23-38.110 - Procurement; discrimination prohibited; participation of small, women-, and minority-owned business enterprises.
§ 23-38.110. Procurement; discrimination prohibited; participation of small,women-, and minority-owned business enterprises.
A. Subject to the express provisions of the management agreement described in§ 23-38.88, covered institutions may be exempt from the provisions of theVirginia Public Procurement Act (§ 2.2-4300 et seq.), except for § 2.2-4342(which section shall not be construed to require compliance with theprequalification application procedures of subsection B of § 2.2-4317);provided, however, that any deviations from the Virginia Public ProcurementAct approved in a Management Agreement shall be uniform across all coveredinstitutions; and provided further that the governing body of a coveredinstitution shall adopt, and the covered institution shall comply with,policies for the procurement of goods and services, including professionalservices, that shall be based upon competitive principles and shall in eachinstance seek competition to the maximum practical degree. The policies shallimplement a system of competitive negotiation for professional servicespursuant to subdivisions 1, 2, and 3 a of the defined term "competitivenegotiation" under § 2.2-4301, shall prohibit discrimination because ofrace, religion, color, sex or national origin of the bidder or offeror in thesolicitation or award of contracts, shall incorporate the prompt paymentprinciples of §§ 2.2-4350 and 2.2-4354, and shall consider the impact oncorrectional enterprises under § 53.1-47.
B. Such policies may, among other things, (i) provide for consideration ofthe dollar amount of the intended procurement, the term of the anticipatedcontract, and the likely extent of competition; (ii) implement aprequalification procedure for contractors or products; and (iii) includeprovisions for cooperative arrangements with other covered institutions,other public or private educational institutions, other public or privateorganizations or entities, including public-private partnerships, publicbodies, charitable organizations, health care provider alliances orpurchasing organizations or entities, state agencies or institutions of theCommonwealth or the several states, the District of Columbia, the territoriesand the United States, and any combination thereof. Nothing in this sectionshall preclude a covered institution from requesting and utilizing, andcovered institutions are hereby encouraged to utilize, the assistance of theVirginia Information Technologies Agency in information technologyprocurements.
C. In the solicitation and awarding of contracts, no covered institutionshall discriminate against a bidder or offeror because of race, religion,color, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other basis prohibitedby state or federal law. The procurement policies of a covered institutionshall provide that, whenever solicitations are made seeking competitiveprocurement of goods or services, it shall be a priority of the institutionto provide for fair and reasonable consideration of small, women-, andminority-owned businesses and to promote and encourage a diversity ofsuppliers.
D. As part of any procurement provisions of a management agreement, thegoverning board of a covered institution shall identify the public,educational, and operational interests served by any procurement rule orrules that deviate from those in the Virginia Public Procurement Act.
(2005, cc. 933, 945.)