HBA-NLM C.S.H.B. 2624 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2624
By: Maxey
Human Services
4/4/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

The Texas Council on Purchasing from People with Disabilities (council) is
charged with running the state's program to encourage state agencies to,
when possible, purchase goods and services from community rehabilitation
programs that employ disabled Texans. The legislation controlling this
program mandates that the council contract with a central nonprofit agency
to manage and coordinate the daily operations of the program and to market
goods and services from the community programs to state agencies.  Although
competitive bidding is a general rule when the state contracts with private
entities, the current legislation for the program does not clearly state
the council's rights to competitively re-bid this contract with a central
nonprofit agency. 

C.S.H.B. 2624 clarifies the council's ability to competitively bid the
contract for the central nonprofit agency and requires state agencies to
report to the council the total number and dollar amount of purchases made
through the program. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 122.008, Human Resources Code, to require the
head of each state agency to report to the Texas Council on Purchasing from
People with Disabilities (council) in writing, by September 30 of each
year, with regard to the agency's purchases during the preceding fiscal
year: 

_the total number and dollar amount of purchases made by the agency under
this section; and 

_a complete explanation of the reasons for a purchase by the agency from
another source of any product or service that was available under this
section. 

SECTION 2.  Amends Section 122.019, Human Resources Code, by amending
Subsections (d) and (e) and by adding Subsection (g), as follows: 

(d) Authorizes the council, following the review of an existing contract
with a central nonprofit agency, to approve the performance of the central
nonprofit agency under the contract and renegotiate the contract with the
central nonprofit agency, or to enter  into a new contract in accordance
with Subtitle D (State Purchasing and General Services), Title 10,
Government Code, using competitive bidding or competitive sealed proposals,
as determined by the General Services Commission. Deletes the requirement
that the council renegotiate a contract with a central nonprofit agency. 

(e)  Provides that the computational method for including the management
fee rate in the selling price or contract price must be approved by the
council. 

(g)  Authorizes the council to review a proposal in a closed meeting when
the council is  using the competitive sealed proposals method to enter into
a contract under Subsection (d). 

SECTION 3.  Section 122.022(b), Human Resources Code, to provide that a
report submitted under this section must, rather than shall, include a
compilation of the amount and number of purchases and a summary of the
explanations contained in reports received by the council under Section
122.088, among the other existing requirements of this section. 

SECTION 4.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 5.  Emergency clause.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2624 modifies the original in SECTION 2 (Section 122.019(d), Human
Resources Code), by changing the new contract provisions to be in
accordance with Subtitle D (State Purchasing and General Services), Title
10, Government Code, rather than Chapter 2155 (Purchasing: General Rules
and Procedures), Government Code, using competitive bidding or competitive
sealed proposals, as determined by the General Services Commission.