§ 15-31n — Purchases and contracts for supplies, materials, equipment and contractual services. Competitive bidding or competitive negotiation requirements. Procedures. Exemptions.

(a) As used in this section: (1) “Authority” means the Connecticut Port Authority established under section 15-31a ; (2) “Supplies”, “materials” and “equipment” mean any and all articles of personal property furnished to or used by the authority; (3) “Contractual services” means any laundry and cleaning service, pest control service, janitorial service, security service, the rental and repair, or maintenance, of equipment, machinery and other state-owned personal property, advertising and other service arrangements where the service is provided by persons other than employees of the authority; (4) “Competitive bidding” means the submission of prices by persons, firms or corporations competing for a contract to provide supplies, materials, equipment or contractual services, under a procedure in which the authority does not negotiate prices; (5) “Competitive negotiation” means a procedure for contracting for supplies, materials, equipment or contractual services, in which (A) proposals are solicited from qualified suppliers by a request for proposals, and (B) changes may be negotiated in proposals and prices after being submitted; (6) “Bidder” means a person, firm or corporation submitting a competitive bid in response to a solicitation; (7) “Proposer” means a person, firm or corporation submitting a proposal in response to a request for proposals; (8) “Lowest responsible qualified bidder” means the bidder whose bid is the lowest of those bidders possessing the skill, ability and integrity necessary to faithful performance of the work based on objective criteria considering past performance and financial responsibility; and (9) “Highest scoring bidder in a multiple criteria bid” means the bidder whose bid receives the highest score for a combination of attributes, including, but not limited to, price, skill, ability and integrity necessary for the faithful performance of the work, based on multiple criteria considering quality of product, warranty, life-cycle cost, past performance, financial responsibility and other objective criteria that are established in the bid solicitation for the contract. (b) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, any purchases of, and contracts for, supplies, materials, equipment and contractual services by the Connecticut Port Authority, except purchases and contracts made pursuant to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section and public utility services as provided in subsection (e) of this section, shall be based, when possible, on competitive bids or competitive negotiation. The authority shall solicit competitive bids or proposals by providing notice of the planned purchase in a form and manner that the authority determines will maximize public participation in the competitive bidding or competitive negotiation process, including participation by small contractors, as defined in section 4a-60g , and promote competition. Each notice of a planned purchase under this subsection shall indicate the type of goods and services to be purchased and the estimated value of the contract award. The notice shall, when applicable, also contain a notice of contract requirements concerning nondiscrimination and affirmative action pursuant to section 4a-60 and requirements concerning the awarding of contracts to small contractors, minority business enterprises, individuals with a disability and nonprofit corporations pursuant to section 4a-60g . Each bid and proposal shall be kept sealed or secured until opened publicly at the time stated in the notice soliciting such bid or proposal. (c) The authority may waive the requirement of competitive bidding or competitive negotiation in the case of minor nonrecurring or emergency purchases of ten thousand dollars or less in amount. (d) The authority shall adopt procedures, in accordance with the provisions of section 1-121 , establishing (1) standards and procedures for using competitive negotiation for purchases and contracts, including, but not limited to, criteria which shall be considered in making purchases by competitive negotiation and the weight which shall be assigned to each such criterion, and (2) standards and procedures under which additional purchases may be made under existing contracts. (e) The purchase of or contract for the following public utility services shall not be subject to competitive bidding or competitive negotiation: (1) Electric distribution services; (2) water services; (3) gas distribution services; (4) electric generation services if such services are provided by an electric municipal utility other than a participating electric municipal utility, as defined in section 16-1 , in the service area of such electric municipal utility; and (5) gas supply services until the date such services are competitive pursuant to legislative act or order of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, provided gas supply services shall be exempt from competitive bidding and competitive negotiation after such date if such services are provided by a gas municipal utility in the service area of such gas municipal utility. (f) All open market orders or contracts of the authority shall be awarded to (1) the lowest responsible qualified bidder, while taking into consideration the qualities of the articles to be supplied, their conformity with the specifications, their suitability to the requirements of the authority and the delivery terms, (2) the highest scoring bidder in a multiple criteria bid, in accordance with the criteria set forth in the bid solicitation for the contract, or (3) the proposer whose proposal is deemed by the authority to be the most advantageous, in accordance with the criteria set forth in the request for proposals, including price and evaluation factors. (g) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, when awarding a contract through competitive negotiation, the authority shall include price as an explicit factor in the criteria in the request for proposals and for the contract award. In considering past performance of a bidder for the purpose of determining the lowest responsible qualified bidder or the highest scoring bidder in a multiple criteria bid, the authority shall evaluate the skill, ability and integrity of the bidder in terms of the bidder's fulfillment of past contract obligations and the bidder's experience or lack of experience in delivering supplies, materials, equipment or contractual services of the size or amount for which bids have been solicited.

Legislative History

(P.A. 23-91, S. 3.)