63G-6a-507.  Approved vendor list procurement process.

(1)  As used in this section:

Terms Used In Utah Code 63G-6a-507

  • Approved vendor: means a person who has been approved for inclusion on an approved vendor list through the approved vendor list process. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Approved vendor list: means a list of approved vendors established under Section 63G-6a-507. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Approved vendor list process: means the procurement process described in Section 63G-6a-507. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Bidding process: means the procurement process described in 6. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Conducting procurement unit: means a procurement unit that conducts all aspects of a procurement:
(a) except:
(i) reviewing a solicitation to verify that it is in proper form; and
(ii) causing the publication of a notice of a solicitation; and
(b) including:
(i) preparing any solicitation document;
(ii) appointing an evaluation committee;
(iii) conducting the evaluation process, except the process relating to scores calculated for costs of proposals;
(iv) selecting and recommending the person to be awarded a contract;
(v) negotiating the terms and conditions of a contract, subject to the issuing procurement unit's approval; and
(vi) contract administration. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Contract: means an agreement for a procurement. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Design professional: means :
    (a) an individual licensed as an architect under Title 58, Chapter 3a, Architects Licensing Act;
    (b) an individual licensed as a professional engineer or professional land surveyor under Title 58, Chapter 22, Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors Licensing Act; or
    (c) an individual certified as a commercial interior designer under Title 58, Chapter 86, State Certification of Commercial Interior Designers Act. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Design professional procurement process: means the procurement process described in 15. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Issuing procurement unit: means a procurement unit that:
    (a) reviews a solicitation to verify that it is in proper form;
    (b) causes the notice of a solicitation to be published; and
    (c) negotiates and approves the terms and conditions of a contract. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Procurement: means the acquisition of a procurement item through an expenditure of public funds, or an agreement to expend public funds, including an acquisition through a public-private partnership. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Procurement item: means an item of personal property, a technology, a service, or a construction project. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Procurement official: means :
    (a) for a procurement unit other than an independent procurement unit, the chief procurement officer;
    (b) for a legislative procurement unit, the individual, individuals, or body designated in a policy adopted by the Legislative Management Committee;
    (c) for a judicial procurement unit, the Judicial Council or an individual or body designated by the Judicial Council by rule;
    (d) for a local government procurement unit:
    (i) the legislative body of the local government procurement unit; or
    (ii) an individual or body designated by the local government procurement unit;
    (e) for a special district, the board of trustees of the special district or the board of trustees' designee;
    (f) for a special service district, the governing body of the special service district or the governing body's designee;
    (g) for a local building authority, the board of directors of the local building authority or the board of directors' designee;
    (h) for a conservation district, the board of supervisors of the conservation district or the board of supervisors' designee;
    (i) for a public corporation, the board of directors of the public corporation or the board of directors' designee;
    (j) for a school district or any school or entity within a school district, the board of the school district or the board's designee;
    (k) for a charter school, the individual or body with executive authority over the charter school or the designee of the individual or body;
    (l) for an institution of higher education described in Section 53B-2-101, the president of the institution of higher education or the president's designee;
    (m) for the State Board of Education, the State Board of Education or the State Board of Education's designee;
    (n) for the Utah Board of Higher Education, the Commissioner of Higher Education or the designee of the Commissioner of Higher Education;
    (o) for the Utah Communications Authority, established in Section 63H-7a-201, the executive director of the Utah Communications Authority or the executive director's designee; or
    (p) 
    (i) for the facilities division, and only to the extent of procurement activities of the facilities division as an independent procurement unit under the procurement authority provided under Title 63A, Chapter 5b, Administration of State Facilities, the director of the facilities division or the director's designee;
    (ii) for the attorney general, and only to the extent of procurement activities of the attorney general as an independent procurement unit under the procurement authority provided under Title 67, Chapter 5, Attorney General, the attorney general or the attorney general's designee;
    (iii) for the Department of Transportation created in Section 72-1-201, and only to the extent of procurement activities of the Department of Transportation as an independent procurement unit under the procurement authority provided under Title 72, Transportation Code, the executive director of the Department of Transportation or the executive director's designee; or
    (iv) for any other executive branch department, division, office, or entity that has statutory procurement authority outside this chapter, and only to the extent of the procurement activities of the department, division, office, or entity as an independent procurement unit under the procurement authority provided outside this chapter for the department, division, office, or entity, the chief executive officer of the department, division, office, or entity or the chief executive officer's designee. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Request for proposals: means a document used to solicit proposals to provide a procurement item to a procurement unit, including all other documents that are attached to that document or incorporated in that document by reference. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Request for proposals process: means the procurement process described in 7. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Request for statement of qualifications: means a document used to solicit information about the qualifications of a person interested in responding to a potential procurement, including all other documents attached to that document or incorporated in that document by reference. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Rulemaking authority: means :
    (a) for a legislative procurement unit, the Legislative Management Committee;
    (b) for a judicial procurement unit, the Judicial Council;
    (c) 
    (i) only to the extent of the procurement authority expressly granted to the procurement unit by statute:
    (A) for the facilities division, the facilities division;
    (B) for the Office of the Attorney General, the attorney general;
    (C) for the Department of Transportation created in Section 72-1-201, the executive director of the Department of Transportation; and
    (D) for any other executive branch department, division, office, or entity that has statutory procurement authority outside this chapter, the governing authority of the department, division, office, or entity; and
    (ii) for each other executive branch procurement unit, the board;
    (d) for a local government procurement unit:
    (i) the governing body of the local government unit; or
    (ii) an individual or body designated by the local government procurement unit;
    (e) for a school district or a public school, the board, except to the extent of a school district's own nonadministrative rules that do not conflict with the provisions of this chapter;
    (f) for a state institution of higher education, the Utah Board of Higher Education;
    (g) for the State Board of Education or the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, the State Board of Education;
    (h) for a public transit district, the chief executive of the public transit district;
    (i) for a special district other than a public transit district or for a special service district, the board, except to the extent that the board of trustees of the special district or the governing body of the special service district makes its own rules:
    (i) with respect to a subject addressed by board rules; or
    (ii) that are in addition to board rules;
    (j) for the Utah Educational Savings Plan, created in Section 53B-8a-103, the Utah Board of Higher Education;
    (k) for the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, created in Section 53C-1-201, the School and Institutional Trust Lands Board of Trustees;
    (l) for the School and Institutional Trust Fund Office, created in Section 53D-1-201, the School and Institutional Trust Fund Board of Trustees;
    (m) for the Utah Communications Authority, established in Section 63H-7a-201, the Utah Communications Authority board, created in Section 63H-7a-203; or
    (n) for any other procurement unit, the board. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Small purchase process: means the procurement process described in Section 63G-6a-506. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • Statement of qualifications: means a written statement submitted to a procurement unit in response to a request for statement of qualifications. See Utah Code 63G-6a-103
  • (a)  “Closed-ended approved vendor list” means an approved vendor list that is subject to:

