2001 Legislation
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HOUSE BILL NO. 231 – Public projects, design services

HOUSE BILL NO. 231

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Daily Data Tracking History



H0231...........................................................by BUSINESS
PUBLIC PROJECTS - Amends existing law to clarify procedures for the
selection of professionals providing design services for public projects.
                                                                        
02/14    House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/15    Rpt prt - to Bus
03/02    Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/05    2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
03/07    3rd rdg - PASSED - 59-4-7
      AYES -- Barraclough, Bedke, Bell, Bieter, Black, Boe, Bolz, Bradford,
      Bruneel, Callister, Campbell, Chase, Clark, Collins, Crow, Cuddy,
      Deal, Denney, Ellis, Ellsworth, Eskridge, Field(13), Gagner, Gould,
      Hadley, Hammond, Harwood, Henbest, Higgins, Hornbeck, Jaquet, Jones,
      Kellogg, Kendell, Kunz, Lake, Loertscher, Mader, Marley, Meyer,
      Mortensen, Moyle, Pearce, Pischner, Pomeroy, Raybould, Ridinger,
      Roberts, Robison, Sellman, Shepherd, Smith, Smylie, Stevenson, Stone,
      Swan, Trail, Wheeler, Young
      NAYS -- Barrett, Langford, Tilman, Wood
      Absent and excused -- Field(20), McKague, Montgomery, Moss, Sali,
      Schaefer, Mr. Speaker
    Floor Sponsor -- Gagner
    Title apvd - to Senate
03/08    Senate intro - 1st rdg - to Com/HuRes
03/21    Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/22    2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
03/26    3rd rdg - PASSED - 27-5-3
      AYES -- Boatright, Brandt, Bunderson, Burtenshaw, Cameron, Danielson,
      Darrington, Davis, Deide, Dunklin, Frasure, Geddes, Goedde, Ingram,
      Ipsen, Keough, King-Barrutia, Lee, Lodge, Noh, Richardson, Risch,
      Sims, Stennett, Thorne, Wheeler, Williams,
      NAYS -- Branch, Hawkins, Schroeder, Stegner, Whitworth
      Absent and excused -- Andreason, Sandy, Sorensen
    Floor Sponsors -- Davis & Lodge
    Title apvd - to House
03/28    To enrol - rpt enrol - Sp signed - Pres signed
03/29    To Governor
04/11    GovernorVETOED

Bill Text


                                                                        
                                                                        
  ||||              LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO             ||||
 Fifty-sixth Legislature                  First Regular Session - 2001
                                                                        
                                                                        
                              IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
                                                                        
                                     HOUSE BILL NO. 231
                                                                        
                                   BY BUSINESS COMMITTEE
                                                                        
  1                                        AN ACT
  2    RELATING TO THE SELECTION OF DESIGN PROFESSIONALS, CONSTRUCTION  MANAGERS  AND
  3        PROFESSIONAL  LAND SURVEYORS BY PUBLIC ENTITIES; AMENDING SECTION 67-2320,
  4        IDAHO CODE, TO CLARIFY PROCEDURES FOR THE SELECTION OF PROFESSIONALS  PRO-
  5        VIDING DESIGN SERVICES FOR PUBLIC PROJECTS.
                                                                        
  6    Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
                                                                        
  7        SECTION  1.  That  Section 67-2320, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
  8    amended to read as follows:
                                                                        
  9        67-2320.  PROFESSIONAL SERVICE CONTRACTS WITH DESIGN  PROFESSIONALS,  CON-
 10    STRUCTION  MANAGERS  AND  PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYORS. (1) Notwithstanding any
 11    other provision of law to the contrary, it shall be the policy of  this  state
 12    that  all public agencies and political subdivisions of the state of Idaho and
 13    their agents shall make selections  for  professional  engineering,  architec-
 14    tural,  landscape  architecture, construction management and professional land
 15    surveying services, including services by persons licensed pursuant  to  chap-
 16    ters  3,  12,  30 and 45, title 54, Idaho Code, on the basis of qualifications
 17    and demonstrated competence and shall negotiate contracts  or  agreements  for
 18    such  services  on the basis of demonstrated competence and qualifications for
 19    the type of services required at fair and reasonable prices.
 20        (2)  In carrying out this policy, public agencies and  political  subdivi-
 21    sions of the state shall use the following minimum guidelines in securing con-
 22    tracts  for  engineering,  architectural, landscape architecture, construction
 23    management and land surveying services on projects for which the  professional
 24    service  fee  is  anticipated  to exceed the total sum of twenty-five thousand
 25    dollars  ($25,000),  excluding  professional  services  contracts   previously
 26    awarded  for an associated or phased project, and the expenditure is otherwise
 27    exempt from the bidding process provided by law:
 28        (a)  Encourage persons or firms engaged in the services being solicited to
 29        submit statements of qualifications and performance data;
 30        (b)  Establish and make available to the public the  criteria  and  proce-
 31        dures used for the selection of qualified persons or firms to perform such
 32        services;
 33        (c)  Select  the persons or firms whom the public agency or political sub-
 34        division determines to be best qualified to provide the required services,
 35        ranked in order of preference, pursuant to the public agency or  political
 36        subdivision's established criteria and procedures;
 37        (d)  Negotiate  with  the  highest ranked person or firm for a contract or
 38        agreement to perform such services at a price  determined  by  the  public
 39        agency  or  political  subdivision to be reasonable and fair to the public
 40        after considering the estimated value, the scope, the complexity  and  the
 41        nature of the services;
 42        (e)  When  unable  to negotiate a satisfactory contract or agreement, for-
 43        mally terminate negotiations and  undertake  negotiations  with  the  next
                                                                        
