For purposes of this chapter:

(1) “Agency” means every board, department, bureau, commission, person or group of persons or other authority which directly receives moneys under any budget appropriation act or supplemental appropriation act and which was created and now exists or hereafter is created to:

a. Execute, supervise, control and/or administer governmental functions under the laws of this State; and/or

b. To perform such governmental functions under the laws of this State, or to perform such other duties as may be prescribed; and/or

c. To collect and/or use any taxes, fees, licenses, permits or other receipts for service or otherwise for the performance of any function or related to or supported in whole or in part by the laws of this State; and/or

d. To administer any laws providing for the collection of taxes, fees, permits, licenses or other forms of receipts from any sources whatsoever for the use of the State or any agency of the State.

“Agency” shall include Delaware Technical and Community College and the Delaware State University but shall not include any local government unit or agency receiving only grants-in-aid appropriations from the State and no other appropriations, as described herein, the University of Delaware, volunteer ambulance/rescue companies, volunteer fire departments and the Delaware Transit Corporation. Nothing in this paragraph shall be deemed to exempt any entity that is otherwise required to comply with § 6960 of this title.

(2) “Agency head” means the top official in an agency whether elected, appointed or otherwise. The agency head may delegate duties under this chapter to a designee within the agency.

(3) “Agency official” means any employee, consultant, person in the category of other personal service or any other person receiving compensation from the State, its agencies, municipalities, political subdivisions or school boards.

(4) “Compensation” means the total amount paid by an agency for professional services, including reimbursed expenses, unless otherwise stated in the contract.

(5) “Contractor” means any person, partnership, firm, corporation, nonprofit agency or other business association who has a contract with an agency.

(6) “Covered agency” means any agency except school districts, Delaware Technical & Community College, the Delaware State University and the Legislative Branch of State government.

(7) “Craft training program” means an apprenticeship program approved by and registered with any state apprenticeship agency or the United States Department of Labor.

(8) “Director” means, for the purposes of this chapter, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, except as provided by § 6960 of this title, in which case it shall mean the Secretary of the Department of Labor.

(9) “Electronic bid” means the bidder, in response to an advertised invitation to bid, submits all documentation, except for information and documents specified in the invitation to bid, only through an electronic process to an identified secure electronic mail account that will not be opened by the Office or an agency until the close of the bidding period. In this process, no hard copy documentation shall be submitted to the Office or an agency prior to the award of the contract.

(10) “Electronic procurement advertising system” means the advertising system on which all state agencies must submit public notice of contracts subject to the public advertising requirements of this chapter.

(11) “Electronic submission” means the vendor, in response to an advertised request for proposal, submits all documentation, unless specified in the request for proposal, only through an electronic process to an identified secure electronic mail account that will not be opened by the Office or an agency until the close of the request for proposal submittal period. In this process, no hard copy is to be submitted to the Office or an agency after the close of the request for proposal submittal period unless specifically requested by the Office or agency.

(12) “Firm” means a person, organization, partnership, limited partnership, corporation, association, nonprofit agency or other business association.

(13) “Internet” means the international computer network of both federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data networks, including the graphical subnetwork called the world wide web.

(14) “Labor supply ratio” means the number of skilled crafts persons per unskilled workers employed on a public works project. Any person who has completed a federal apprenticeship program, an apprenticeship program approved by the Delaware Department of Labor under Chapter 2 of Title 19, or has otherwise documented 8 years of experience in a particular craft, is deemed to be a skilled crafts person for the purposes of this definition.

(15) “Lifecycle costing analysis” means the contracting agency’s evaluation of costs associated with the cost of acquisition, the cost of energy consumption required for operation, the cost of maintenance and the cost of consumables that affect the State’s overall cost of ownership of equipment or public works projects. Such evaluation is used by the contracting agency or project architect or project engineer for the development of contract specifications.

(16) “Local government unit” means any municipality incorporated in this State under the authority of the General Assembly and any of the 3 counties.

