§ 21-I:11-c — Debarment of Vendors

I. (a) No individual or business entity shall be awarded a bid, proposal, or quotation issued by the division of procurement and support services if that individual or entity, or any of its subsidiaries, affiliates, or principal officers:
(1) Has, within the past 2 years, been convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, a violation of RSA 356:2, RSA 356:4, or any state or federal law or county or municipal ordinance prohibiting specified bidding practices, or involving antitrust violations, which has not been annulled;
(2) Has been prohibited, either permanently or temporarily, from participating in any public works project pursuant to RSA 638:20;
(3) Has previously provided false, deceptive, or fraudulent information on a vendor code number application form, or any other document submitted to the state of New Hampshire, which information was not corrected as of the time of the filing of a bid, proposal, or quotation;
(4) Is currently debarred from performing work on any project of the federal government or the government of any state;
(5) Has, within the past 2 years, failed to cure a default on any contract with the federal government or the government of any state;
(6) Is presently subject to any order of the department of labor, the department of employment security, or any other state department, agency, board, or commission, finding that the applicant is not in compliance with the requirements of the laws or rules that the department, agency, board, or commission is charged with implementing;
(7) Is presently subject to any sanction or penalty finally issued by the department of labor, the department of employment security, or any other state department, agency, board, or commission, which sanction or penalty has not been fully discharged or fulfilled;
(8) Is currently serving a sentence or is subject to a continuing or unfulfilled penalty for any crime or violation noted in this section;
(9) Has failed or neglected to advise the division of any conviction, plea of guilty, or finding relative to any crime or violation noted in this section, or of any debarment, within 30 days of such conviction, plea, finding, or debarment;
(10) Has been placed on the debarred parties list specified in paragraph II within the past year;
(11) Has been convicted of wage theft of its employees within the past 2 years;
(12) Has been convicted of a felony level offense involving worker safety practices within the past 2 years; or
(13) Has been found guilty, within the last 2 years, of misclassification of workers as independent contractors, in violation of department of labor standards and the definition of employee in RSA 281-A:2.
(b) All individuals or business entities submitting a bid, proposal, or quotation in response to a request for a bid, proposal, or quotation issued by the division of procurement and support services shall, as part of their response, provide a statement signed under penalty of unsworn falsification as set forth in RSA 641:3 that all conditions listed in subparagraphs (a)(1)-(10) have been met. Failure to submit such a statement, the filing of a false statement, or the signing of the statement by an unauthorized person, shall be reason for the bid, proposal, or quotation to be rejected and the resulting contract, if any, shall be deemed to be in breach. The commissioner of the department of administrative services shall adopt rules under RSA 541-A relative to the statement required under this subparagraph.
II. The division of procurement and support services shall maintain a list of individuals or entities which it believes to be precluded from submitting bids, proposals, or quotations, under paragraph I, which it shall post on its public website. Such individuals or entities shall be debarred from submitting bids, quotations, or proposals to the division. Prior to posting the name of an individual or entity on the public website, the division shall, by way of certified or registered mail to the last known address of the individual or entity, notify the vendor of its intention to post. This requirement of notification shall not apply in the case of potential vendors whose names are posted by the division because those vendors' names appear on a federal or state debarred parties list. The individual or entity to whom a notification has been forwarded may request a hearing by certified or registered mail received by the division within 30 days of the date of the letter of notification. The division may post the vendor's name on its website if no request for a hearing is received in that period.
III. The director of the division of procurement and support services may preclude an individual who has been forwarded a notification under paragraph II from bidding or submitting a response to a request for quotation or proposal to the division whenever he or she concludes that to do so is necessary to protect the public interest. If such immediate debarment is ordered, the director shall notify the individual or entity in the notification forwarded under paragraph II. Such debarment shall be effective regardless of whether or not a hearing is pending and regardless of whether or not a posting has been made under paragraph II.
IV. A notification forwarded by the division under paragraph II shall contain at least:
(a) The name of the individual or entity whose name is proposed for posting;
(b) The reason for the division's decision;
(c) A statement that after 30 days from the date of the notification, the person or entity's name will be posted on the division's website and that the individual may request a hearing in accordance with paragraph II;
(d) The actual calendar date by which any request for a hearing must be received by the division;
(e) Notification that individuals or entities appearing on the list specified in paragraph II shall be debarred from submitting bids, quotations, or proposals to the division;
(f) If the individual or entity is immediately debarred from making bids or other submissions to the division, a statement to that effect; and
(g) A general specification of the period of time that the individual or entity's name will appear on the debarred parties list.
V. Individuals or entities placed on the debarred parties list shall generally be debarred from making bids, quotations, or proposals to the division for as long as they are disqualified under paragraph I or for a period of one year after placement on the list by the division, whichever is longer. The director of the division of procurement and support services may earlier terminate the debarment if he or she determines that the reason for debarment no longer exists, or that the debarred vendor has successfully completed the terms of a sentence or penalty, including probation responsibilities, and that earlier termination will not, in the opinion of the director, adversely affect the public interest.
VI. Debarment shall in no way affect the obligation of a vendor to provide products or services already under contract. In its discretion, however, the state may deem the submission of a bid, proposal, or quotation contrary to paragraph I a breach of contract.

Legislative History

2010, 355:1, eff. Sept. 18, 2010. 2014, 327:9, eff. Aug. 2, 2014. 2018, 82:1, eff. July 24, 2018. 2019, 346:2, 3, eff. July 1, 2019.