2011 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 39 — Public finance
RS 39:1556 — Definitions

SUBPART B. DEFINITIONS

§1556. Definitions

As used in this Chapter, the words defined in this Section shall have the meanings set forth below, unless the context in which they are used clearly requires a different meaning or a different definition is prescribed for a particular Part or provision:

(1) "Business" means any corporation, partnership, individual, sole proprietorship, joint stock company, joint venture, or any other legal entity.

(2) "Change order" means a written order signed by the procurement officer, directing the contractor to make changes which the changes clause of the contract authorizes the procurement officer to order without the consent of the contractor.

(3) "Chief procurement officer" means the state director of purchasing and the directors of purchasing of the departments exempt from central purchasing by R.S. 39:1572.

(4) "Contract" means all types of state agreements, regardless of what they may be called, for the purchase of supplies, services, or major repairs. It includes awards and notices of award; contracts of a fixed-price, cost, cost-plus-a-fixed-fee, or incentive type; contracts providing for the issuance of job or task orders; leases; letter contracts; and purchase orders. It also includes supplemental agreements with respect to any of the foregoing.

(5) "Contract modification" means any written alteration in specifications, delivery point, rate of delivery, period of performance, price, quantity, or other provisions of any contract accomplished by mutual action of the parties to the contract.

(6) "Contractor" means any person having a contract with a governmental body.

(7) "Data" means recorded information, regardless of form or characteristic.

(8) "Debarment" means the disqualification of a person to receive invitations for bids or requests for proposals, or the award of any contract by any governmental body, for a specified period of time commensurate with the seriousness of the offense or the failure or the inadequacy of performance.

(9) "Designee" means a duly authorized representative of a person holding a superior position.

(10) "Governmental body" means any department, office, division, commission, council, board, bureau, committee, institution, agency, government corporation, or other establishment or official of the executive or judicial branches of state government.

(11) "Grant" means the furnishing by the state of assistance, whether financial or otherwise, to any person to support a program authorized by law. It does not include an award whose primary purpose is to procure an end product, whether in the form of supplies, services, or major repairs; a contract resulting from such an award is not a grant but a procurement contract.

(12) "Installment-purchase contract" means a contract which is utilized to procure supplies or equipment from a contractor where payment for the supplies or equipment is made in a set of installment payments over a fixed period of time in accordance with the provisions of the contract, and in which the contractor agrees to deliver title of the property to the governmental body in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract.

(13) "Major repairs" means those repairs payable with funds appropriated in the general appropriations act, except those funds transferred from the operating budget of one governmental body to supplement and complete a project under contract by the division of administration facility planning and control section.

(14) "May" denotes the permissive.

(15) "Person" means any business, individual, union, committee, club, or other organization or group of individuals.

(16) "Practicable" means that which can be done or put into practice; feasible.

(17) "Procurement" means the buying, purchasing, renting, leasing, or otherwise obtaining any supplies, services, or major repairs. It also includes all functions that pertain to the obtaining of any public procurement, including description of requirements, selection and solicitation of sources, preparation and award of contract, and all phases of contract administration.

(18) "Procurement officer" means any person authorized by a governmental body, in accordance with procedures prescribed by regulations, to enter into and administer contracts and make written determinations and findings with respect thereto. The term also includes an authorized representative acting within the limits of authority.

(19) "Purchase request" means that document whereby a using agency requests that a contract be obtained for a specified need, and may include, but is not limited to, the technical description of the requested item, delivery schedule, transportation, criteria for evaluation of solicitees, suggested sources of supply, and information supplied for the making of any written determination and finding required by this Chapter.

(20) "Purchasing agency" means any governmental body which is authorized by this Chapter or its implementing regulations, or by way of delegation from the state director of purchasing, to contract on its own behalf rather than through the central contracting authority of the central purchasing agency.

(21) "Qualified group purchasing organization" means a service organization, whether for profit or not, with a membership of at least fifteen hospitals within the United States, which contracts with suppliers for supplies and materials used in hospitals and makes such contracts available to its members.

(22) "Sealed bidding" means the receipt of bids protected from inspection prior to bid opening. Bids may be received in any manner specified in the invitation for bids including receipt by mail, by direct delivery, or through any secure electronic interactive environment permitted by rule or regulation.

(23) "Services" means the furnishing of labor, time, or effort by a contractor, not involving the delivery of a specific end product other than reports which are merely incidental to the required performance. This term shall not include:

(a) Employment agreements or collective bargaining agreements.

(b) Personal, professional, consultant, or social services as provided by R.S. 39:1481 through R.S. 39:1526.

(c) Services performed by lawyers as provided by R.S. 42:261 through R.S. 42:264.

(d) Services performed by an architect, engineer, or landscape architect as provided by R.S. 38:2310 through R.S. 38:2314.

(24) "Shall" denotes the imperative.

(25) "State director of purchasing" means the person holding the position created in R.S. 39:1562, as the head of the central purchasing office of Louisiana.

(26) "Supplies" means all property, including but not limited to equipment, insurance, and leases on real property excluding land or a permanent interest in land.

(27) "Suspension" means the disqualification of a person to receive invitations for bids or requests for proposals, or the award of a contract by the state, for a temporary period pending the completion of an investigation and any legal proceedings that may ensue because a person is suspected upon probable cause of engaging in criminal, fraudulent, or seriously improper conduct or failure or inadequacy of performance which may lead to debarment.

(28) "Using agency" means any governmental body of the state which utilizes any supplies, services, or major repairs purchased under this Chapter.

(29) "Written" or "in writing" means the product of any method of forming characters on paper, other materials, or viewable screen, which can be read, retrieved, and reproduced, including information that is electronically transmitted and stored.

Added by Acts 1979, No. 715, §1, eff. July 1, 1980. Amended by Acts 1980, No. 524, §1, eff. July 23, 1980; Acts 1985, No. 673, §1; Acts 1985, No. 995, §2, eff. July 23, 1985; Acts 1990, No. 930, §1; Acts 2000, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 134, §2, eff. April 19, 2000; Acts 2001, No. 1032, §13.