SB162 Summary

• Amends Alabama's Competitive Bid Law (Sections 16-13B-2 and 16-13B-7) to modify contract terms and purchasing exceptions for public entities.

• Permits purchases from vendors with current and valid General Services Administration contracts, provided prices do not exceed the lowest competitively bid price or state purchasing program price.

• Adds purchasing through competitive bid nationwide cooperative purchasing programs (such as those sponsored by the National Association of Counties) as an exception, with requirements that goods/services be competitively bid and available at equal or better prices than state programs.

• Specifies requirements for sole source purchases by boards of education, requiring documentation that products are indispensable, no alternatives exist, and recommendations from architects or engineers with written justification filed in project files.

• Establishes contract length limits: personal property and contractual services contracts capped at 3 years, lease-purchase contracts for capital improvements and repairs to real property capped at 10 years.