California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2504

Introduced by Assembly Member Chau

February 21, 2014

An act to amend Section 20118.2 of the Public Contract Code, relating to public contracts.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2504, as introduced, Chau. Public contracts: schools: cloud service providers.

Existing law sets forth the requirements for competitive bidding on various types of contracts awarded by state and local agencies. Existing law authorizes a school district to utilize alternative competitive negotiation methods for procuring bids for the acquisition of specified technological supplies and equipment.

This bill would require specified terms, related to data types and disclosure, to be included in a school district contract with a cloud service provider entered into on or after January 1, 2015.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 20118.2 of the Public Contract Code is
amended to read:

20118.2.  

(a) Due to the highly specialized and unique nature
of technology, telecommunications, related equipment, software,
and services, because products and materials of that nature are
undergoing rapid technological changes, and in order to allow for
the introduction of new technological changes into the operations
of the school district, it is in the public’s best interest to allow a
school district to consider, in addition to price, factors such as
vendor financing, performance reliability, standardization,
life-cycle costs, delivery timetables, support logistics, the broadest
possible range of competing products and materials available,
fitness of purchase, manufacturer’s warranties, and similar factors
in the award of contracts for technology, telecommunications,
related equipment, software, and services.

(b) This section applies only to a school district’s procurement
of computers, software, telecommunications equipment, microwave
equipment, and other related electronic equipment and apparatus.
This section does not apply to contracts for construction or for the
procurement of any product that is available in substantial
quantities to the general public.

(c) Notwithstanding Section 20118.1, a school district may,
after a finding is made by the governing board that a particular
procurement qualifies under subdivision (b), authorize the
procurement of the product through competitive negotiation as
described in subdivision (d).

(d) For purposes of this section, competitive negotiation
includes, but is not limited to, all of the following requirements:

(1) A request for proposals shall be prepared and submitted to
an adequate number of qualified sources, as determined by the
school district, to permit reasonable competition consistent with
the nature and requirement of the procurement.

(2) Notice of the request for proposals shall be published at least
twice in a newspaper of general circulation, at least 10 days before
the date for receipt of the proposals.

(3) The school district shall make every effort to generate the
maximum feasible number of proposals from qualified sources
and shall make a finding to that effect before proceeding to
negotiate if only a single response to the request for proposals is
received.

(4) The request for proposals shall identify all significant
evaluation factors, including price, and their relative importance.

(5) The school district shall provide reasonable procedures for
the technical evaluation of the proposals received, the identification
of qualified sources, and the selection for the award of the contract.

(6) Award shall be made to the qualified bidder whose proposal
meets the evaluation standards and will be most advantageous to
the school district with price and all other factors considered.

(7) If award is not made to the bidder whose proposal contains
the lowest price, the school district shall make a finding setting
forth the basis for the award.

(e) The school district, at its discretion, may reject all proposals
and request new proposals.

(f) Provisions in any contract concerning utilization of small
business enterprises, that are in accordance with the request for
proposals, shall not be subject to negotiation with the successful
proposer.

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(g) A school district contract with a cloud service provider
entered into on or after January 1, 2015, shall include the following
in the terms of the agreement:

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(1) A specification of the types of data transferred or collected.

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(2) A limit or prohibition on the redisclosure of student data.

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