2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 24 - GOVERNMENT - STATE (§§ 24-1-101 — 24-116-102) › PROCUREMENT CODE (§§ 24-101-101 — 24-112-101) › Article 101 - PROCUREMENT CODE - GENERAL PROVISIONS (§§ 24-101-101 — 24-101-501) › Part 3 - DEFINITIONS (§ 24-101-301) › Section 24-101-301 - [Effective 8/7/2024] Definitions

The terms defined in this section have the following meanings whenever they appear in this code, unless the context in which they are used clearly requires a different meaning or a different definition is prescribed for a particular article or portion thereof:
(1)
"Acceptance" means the action of consenting to receive or undertake something offered.
(2)
"Award" means the selection of a bid or proposal by a governmental body. An award does not mean that a contract has been executed or that a commitment voucher has been issued pursuant to section
24-30-202
.
(3)
"Bidder" means any person that submits a bid in response to an invitation for bids.
(4)
"Business" means any corporation, limited liability company, partnership, individual, sole proprietorship, joint-stock company, joint venture, or other private legal entity.
(5)
"Business day" means any day other than Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday.
(6)
"Chief procurement officer" means the individual to whom the executive director has delegated his or her authority pursuant to section
24-102-202
to procure or supervise the procurement of all supplies and services needed by the state.
(7)
"Construction" means the process of building, altering, repairing, improving, or demolishing any public structure or building or any other public improvements of any kind to any public real property. For the purposes of this code, "construction" includes capital construction and controlled maintenance, as defined in section
24-30-1301
.
(8)
"Contingency-based contract" shall have the same meaning as set forth in section
24-17-203 (1)
.
(9)
"Contract" means any type of state agreement, regardless of what it may be called, between a governmental body and a contractor, where the principal purpose is to acquire supplies, services, or construction or to dispose of supplies for the direct benefit of a governmental body. "Contract" includes commitment vouchers as described in section
24-30-202
.
(10)
"Contract modification" means any written alteration of a contract accomplished in accordance with the terms of that contract.
(11)
"Contractor" means any person having a contract with a governmental body. For the purposes of this code, a vendor is considered a contractor.
(12)
"Cooperative purchasing" means procurement conducted by, or on behalf of, more than one public procurement unit or by a public procurement unit with an external procurement unit.
(13)
"Cost-reimbursement contract" means a contract under which a contractor is reimbursed for costs which are allowable and allocable in accordance with the contract terms and the provisions of this code and a fee, if any.
(14)
"Department" means the department of personnel.
(15)
"Established catalog price" means the price included in a catalog, price list, schedule, or other form that:
(a)
Is regularly maintained by a manufacturer or contractor;
(b)
Is either published or otherwise available for inspection by customers; and
(c)
States prices at which sales are currently or were last made to a significant number of any category of buyers or buyers constituting the general buying public for the supplies or services involved.
(16)
"Executive director" means the executive director of the department of personnel.
(17)
"External procurement unit" means any buying organization not located in this state which, if located in this state, would qualify as a public procurement unit. An external procurement unit includes any purchasing cooperative that satisfies the purposes of this code as set forth in section
24-101-102
. An agency of the United States is an external procurement unit.
(18)
"Governmental body" means any department, commission, council, board, bureau, committee, institution of higher education, agency, government corporation, or other establishment or official, other than an elected official, of the executive branch of state government in this state; except that the governing board of each institution of higher education, including the Auraria higher education center established in article
70
of title
23
, by formal action of the board, and the Colorado commission on higher education, by formal action of the commission, may elect to be excluded from the meaning of "governmental body".
(19)
"Grant" means an agreement in which a governmental body as grantor transfers anything of value to a grantee to carry out a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by law instead of acquiring property or services for the direct benefit or use of that governmental body. A grant may include a distribution of funds.
(20)
"Invitation for bids" means all documents, whether attached or incorporated by reference, utilized for soliciting bids. Invitation for bids is the commonly used term for soliciting competitive sealed bids and competitive sealed best value bids.
(21)
"Legal holiday" shall have the same meaning as defined in section
24-11-101 (1)
.
(22)
"Local public procurement unit" means any county, city, county and city, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state, any public agency of any such political subdivision, any public authority, any educational, health, or other institution, and, to the extent provided by law, any other entity which expends public funds for the procurement of supplies, services, and construction.
(23)
"Low responsible bidder" means any person who has bid in compliance with the invitation for bids and within the requirements of the plans and specifications for a public contract who is the low bidder and who has furnished bonds or their equivalent if required by law.
(24)
"Low tie bids" means low responsible bids from bidders that are identical in amount and that meet all the requirements and criteria set forth in the invitation for bids pursuant to this code.
(25)
"Nonresident bidder" means a bidder that does not satisfy the criteria to be a resident bidder.
(26)
"Offeror" means any person that submits a proposal in response to a request for proposals.
(27)
"Person" means any business, individual, union, committee, club, other organization, joint venture, or group of individuals.
(28)
"Procurement" means buying, purchasing, renting, leasing, or otherwise acquiring any supplies, services, or construction. "Procurement" includes all functions that pertain to the obtaining of any supply, service, or construction, including description of requirements, selection and solicitation of sources, preparation and award of contract, and all phases of contract administration. "Procurement" also includes the procurement of information technology as defined in section 24-37.5-102 (12).
(29)
"Procurement agent" means any person duly authorized to enter into and administer procurements and make written determinations with respect thereto. "Procurement agent" includes an authorized representative acting within the limits of his or her authority.
(30)
"Procurement official" means the individual of a purchasing agency with purchasing authority created pursuant to section
24-102-202 (3)
or
24-102-302 (2)
or the individual authorized to enter into contracts for capital construction or controlled maintenance pursuant to section
24-30-1303 (5)
.
