A.  Louisiana procurement regulations promulgated pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 39:1581 et. seq. and La. Rev. Stat. 48:2081 shall not apply to public-private partnership projects.  The  comprehensive agreement entered into by the parties may include provisions which are consistent with procurement through competitive sealed bidding or competitive negotiation.  The authority shall not be required to select the proposal with the lowest price offer but may consider price as one factor in evaluating proposals.  The authority may also consider other factors such as the proposed cost of the qualifying transportation facility, the general reputation, industry experience, and financial capacity of the private entity, the proposed design of the qualifying transportation facility, the eligibility of the facility for accelerated selection, review, and documentation time lines under the authority’s guidelines, local citizen and government concerns, benefits to the public, the private entity’s compliance with a minority business enterprise participation plan or good faith effort to comply with the goals of such a plan, the private entity’s plans to employ local contractors and residents, the party submitting the original proposal for the qualifying transportation facility, and other factors deemed appropriate by the authority.

B.  The authority shall proceed in procuring necessary elements of the project in accordance with its guidelines.  The authority’s guidelines shall be based on factors such as the probable scope, complexity, and priority of the project, the risk sharing, added value, debt, or equity investments by the private entity, and the  increase in funding, dedicated revenue source, or other economic benefit otherwise unavailable.  Prior to proceeding in procurement activities in accordance with its guidelines, the authority shall state the reasons for its determination in writing.

C.  The authority shall comply with the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 48:2078 if the public-private partnership project is a state-designated project prior to entering into the comprehensive agreement.

D.  Once a comprehensive agreement has been entered into, and the process of bargaining of all phases or aspects of the comprehensive agreement is complete,  the authority shall make available, upon request, procurement records in accordance with applicable public records laws.

E.  Qualifying transportation facilities may be constructed utilizing design-build or other innovative project delivery methods.

Acts 2006, No. 304, §1.