332.065 - Award of contract for which bids have been advertised or requested: Lowest responsive and responsible bidder; preference given to recycled products; reawarding contract.
332.065 Award of contract for which bids have been advertised or requested: Lowest responsive and responsible bidder; preference given to recycled products; reawarding contract.
1. If a governing body or its authorized representative has advertised for or requested bids in letting a contract, the governing body or its authorized representative must, except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. The lowest responsive and responsible bidder may be judged on the basis of:
(a) Price;
(b) Conformance to specifications;
(c) Qualifications;
(d) Past performance;
(e) Performance or delivery date;
(f) Quality and utility of services, supplies, materials or equipment offered and the adaptability of those services, supplies, materials or equipment to the required purpose of the contract;
(g) The best interests of the public; and
(h) Such other criteria as may be set forth by the governing body or its authorized representative in the advertisement or request for bids, as applicable, that pertains to the contract.
2. The governing body or its authorized representative:
(a) Shall give preference to recycled products if:
(1) The product meets the applicable standards;
(2) The product can be substituted for a comparable nonrecycled product; and
(3) The product costs no more than a comparable nonrecycled product.
(b) May give preference to recycled products if:
(1) The product meets the applicable standards;
(2) The product can be substituted for a comparable nonrecycled product; and
(3) The product costs no more than 5 percent more than a comparable nonrecycled product.
(c) May purchase recycled paper products if the specific recycled paper product is:
(1) Available at a price which is not more than 10 percent higher than that of paper products made from virgin material;
(2) Of adequate quality; and
(3) Available to the purchaser within a reasonable period.
3. If after the lowest responsive and responsible bidder has been awarded the contract, during the term of the contract he or she does not supply goods or services in accordance with the bid specifications, or if he or she repudiates the contract, the governing body or its authorized representative may reaward the contract to the next lowest responsive and responsible bidder without requiring that new bids be submitted. Reawarding the contract to the next lowest responsive and responsible bidder is not a waiver of any liability of the initial bidder awarded the contract.
4. As used in this section:
(a) “Postconsumer waste” means a finished material which would normally be disposed of as a solid waste having completed its life cycle as a consumer item.
(b) “Recycled paper product” means all paper and wood-pulp products containing in some combination at least 50 percent of its total weight:
(1) Postconsumer waste; and
(2) Secondary waste,
Ê but does not include fibrous waste generated during the manufacturing process such as fibers recovered from wastewater or trimmings of paper machine rolls, wood slabs, chips, sawdust or other wood residue from a manufacturing process.
(c) “Secondary waste” means fragments of products or finished products of a manufacturing process which has converted a virgin resource into a commodity of real economic value.
(Added to NRS by 1975, 1537; A 1991, 375, 1673, 2191; 1999, 1683; 2001, 1315; 2003, 618; 2005, 2553)