(31)
Except as otherwise provided in section
24-103-1103 (13)
, "professional services" means services of accountants, clergy, physicians, lawyers, and dentists and such other services as may be procured through agents of those services, excluding those professional services as defined in section
24-30-1402
, as the executive director may by rule designate as professional services.
(32)
"Public employee" means an individual drawing a salary from a governmental body or a noncompensated individual performing personal services for a governmental body.
(33)
"Public procurement unit" means either a local public procurement unit or a state public procurement unit.
(34)
"Purchase description" means the words used in a solicitation to describe the supplies, services, or construction to be purchased, and includes specifications attached to, or made a part of, the solicitation.
(35)
"Purchasing agency" means any governmental body which is authorized to enter into contracts by section
24-102-302 (1)
by way of delegation from the executive director pursuant to section
24-102-302 (2)
or by the way of delegation from the executive director.
(36)
"Request for proposals" means all documents, whether attached or incorporated by reference, utilized for soliciting proposals. Request for proposals is the commonly used term for soliciting competitive sealed proposals.
(37)
"Resident bidder" means:
(a)
A person that is authorized to transact business in Colorado and that maintains its principal place of business in Colorado; or
(b)
A person that:
(I)
Is authorized to transact business in Colorado;
(II)
Maintains a place of business in Colorado; and
(III)
Has paid Colorado unemployment compensation taxes in at least six of the eight quarters immediately prior to bidding on a construction contract for a public project.
(38)
"Responsible" means the capability in all respects to perform fully the contract requirements and the integrity and reliability that will assure good faith performance.
(39)
"Responsive" means a bid or proposal that meets the specifications, acceptability requirements, and terms and conditions of the solicitation and that uses the form prescribed by the purchasing agency.
(40)
"Rules" means state procurement rules and has the same meaning as provided in section
24-4-102 (15)
.
(41)
"Sealed" means a bid or proposal submitted in a manner that:
(a)
Ensures that the contents of the bid, proposal, or best value bid cannot be opened or viewed before the formal bid opening without leaving evidence that the document has been opened or viewed;
(b)
Ensures that the document cannot be changed, once received by the state, without leaving evidence that the document has been changed;
(c)
Bears a physical or electronic signature, as electronic signature is defined in the "Uniform Electronic Transactions Act", section
24-71.3-102 (8)
, evincing an intent by the bidder or offeror to be bound; and
(d)
Records, manually or electronically, the date and time the bid or proposal is received by the state and that cannot be altered without leaving evidence of the alteration.
(42)
"Services" means the furnishing of labor, time, or effort by a contractor not involving the delivery of a specific end product other than reports which are merely incidental to the required performance. The term does not include professional services as defined in section
24-30-1402
.
(43)
"Solicitation" means all documents and related information, whether attached or incorporated by reference, published on an electronic procurement system in connection with a procurement prior to the response deadline.
(44)
"Specification" means any description of the physical or functional characteristics or of the nature of a supply, service, or construction item. It may include a description of any requirement for inspecting, testing, or preparing a supply, service, or construction item for delivery.
(45)
"State public procurement unit" means the department of personnel or any other purchasing agency of this state.
(46)
"Statement of work" means a document that defines specific activities and deliverables and their respective timelines, all of which form a contractual obligation upon the vendor in providing services to the state.
(47)
"Supplies" means all property, including but not limited to equipment, materials, and insurance. The term does not include land, the purchase of an interest in land, water or mineral rights, workers' compensation insurance, benefit insurance for state employees, or property furnished in connection with public printing, as defined in section
24-70-201
.
(48)
"Using agency" means any governmental body of the state which utilizes any supplies, services, or construction procured under this code.
Amended by 2024 Ch. 306,§ 1, eff. 8/7/2024.
Amended by 2022 Ch. 433, § 2, eff. 6/8/2022.
Amended by 2021 Ch. 211, § 19, eff. 9/7/2021.
Amended by 2020 Ch. 216, § 48, eff. 6/30/2020.
Amended by 2017 Ch. 99, § 6, eff. 8/9/2017.
L. 81: Entire article added, p. 1261, § 1, effective 1/1/1982. L. 85: (1) R&RE and (1.5) added, p. 873, §§ 1, 2, effective June 6. L. 90: (1.5) amended, p. 449, § 23, effective April 18; (22) amended, p. 570, § 56, effective July 1. L. 93: (7) repealed, p. 1786, § 65, effective June 6. L. 95: (8), (9), and (21) amended, p. 661, § 91, effective July 1. L. 96: (17) and (21) amended, p. 1533, § 98, effective June 1. L. 2003: (10.5) added, p. 1588, § 2, effective May 2. L. 2004: (10) amended, p. 605, § 8, effective July 1. L. 2009: (10) amended, (SB 09-089), ch. 2434, p. 2434, § 2, effective June 4. L. 2010: (10) amended, (SB 10-111), ch. 603, p. 603, § 12, effective August 11. L. 2012: (10)(a) amended, (HB 12-1081), ch. 210, p. 907, § 15, effective August 8. L. 2017: Entire section amended with relocated provisions, (HB 17 -1051), ch. 302, p. 302, § 6, effective August 9. L. 2020: (30) amended, (HB 20-1402), ch. 1052, p. 1052, § 48, effective June 30.
This section is similar to former §§ 24-103-101, 24-104-101 , and 24-110-101 as they existed prior to 2017.
2024 Ch. 306, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).
This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.
For the legislative declaration contained in the 1995 act amending subsections (8), (9), and (21), see section 112 of chapter 167, Session Laws of Colorado 1995.