(17) “Materiel” means materials, equipment, tools, supplies, or any other personal property, but does not include real property or electric, gas, water, telephone or similar utilities.

(18) “Office” means the Office of Management and Budget; as provided in § 6960 of this title, “Department” shall mean the Department of Labor.

(19) “On-line bidding method” means a procurement process in which the Office or an agency receives vendors’ bids electronically over the Internet as either a substitute for a hard copy bid submission or in a real-time, competitive bidding event.

(20) “Professional services” means services which generally require specialized education, training or knowledge and involve intellectual skills. Examples of professional services include, but are not limited to, engineering, environmental engineering, environmental monitoring, land surveying, landscape architecture, geology, architectural, archaeologists, architectural historians, historians, educational consultants, management, medical, teaching, planning, computer information management, financial, accounting, auditing, construction management and arbitration services. Professional services subject to the provisions of § 2507 of this title or which require compliance with Delaware Supreme Court Rule 52 or a substantially similar rule of another state shall not be included in this definition and shall not be subject to this chapter.

(21) “Public building” means any edifice or building which is or is to be constructed, reconstructed, altered or repaired pursuant to a public works contract. It does not mean the act or process itself of constructing, reconstructing, altering or repairing.

(22) “Public funds” means funds of the State, of any agency within the State, of any public school district, of or from the United States government or of or from any department or representative body thereof.

(23) “Public works contract” means construction, reconstruction, demolition, alteration and repair work and maintenance work paid for, in whole or in part, with public funds.

(24) “Reverse auctioning” means an on-line procurement method wherein bidders bid on specified goods and nonprofessional services through real-time electronic competitive bidding, with the award being made to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. During the bidding process, bidders’ prices are public and are revealed electronically, and bidders shall have the opportunity to modify their bid prices for the duration of the time period established for the auction.

(25) “Section” means the Section of Government Support Services in the Office of Management and Budget.

(26) “Third tier contractor” means a firm that has contracted with a subcontractor to provide services and/or materiel in connection with a public works contract.

(27) “User group” means 2 or more agency or nonagency representatives, one of whom shall be an agency representative who provides technical advice to the Government Support Services concerning the requirements of certain materiel and nonprofessional services contracts. Nonagency representatives shall be limited to expected users of the materiel and/or services being procured and/or persons having technical expertise deemed necessary by the agency. In no event shall nonagency representatives be affiliated with a vendor or prospective vendor of the contract.

(28) “Volunteer ambulance/rescue companies” means a volunteer ambulance or rescue company certified as such by the State Fire Prevention Commission.

(29) “Volunteer fire department” means a volunteer fire department recognized as such by the State Fire Prevention Commission.

(30) “Z score” means a calculation used to assess a bidder’s fiscal health. The calculation is based on the following weighted ratios: return on total assets, sales to total assets, equity to debt, working capital to total assets, and retained earnings to total assets.

29 Del. C. 1953, § ?6901; 54 Del. Laws, c. 106, § ?2; 61 Del. Laws, c. 386, § ?1; 62 Del. Laws, c. 306, § ?1; 66 Del. Laws, c. 298, § ?1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 601, § ?3; 71 Del. Laws, c. 4, § ?1; 71 Del. Laws, c. 309, §§ ?1-3; 72 Del. Laws, c. 133, § ?2; 73 Del. Laws, c. 143, § ?5; 73 Del. Laws, c. 416, §§ ?1-3; 73 Del. Laws, c. 438, § ?1; 74 Del. Laws, c. 359, § ?1; 74 Del. Laws, c. 373, § ?1; 74 Del. Laws, c. 419, §§ ?1, 2; 75 Del. Laws, c. 88, §§ ?16(5), 22(4); 78 Del. Laws, c. 288, § ?1; 81 Del. Laws, c. 298, § 1; 82 Del. Laws, c. 36, § 1; 83 Del. Laws, c. 129, § 3;