Bill Text: PA SB330 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Increasing the minimum bid requirement; and providing for evasion of requirements.

Sponsorship: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 22-5)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-02-20 - Referred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY [SB330 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2009-SB330-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 328
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 330 Session of2009
INTRODUCED BY FOLMER, EICHELBERGER, SCARNATI, ORIE, ROBBINS, STOUT, BAKER, SMUCKER, BROWNE, WAUGH, PICCOLA, BRUBAKER, CORMAN, MUSTO, KASUNIC, EARLL, FERLO, GORDNER, PILEGGI, RAFFERTY, ERICKSON, WONDERLING, M. WHITE, GREENLEAF, PIPPY, ALLOWAY AND BOSCOLA, FEBRUARY 20, 2009
REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, FEBRUARY 20, 2009
AN ACT
Amending the act of May 1, 1913 (P.L.155, No.104), entitled "An
act regulating the letting of certain contracts for the
erection, construction, and alteration of public buildings,"
increasing the minimum bid requirement; and providing for
evasion of requirements.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 1 of the act of May 1, 1913 (P.L.155, No.
104), referred to as the Separations Act, amended December 22,
1981 (P.L.546, No.159), is amended to read:
Section 1. (a) Be it enacted, &c., That hereafter in the
preparation of specifications for the erection, construction,
and alteration of any public building, when the entire cost of
such work shall exceed [four thousand dollars] twenty-five
thousand dollars subject to annual adjustment under subsection
(b), it shall be the duty of the architect, engineer, or other
person preparing such specifications, to prepare separate
specifications for the plumbing, heating, ventilating, and
electrical work; and it shall be the duty of the person or
persons authorized to enter into contracts for the erection,
construction, or alteration of such public buildings to receive
separate bids upon each of the said branches of work, and to
award the contract for the same to the lowest responsible bidder
for each of said branches.
Every contract for the construction, reconstruction,
alteration, repair, improvement or maintenance of public works
shall comply with the provisions of the act of March 3, 1978
(P.L.6, No.3), known as the "Steel Products Procurement Act."
(b) (1) Annually, beginning with the year in which this
subsection becomes applicable to contracts and purchases, the
Department of Labor and Industry shall calculate the percentage
change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-
U) for the United States city average for all items as published
by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics, for the twelve-month average ending in September of
the prior year.
(2) The amount at which competitive bidding is required
under subsection (a) shall be adjusted annually. The positive
percentage change, as determined in accordance with clause (1),
shall be multiplied by the amount applicable under subsection
(a) for the current year and the product thereof shall be added
to the amount applicable under subsection (a) for the current
year, with the result rounded to the nearest multiple of ten
dollars.
(3) The annual determination required under clause (1) and
the calculation of the adjustments required under clause (2)
shall be made in the period between October 1 and November 15 of
the year following the effective date of this subsection, and
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annually between October 1 and November 15 of each successive
year.
(4) The adjusted amounts obtained in accordance with clause
(2) shall become effective January 1 for the calendar year
following the year in which the determination required under
clause (1) is made.
(5) The Department of Labor and Industry shall give notice
in the Pennsylvania Bulletin prior to January 1 of each calendar
year of the annual percentage change determined in accordance
with clause (1) and the amounts, whether adjusted or unadjusted
in accordance with clause (2), for the calendar year beginning
the first day of January after publication of the notice.
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 1.1. No person shall evade the provisions of section
1 by purchasing or contracting for services and personal
properties piecemeal to obtain prices under the required
advertising price, subject to annual adjustment under section
1(b). This provision is intended to make unlawful the making of
a series of purchases or contracts each for less than the price
to which section 1 applies, or by making several simultaneous
purchases or contracts, each below said price, when in either
case, the transactions involved should have been made as one
transaction for one price. Any persons who violate this
provision, and who know that the transaction in question is or
ought to be a part of a larger transaction, and that it is being
divided in order to evade the requirements of section 1, shall
be jointly and severally subject to surcharge for ten per centum
of the full amount of the contract or purchase.
Section 3. This act shall apply to contracts and purchases
advertised on or after January 1 of the year following the
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effective date of this section.
Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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