BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 173
Author: Weber (D), et al.
Amended: 5/23/13 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-1, 6/19/13
AYES: Liu, Block, Correa, Hancock, Hueso, Monning, Torres
NOES: Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wyland
SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE : 9-2, 6/25/13
AYES: Wright, Calderon, Cannella, Correa, De Le�n, Galgiani,
Hernandez, Lieu, Padilla
NOES: Nielsen, Berryhill
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 60-13, 5/28/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Small Business Procurement and Contract Act
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the California Community
Colleges (CCC) and the California State University (CSU) to
award a contract with a value greater than $5,000 but less than
$250,000 for the acquisition of goods, services or information
technology without competitive bidding, to a certified small
business (SB) or a disabled veteran business enterprise (DVBE),
if the institution receives a price quote from two or more of
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these entities, as specified. This bill allows the University
of California (UC) to award contracts for the acquisition of
goods, services, or information technology that have an
estimated value of between $100,000 and less than $250,000 to a
certified SB or a DVBE if UC obtains price quotations from two
or more certified SBs or two or more DVBEs and if the UC Regents
by an authorizing resolution.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires a community college governing
board to let any contract involving an expenditure of $50,000 or
more for purchase of equipment, materials, supplies, repairs and
services, other than construction services, to the lowest
responsible bidder or to reject all bids. Existing law also
requires the Board of Governors of the CCC to annually adjust
the $50,000 threshold to reflect the percentage change in the
annual average value of the Implicit Price Deflator for State
and Local Government Purchases of Goods and Services for the
United States.
Existing law requires the CSU trustees to prescribe policies and
procedures for the acquisition of services, facilities,
materials, goods, supplies, or equipment, and requires that
these include competitive means for obtaining best value while
complying with legislative intent regarding competitive bids or
proposals as it is expressed in Public Contract Code (PCC)
provisions. Under the PCC, all contracts for the acquisition
or lease of goods in an amount of $25,000, or a higher amount as
established by the Director of Department of General Service
(DGS), are required to use competitive bidding. DGS has set the
threshold amount for competitive bidding for these contracts at
$50,000.
Existing law also requires that the UC Regents let any contract
involving an expenditure of $100,000 or more for purchase of
equipment, materials, supplies, repairs and services, other than
construction services, to the lowest responsible bidder or to
reject all bids.
Existing law, notwithstanding existing Government Code and PCC
provisions outlining competitive bidding requirements,
authorizes a state agency to award a contract for the
acquisition of goods, services, or information technology that
has an estimated value of greater than $5,000, but less than
$250,000, to a certified SB, including a microbusiness, or to a
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DVBE, as long as the agency obtains price quotations from two or
more certified SBs, including microbusinesses, or from two or
more DVBEs.
This bill provides public postsecondary institutions an
alternative to competitive bidding requirements when they
contract with certified SBs and DVBE. Specifically, this bill:
1. Allows the UC to award contracts for the acquisition of
goods, services, or information technology that have an
estimated value of between $100,000 and less than $250,000 to
a certified SB or a DVBE if the UC obtains price quotations
from two or more certified SBs or two or more DVBEs and if
the UC Regents by an authorizing resolution.
2. Allows the CSU and CCC to award contracts for the acquisition
of goods, services, or information technology that have an
estimated value greater than $5,000 and less than $250,000 to
a certified SB or a DVBE if CSU obtains price quotations from
two or more certified SBs or two or more DVBEs.
Comments
According to the author, "this proposal would allow all three
systems to use the SB/DVBE Option for contracts below $250,000.
The UC and CCC system already use the SB/DBVE option, but only
for contracts below $100,000(UC) and below $50,000(CSU) as
stated previously. CSU is the only system that currently uses
the SB/DBVE option for contracts below $250,000 and was adopted
by the CSU Board of Trustees. However, state law states that
the CSU can use SB/DBVE option for contracts valued under
$50,000 and the author believes it is important to update
exiting law and state that CSU is authorized to use this option
for contracts valued under $250,000."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/9/13)
California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce
California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity
California Black Chamber of Commerce
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National Federation of Independent Businesses
Sacramento Black Chamber of Commerce
University of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Supporters state that, the colleges
routinely complain that the competitive bidding requirement is
cumbersome and time consuming, often taking months to purchase
simple items. This bill is intended to allow universities and
colleges to use the SB/DVBE Option for contracts up to $250,000,
and enhance the contracting opportunities for SB and DVBE
businesses.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 60-13, 5/28/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Dahle, Daly,
Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez,
Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hall, Jones-Sawyer, Levine,
Linder, Lowenthal, Medina, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel
P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Allen, Ch�vez, Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Grove, Hagman,
Harkey, Jones, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Wagner, Waldron
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Conway, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden,
Melendez, Patterson, Vacancy
PQ:k 8/12/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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