Title: Preference in Award of State Contracts

Summary: Expanding provisions that require an agency, university, college, school district, or other political subdivision of the state to provide preferential consideration to a Florida business in awarding competitively bid contracts to purchase personal property to include the purchase of construction services; requiring counties and municipalities to provide such preferential consideration; providing that for specified competitive solicitations the authority to grant preference supersedes any local ordinance or regulation that restricts specified contractors from competing for an award based upon certain conditions, etc.

Full Text:
An act relating to preference in award of state contracts; amending s. 287.084, F.S.; expanding provisions that require an agency, university, college, school district, or other political subdivision of the state to provide preferential consideration to a Florida business in awarding competitively bid contracts to purchase personal property to include the purchase of construction services; requiring counties and municipalities to provide such preferential consideration; providing that for specified competitive solicitations the authority to grant preference supersedes any local ordinance or regulation that restricts specified contractors from competing for an award based upon certain conditions; requiring a university, college, county, municipality, school district, or other political subdivision to make specified disclosures in competitive solicitation documents; providing for construction; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 287.084, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 287.084 Preference to Florida businesses.  (1)(a) When an agency, university, college, school district, or other political subdivision of the state is required to make purchases of personal property or construction services through competitive solicitation and the lowest responsible and responsive bid, proposal, or reply is by a vendor whose principal place of business is in a state or political subdivision thereof which grants a preference for the purchase of such personal property or construction services to a person whose principal place of business is in such state, then the agency, university, college, school district, or other political subdivision of this state shall award a preference to the lowest responsible and responsive vendor having a principal place of business within this state, which preference is equal to the preference granted by the state or political subdivision thereof in which the lowest responsible and responsive vendor has its principal place of business. In a competitive solicitation in which the lowest bid is submitted by a vendor whose principal place of business is located outside the state and that state does not grant a preference in competitive solicitation to vendors having a principal place of business in that state, the preference to the lowest responsible and responsive vendor having a principal place of business in this state shall be percent. (b) Paragraph (a) does not apply to transportation projects for which federal aid funds are available. (c)1. For a competitive solicitation in which payment for the personal property or construction services is to be made in whole or in part from funds appropriated by the state, this section preempts and supersedes any local ordinance or regulation that restricts a contractor certified under s. 489.105 (8) from competing for an award based upon: a. The vendor maintaining an office or place of business within a particular local jurisdiction; b. The vendor hiring employees or subcontractors from within a particular local jurisdiction; or c. The vendor s prior payment of local taxes, assessments, or duties within a particular local jurisdiction. 2. In any competitive solicitation subject to this section, a university, college, county, municipality, school district, or other political subdivision shall disclose in the solicitation document whether payment will come from funds appropriated by the state and, if known, the amount of such funds or the percentage of such funds as compared to the anticipated total cost of the personal property or construction services. 3. Except as provided in subparagraph 1., this section does not prevent a university, college, county, municipality, school district, or other political subdivision of this state from awarding a contract to any vendor in accordance with applicable state laws or local ordinances or regulations. (c) As used in this section, the term  other political subdivision of this state  does not include counties or municipalities. Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.