shall be based on best value which includes an 
        evaluation of price and may include other considerations 
        including, but not limited to, environmental considerations, 
        quality, and vendor performance.  A best value determination 
        must be based on the evaluation criteria detailed in the 
        solicitation document.  If criteria other than price are used, 
        the solicitation document must state the relative importance of 
        price and other factors.  Unless it is determined by the 
        commissioner that an alternative solicitation method provided by 
        law should be used to determine best value, a request for bid 
        must be used to solicit formal responses for all building and 
        construction contracts.  Any or all responses may be rejected.  
        When using the request for bid process, the bid must be awarded 
        to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, taking into 
        consideration conformity with the specifications, terms of 
        delivery, the purpose for which the contract or purchase is 
        intended, the status and capability of the vendor, and other 
        considerations imposed in the request for bids.  The 
        commissioner may decide which is the lowest responsible bidder 
        for all purchases and may use the principles of life-cycle 
        costing, where appropriate, in determining the lowest overall 
        bid.  The duties set forth in this subdivision are subject to 
        delegation pursuant to this section. 
           Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 16C.10, is 
        amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
           Subd. 7.  [REVERSE AUCTION.] (a) For the purpose of this 
        subdivision, "reverse auction" means a purchasing process in 
        which vendors compete to provide goods at the lowest selling 
        price in an open and interactive environment. 
           (b) The provisions of section 16C.06, subdivisions 2 and 3, 
        do not apply when the commissioner determines that a reverse 
        auction is the appropriate purchasing process. 
           Presented to the governor April 14, 2000 
           Signed by the governor April 18, 2000, 10:35 a.m.