HBA-CMT H.B. 3413 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3413
By: McClendon
Urban Affairs
4/2/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a public housing authority must hire an architect to
design plans for public housing projects in order to request competitive
bids.  Once a design has been completed, the housing authority goes through
a competitive bidding process for construction of the designed project.
The housing authority must pay all up front costs of the design work, and
risks losing that money if the project is not built.  Current law does not
allow housing authorities to accept bids that include architectural plans
and construction costs in one proposal, also known as turn-key bids.  House
Bill 3413 authorizes the use of alternative bidding methods for public
housing authority projects that accept Housing and Urban Development
funding.  

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. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 3413 amends the Local Government Code to provide that the
competitive bidding laws including provisions regarding the purchasing and
contracting authority of local governments do not apply to the planning,
acquisition, establishment, development, construction, or renovation of
housing projects, programs, or facilities by public housing authorities
which are funded in part by the United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development grant. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.