Title 9 Part 250

The objective of State procurement is to facilitate each State agency's mission while protecting the interests of the State and its taxpayers and promoting fairness in contracting with the business community. The State's procurement process shall be guided by the following principles:

The purpose of this Part is to establish continuing standards and procedures to govern State procurements pursuant to sections 200 and 202 of the Executive Law and, based upon the recommendations of the State Procurement Council, pursuant to section 161 of the State Finance Law. These rules are designed to ensure that citizens, the private sector, businesses, State agencies, local governments and not-for-profit entities may proceed in confidence and good faith to effectively utilize public procurement processes. This Part sets forth requirements, procedures and processes relative to purchasing and contracting for commodities, services and technology by State agencies utilizing differing methods of procurement available to meet their needs, as well as those of local governments and other authorized purchasers under State contracts. The public procurement process ensures adequate supplies of commodities, services and technology on an economic and efficient basis in pursuance of the missions of State agencies and those of other authorized purchasers. This Part is necessary to preserve stability and integrity of such procurement system and to avoid confusion and fiscal uncertainties in the business community relative to existing purchases and contracts and ongoing and future procurements. The consistent application of long standing effective purchasing and contracting practices serves the best interests of the State and its citizens. This Part is applicable to State agency procurement practices, to the methodologies employed in public procurement and to the participation in State procurement contracts by other authorized purchasers.

The commissioner may make, or cause to be made by a duly authorized representative, any investigation which he or she may deem proper to acquire necessary information from a State agency for the exercise of his powers and duties under this Part.

State agency procurement practices for services shall incorporate the following:

The process for conducting State procurements for services and commodities shall commence by each State agency being responsible for determining the need for a given service or commodity and shall proceed as follows:

Consistent with the requirements of sections 250.4 and 250.5 of this Part, State agencies shall select among permissible methods of procurement including, but not limited to, an invitation for bid, request for proposals or other means of solicitation pursuant to guidelines issued by the State Procurement Council. Except where otherwise provided by law or this Part, procurements shall be competitive. State agencies shall document the determination of the method of procurement and the basis of award in the procurement record. Where the basis for award is the best value offer, the State agency shall document, in the procurement record and in advance of the receipt of initial offers, the determination of the evaluation criteria, which whenever possible, shall be quantifiable, the process to be used in the determination of best value and the manner in which the evaluation process and selection shall be conducted.

All procurements by State agencies in excess of $15,000 shall be advertised in the State's Procurement Opportunities Newsletter in accordance with article 4-C of the Economic Development Law.

For purchases from sources other than preferred sources and for purchases in excess of the discretionary buying threshold established in section 250.6 of this Part:

It shall be the responsibility of the head of each State agency to periodically sample the results of the procurement process to test for reasonableness; to ensure that the results withstand public scrutiny and that the quality and the price of the purchase makes sense; and to ensure that purchasing is conducted in a manner consistent with the best interests of the State.

To advance special social and economic goals, selected providers shall have preferred source status for the purposes of procurement in accordance with the provisions of this Part. Procurement from these providers, except those defined in section 250.13(f) of this Part, shall be exempted from the competitive procurement provisions of this Part. Such exemption shall apply to commodities produced, manufactured or assembled, including those repackaged to meet the form, function and utility required by State agencies, in New York State and, where so designated, services provided by those sources in accordance with this Part.

Preferred status as prescribed in this section shall be accorded to:

Except as provided in the New York State Printing and Public Documents Law, priority among preferred sources shall be accorded as follows:

The prices to be charged for commodities produced by the Department of Correctional Services Correctional Industries Program shall be established by the Commissioner of Correctional Services in accordance with section 186 of the Correction Law.

The commissioner of the appropriate appointing agency shall conduct one or more pilot studies whereby a private vendor may be accorded preferred source status for purposes of this Part. The pilot studies shall seek to ascertain the benefits of partnerships between private industry and those entities accorded preferred source status as specified in this Part. Preferred source status under a partnering arrangement may only be accorded when a proposal to a soliciting agency for commodities or services includes a binding agreement which expires prior to June 30, 2005, with one or more of the entities accorded preferred source status under this Part. The binding agreement shall provide that:

Agency printing requirements which cannot be fulfilled under a centralized contract let by the commissioner, may only be directly purchased by the agency in compliance with the following procedures and monetary limitations:

An agency may purchase such items of printing directly from a responsible vendor of its choice, with no prior or subsequent approval from the commissioner. While no competitive bidding is required, agencies should take steps necessary to ensure that prices are reasonable and a written confirmation of the successful vendor's quotation showing the time and conditions of sale should be obtained. The Comptroller's copy of the issued purchase order shall be processed in accordance with the Comptroller's then current procedural requirements.

The advance approval of the commissioner for such purchases must be obtained through submission of a purchase request to the Office of General Services. The commissioner may elect to contract for the item or authorize the purchase by the agency. If direct purchase by the requesting agency is authorized, the agency may purchase such printing, without subsequent approval by the commissioner in the following manner only:

Advance approval of the commissioner must be obtained through submission of a purchase request to the Office of General Services.