    (i)  a short period of time, specified by the procurement unit, during which vendors may be added to the list; and

    (ii)  a specified period of time after which the list will expire.

    (b)  “Open-ended approved vendor list” means an approved vendor list that is subject to:

    (i)  an indeterminate period of time during which vendors may be added to the list;

    (ii)  the addition of vendors to the list throughout the term of the list; and

    (iii)  a specified period of time after which the procurement unit is required to verify that vendors on the list continue to meet the minimum mandatory requirements, evaluation criteria, and applicable score thresholds.
  • (2)  A procurement unit may not establish an approved vendor list unless the procurement unit has first completed the statement of qualifications process described in Section 63G-6a-410.

    (3) 

    (a)  A procurement unit may establish an approved vendor list for:

    (i)  a specific, fully defined procurement item; or

    (ii)  a future procurement item that is not specifically and fully defined, if the request for statement of qualifications contains a general description of:

    (A)  the procurement item; and

    (B)  the type of vendor that the procurement unit seeks to provide the procurement item.

    (b)  A procurement unit may not award a contract to a vendor on an approved vendor list for a procurement item that is outside the scope of the general description of the procurement item contained in the request for statement of qualifications.

    (4)  After receiving the statements of qualifications and evaluation scores submitted by the evaluation committee under Subsection 63G-6a-410(9)(f), the procurement official of the procurement unit using the request for statement of qualifications process under Section 63G-6a-410 as part of an approved vendor list process shall:

    (a)  include on an approved vendor list those vendors meeting the minimum mandatory requirements, evaluation criteria, and applicable score thresholds; and

    (b)  reject any vendor not meeting the minimum mandatory requirements, evaluation criteria, and applicable score thresholds as ineligible for inclusion on the approved vendor list.

    (5) 

    (a)  A procurement unit shall include approved vendors on a closed-ended approved vendor list or an open-ended approved vendor list.

    (b) 

    (i)  A closed-ended approved vendor list shall expire no later than 18 months after the publication of the closed-ended approved vendor list.

    (ii)  A procurement unit shall verify, no less frequently than every 18 months, by a method approved by the procurement official, that each vendor on an open-ended approved vendor list continues to meet the minimum mandatory requirements, evaluation criteria, and applicable score thresholds.

    (6)  A procurement unit may:

    (a) 

    (i)  using a bidding process, request for proposals process, small purchase process, or design professional procurement process, award a contract to a vendor on an approved vendor list for any procurement item or type of procurement item specified by the procurement unit in the request for statement of qualifications, including procurement items that the procurement unit intends to acquire in a series of future procurements described in the request for statement of qualifications; and

    (ii)  limit participation in a bidding process, request for proposals process, small purchase process, or design professional procurement process to vendors on an approved vendor list; or

    (b)  award a contract to a vendor on an approved vendor list at a price established as provided in Section 63G-6a-113.

    (7) 

    (a)  After establishing an approved vendor list as provided in this section, a conducting procurement unit shall, before using the approved vendor list, submit the approved vendor list to the issuing procurement unit.

    (b)  An issuing procurement unit that receives an approved vendor list under Subsection (7)(a) shall make the approved vendor list available to the public.

    (8)  A conducting procurement unit administering an open-ended approved vendor list shall:

    (a)  require a vendor seeking inclusion on the approved vendor list to submit a statement of qualifications that complies with all requirements applicable at the time of the initial request for statement of qualifications; and

    (b)  if modifying the requirements for inclusion on the approved vendor list, apply any new or additional requirement to all vendors equally, whether a vendor is seeking inclusion on the approved vendor list for the first time or is already included on the approved vendor list.

    (9)  A rulemaking authority shall make rules pertaining to an approved vendor list process, including:

    (a)  procedures to ensure that all vendors on an approved vendor list have a fair and equitable opportunity to compete for a contract for a procurement item; and

    (b)  requirements for using an approved vendor list with the small purchase process.

    Amended by Chapter 257, 2020 General Session