Enacts the "local government procurement modernization and transparency act" to modernize and increase the transparency of local government procurement of goods and services; allows a political subdivision to provide notice of requests for bids by posting the requests on the New York state contract reporter website; makes related provisions.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A191
SPONSOR: Magnarelli TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general municipal law, in relation to modernizing
and increasing the transparency of local government procurement of goods
and services
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Increase the cost-effectiveness of local government procurement by
reaching a greater number of potential bidders, thereby increasing
competition and consequently lowering the price of and increasing the
quality of the goods and services procured by local governments.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the Act sets forth the bill's short title: "Local Govern-
ment Procurement Modernization and Transparency Act".
Section 2 of the Act amends section 103 of the general municipal law by
allowing local governments to publish notices of requests for bids and
proposals on the State's procurement website as well as the munici-
pality's own website.
Section 3 of the Act establishes an immediate effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
This legislation allows local governments to leverage the power of the
internet to reach a much larger number of companies that will respond to
a local government's request for bids. By reaching more potential
bidders, the price paid by local governments for goods and services will
be reduced while the quality of the goods and public works will be
improved.
Relying on the advertisement of requests for bids for the procurement of
goods and public works projects in local newspapers as a method for
attracting the greatest competition is antiquated, particularly in the
age of the internet. Whereas the current law only requires notices of
requests for bids to be published once, this legislation requires
notices to be posted continuously for at least five days. This
increased access to requests for bids will greatly increase the trans-
parency of the local procurement process, which now takes place hidden
among the back pages and tiny font of local newspapers scattered across
the state.
Moreover, many of New York's local governments are serviced only by a
weekly newspaper. Weekly newspapers present serious challenges to local
governments when they need to quickly enter into a purchase or public
works contract. Local government officials may have to wait as long as
two weeks from the date they determine the need to make the purchase
before they may actually conduct a bid opening. For example, if a weekly
paper requires advertisements to be submitted by 5 p.m. on Tuesday for
a paper that is published on Thursday, and the local legislative body
determines on a Tuesday evening, after 5 p.m., that it would like to
purchase a new vehicle, the advertisement for the request for bids could
not be published until the following Thursday, nine days later. Conse-
quently, the local legislative body could not schedule a bid opening
until two weeks after it determines that it needs to make the purchase.
By allowing local governments to post notices of public hearings on the
own websites, local governments would be able to make procurements in a
much more timely manner while at the same time reaching more potential
bidders and providing those bidders with more information instantane-
ously that what is capable of being provided by newspapers.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-2022: A.1333, 2019-2020: A.1831; 2017-2018: A.393; 2016: A.9744
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
This proposal will save New York's local governments substantial time
and money.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
191
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 4, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. MAGNARELLI, HUNTER -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Local Governments
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to modernizing
and increasing the transparency of local government procurement of
goods and services
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "local government procurement modernization and transparency act".
3 § 2. Section 103 of the general municipal law is amended by adding a
4 new subdivision 17 to read as follows:
5 17. (a) As an alternative to the notice procedure set forth in subdi-
6 vision two of this section, a political subdivision may provide notice
7 of requests for bids by posting the requests on the New York State
8 Contract Reporter website. In addition, the municipality must post
9 notice of requests for bids on a website maintained by the political
10 subdivision itself. Before a political subdivision may utilize the
11 online notification method outlined in this subdivision, the political
12 subdivision must adopt a local law which provides that all requests for
13 bids will be posted online pursuant to the procedures outlined in this
14 subdivision. After a political subdivision adopts a local law pursuant
15 to this paragraph, notice of the local law's adoption must be published
16 once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circu-
17 lation within the political subdivision. In addition, a political subdi-
18 vision must continuously and conspicuously post on its website that
19 notices of requests for bids are posted online with a link to the
20 webpage where current and previous requests for bids have been posted.
21 (b) Once a political subdivision has designated the online bid notifi-
22 cation process as the method for requesting bids, each request for bids
23 must be continuously posted for at least five consecutive days on both
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00282-01-3
A. 191 2
1 the political subdivision's website and the New York State Contract
2 Reporter website before the bid opening deadline. For the purpose of
3 calculating the number of days, the first day the request for bids is
4 posted online may not be counted but the day of the bid opening may be
5 counted. The website posting must include the bid specifications, unless
6 it is infeasible to post the bid specifications on the website in which
7 case a summary of the request for bids must be posted online with a
8 statement that the complete bid specifications are available in the
9 office of the clerk of the political subdivision. The website posting
10 must also include a statement indicating the address to which bids must
11 be delivered and a statement of the date, time, and place where the bids
12 will be publicly opened and read.
13 (c) Nothing in this subdivision precludes a political subdivision from
14 publicizing notices of a request for bids in other manners in addition
15 to the methods outlined in this subdivision. Nothing in this subdivision
16 precludes a newspaper from publishing information of its own accord
17 regarding any political subdivision's notice of request for bids or
18 request for proposals.
19 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
