An Act concerning procurement; relating to vendor accountability procedures; amending K.S.A. 75-37,102 and repealing the existing section.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:

New Section 1. (a) After reasonable notice to the person involved and reasonable opportunity for that person to be heard, the secretary of administration, after consultation with the contracting agency and the attorney general, shall have authority to debar a person for cause from consideration for award of contracts. The debarment shall not be for a period exceeding three years. The secretary, after consultation with the contracting agency and the attorney general, shall have authority to sus- pend a person from consideration for award of contracts if there is prob- able cause to believe that the person has engaged in any activity which might lead to debarment. The suspension shall not be for a period ex- ceeding three months unless an indictment has been issued for an offense which would be a cause for debarment under subsection (b), in which case the suspension shall, at the request of the attorney general, remain in effect until after the trial of the suspended person.

(b) The causes for debarment include the following:

(1) Conviction of a criminal offense as an incident to obtaining or attempting to obtain a public or private contract or subcontract or in the performance of such contract or subcontract;

(2) conviction under state or federal statutes of embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, receiving stolen property or any other offense indicating a lack of business integrity or business honesty which currently, seriously and directly affects respon- sibility as a state contractor;

(3) conviction under state or federal antitrust statutes;

(4) failure without good cause to perform in accordance with the terms of the contract; or

(5) any other cause the secretary determines to be so serious and compelling as to affect responsibility as a state contractor, including de- barment by another governmental entity for any cause pursuant to rules and regulations.

New Sec. 2. State agencies, in cooperation with the director of pur- chases, are hereby authorized to develop a list of prequalified vendors of particular goods and services and a set of standards which vendors must meet in order to be qualified. Any prequalification procedure shall be in writing and published sufficiently in advance to permit vendors to comply with the process. Additionally, state agencies may require that any pre- qualified vendor have sufficient administrative and accounting controls to insure compliance with any contractual requirements. Solicitation mailing lists of potential contractors shall include, but not be limited to prequal- ified firms.

Sec. 3. K.S.A. 75-37,102 is hereby amended to read as follows: 75- 37,102. (a) Upon request of the chief administrative officer of a state agency and subject to the approval of the secretary of administration, the director of purchases may convene a procurement negotiating committee to obtain services or technical products for the state agency.

(b) Each procurement negotiating committee shall be composed of: (1) The director of purchases, or a person designated by the director; (2) the chief administrative officer of the state agency desiring to make the procurement, or a person designated by the officer; and (3) the secretary of administration, or a person designated by the secretary.

(c) The negotiating committee is authorized to negotiate for the pro- curing state agency contracts with qualified parties to provide services or technical products needed by the state agency.

(d) Prior to negotiating for the procurement, a notice to bidders first shall be published in the Kansas register. Upon receipt of bids or pro- posals, the committee may negotiate with one or more of the firms sub- mitting bids or proposals and select from among those submitting such bids or proposals the party to contract with to provide the services or technical products.

(e) Contracts entered into pursuant to this section shall not be subject to the provisions of K.S.A. 75-3738 through 75-3740a and amendments thereto. Meetings to conduct negotiations pursuant to this section shall not be subject to the provisions of K.S.A. 75-4317 through 75-4320a and amendments thereto. The director of purchases shall submit a report at least once in each calendar quarter to the legislative coordinating council and the chairpersons of the senate committee on ways and means and the house of representatives committee on appropriations of all contracts entered into pursuant to this section. In the event that the negotiating committee selects a bid which is not the lowest bid on a given contract, the directors report shall contain a rationale explaining why the lowest bidder was not awarded the contract.

(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring either ne- gotiations pursuant to this section or bids pursuant to K.S.A. 75-3739 and amendments thereto for the procurement of professional services or serv- ices for which, in the judgment of the director of purchases, meaningful specifications cannot be determined.

Sec. 4. K.S.A. 75-37,102 is hereby repealed.

Sec. 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the statute book.

Approved February 15, 1996.