2006 Utah Code - 63-56-426 — Tie bids -- Preference for providers of state products -- Resolution of tie bids -- Record of tie bids.

     63-56-426.   Tie bids -- Preference for providers of state products -- Resolution of tie bids -- Record of tie bids.
     (1) As used in this section:
     (a) (i) "Commodity" means a good, product, material, or item, including an agricultural, manufacturing, or mining product;
     (ii) "Commodity" does not include:
     (A) a service; or
     (B) construction materials or services.
     (b) "Provider of state products" means a bidder offering goods, supplies, products, materials, or items that are produced, manufactured, mined, or grown in the state.
     (c) "Tie bid" means a low responsive bid from a responsive bidder that is identical in price to a responsive bid from another responsive bidder.
     (2) In the event of a tie bid for the provision of a commodity where only one of the bidders having the low responsive bid is a provider of state products, a public procurement unit shall award the contract to the provider of state products if:
     (a) the quality of the commodity offered by the provider of state products is equal to or greater than the quality of the commodity offered by the other tied bidders;
     (b) the commodity offered by the provider of state products is suitable for the use required by the public procurement unit; and
     (c) the provider of state products is able to produce the commodity in sufficient quantity.
     (3) Unless Subsection (2) applies, a public procurement unit shall make an award on a tie bid by using one of the following procedures, which shall be selected in the sole discretion of the procurement officer:
     (a) where a tie bid includes the cost of delivery, awarding the contract to the bidder closest to the point of delivery;
     (b) awarding the contract to the identical bidder who received the previous award, and continue to award succeeding contracts to the same bidder so long as all low bids are tie bids;
     (c) awarding the contract to the bidder with the earliest delivery date;
     (d) if the price of the tie bid is considered excessive or the bids are unsatisfactory for another reason, rejecting all bids and negotiating a more favorable contact on the open market; or
     (e) if the procurement officer determines in writing that no method under this Subsection (3) will equitably resolve the tie bid, awarding the contract by drawing lots.
     (4) Awards of tie bids shall not be made by:
     (a) dividing business among tied bidders; or
     (b) drawing lots, except as provided in Subsection (3)(e).
     (5) (a) A state public procurement unit shall retain a record of each invitation for bids on which a tie bid is received, that shall include the following information:
     (i) the invitation for bids;
     (ii) the supply, service, or construction item requested by the invitation for bids;
     (iii) all the bidders and the prices submitted;
     (iv) the procedure used to resolve the tie bid; and
     (v) the results of the procedure used to resolve the tie bid, including the name of the bidder awarded the contract.
     (b) A copy of the record maintained under Subsection (5)(a) shall be provided to the attorney general for all contracts having a tie bid in excess of $50,000.

---

Enacted by Chapter 66, 2006 General Session