                                           2
                                                                        
  1        highest  ranked person or firm, following the procedure prescribed in sub-
  2        section (2)(d) of this section;
  3        (f)  When unable to negotiate a satisfactory contract  or  agreement  with
  4        any  of  the  selected  persons  or firms, continue with the selection and
  5        negotiation process provided in this section until a contract or agreement
  6        is reached;
  7        (g)  When public agencies or political subdivisions solicit proposals for
  8        engineering, architectural, landscape architecture,  construction  manage-
  9        ment  or land surveying services for which the professional service fee is
 10        anticipated to exceed  the  total  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars
 11        ($25,000), they shall publish public notice in the same manner as required
 12        for bidding of public works construction projects.
 13        (h)  In  fulfilling  the requirements of subsections (2)(a) through (2)(g)
 14        of this section, a public agency or political subdivision  may  limit  its
 15        selection  from  a  list  of  three  (3)  persons  or  firms  selected and
 16        preapproved for consideration by the public agency or  political  subdivi-
 17        sion. In establishing a preapproved list a public agency or political sub-
 18        division  shall  publish  notice as set forth in subsection (2)(g) of this
 19        section. When selecting from such list, no notice shall be required.
 20        (i)  In fulfilling the requirements of subsections (2)(a)  through  (2)(g)
 21        of  this  section,  a  public  agency or political subdivision may request
 22        information  concerning  a  person's  or  firm's   rates,   overhead   and
 23        multipliers,  if  any,  however  such information shall not be used by the
 24        public agency or political subdivision for the purpose of ranking in order
 25        of preference as required in subsection (2)(c) of this section.
 26        (3)  In  securing  contracts  for  engineering,  architectural,  landscape
 27    architecture, construction management or land surveying services  on  projects
 28    for  which  the  professional  service  fee is anticipated to be less than the
 29    total sum of twenty-five thousand dollars  ($25,000),  the  public  agency  or
 30    political  subdivision  may  use  the  guidelines  set forth in paragraphs (a)
 31    through (g) of subsection (2) of this section or establish its own  guidelines
 32    for  selection  based on demonstrated competence and qualifications to perform
 33    the type of services required, followed by negotiation of the fee at  a  price
 34    determined  by  the public agency or political subdivision to be fair and rea-
 35    sonable after considering the estimated value, the scope, the  complexity  and
 36    the nature of services.
 37        (4)  When a public agency or political subdivision of the state has previ-
 38    ously  awarded  a  professional  services  contract to a person or firm for an
 39    associated or phased project the public agency or political  subdivision  may,
 40    at its discretion, negotiate an extended or new professional services contract
 41    with that person or firm.
 42        (5)  Selections  and procurements required to be made pursuant to the pro-
 43    cedures set forth in this section shall be exempt  from  the  bidding  process
 44    otherwise provided by law.
 45        (6)  (a) For  the purposes of this section, "public agency" shall mean the
 46        state of Idaho and  any  departments,  commissions,  boards,  authorities,
 47        bureaus,  universities,  colleges, educational institutions or other state
 48        agencies which have been created by or  pursuant  to  statute  other  than
 49        courts  and their agencies and divisions, and the judicial council and the
 50        district magistrate's commission;
 51        (b)  For the purposes of this section, "political subdivision" shall  mean
 52        a  county,  city,  airport, airport district, school district, health dis-
 53        trict, road district, cemetery district, community college district,  hos-
 54        pital  district, irrigation district, sewer district, fire protection dis-
 55        trict, or any other district or municipality of any nature whatsoever hav-
                                                                        
                                           3
                                                                        
  1        ing the power to levy taxes or assessment, organized under any general  or
  2        special  law  of  this  state. The enumeration of certain districts herein
  3        shall not be construed to exclude other districts or  municipalities  from
  4        this definition.

Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Impact


                       STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

                             RS 10991


In 1998, Idaho Code Section 63-2320 was amended to provide for
selection of design professionals on public projects under a
Quality Based Selection (QBS) process rather than a bidding
process. The QBS process is necessary to ensure that work
contracted to design professionals is performed by the most
qualified individuals rather than simply the lowest bidder.
tinder QBS, an agency issues a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the
required services and attempts to negotiate an agreeable fee with
the most qualified proposer. Public safety issues dictate a
review of professional qualifications and not simply an award
based upon a low bid price in order for these contracts to be
appropriately awarded.

There is an ambiguity in the wording of Idaho Code Section 63-
2320 which has caused at least one agency to interpret the
section to apply only to projects specifically exempted from the
bidding laws, an interpretation which was not intended. This
legislation is simply an attempt to clarify the language to
remove the ambiguity.




                          FISCAL IMPACT

This bill will have no impact on the General Fund. It is a
clarification of existing law.

CONTACT: 

Rep. Lee Gagner
(208) 332 1000
Molly Creswell
(208) 388 1200







STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE             H 231