CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 134-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2136

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

C.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the House of Representatives to the amendments proposed by the Senate in H.B. No. 2136, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PROCUREMENT,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this bill is to improve the state Procurement Code (Code) and include more agencies within its scope by:

(1) Providing that selection committee recommendations regarding the selection of a professional services provider are not to be overturned without due cause;

(2) Adopting procedures and standards modeled on the Federal Acquisition Regulations to guide application of the debarment and suspension provisions of the Code;

(3) Requiring the procuring officer to verify that competitive sealed bid, competitive sealed proposal, professional services, small purchases, and sole source contractors comply with all applicable state business laws and be organized and registered under state law;

(4) Authorizing the Attorney General to waive in-state business, registration, and statutory employer requirements as needed to obtain legal services that are not available in the state; and

(5) Repealing statutory exemptions from the Code.

Your Committee on Conference has amended this bill by:

(1) Deleting the sections that repeal the Hawaii Tourism Authority's, Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii's, and the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund's exemptions from the Code;

(2) Repealing the statutes that exempt the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, and expenditures under the School Physical Plant Operations and Maintenance Account, from the Code; and

(3) Designating the UH President as the chief procurement officer for UH to be consistent with the repeal of the University of Hawaii's (UH) exemption from the Code.

Your Committee on Conference believes aligning the Code with standard federal debarment and suspension standards will complement previously enacted improvements to the Code and will ensure uniformity of the debarment and suspension procedure throughout all state agencies, including the UH system. The improvements in this bill will enable each respective procurement office to expeditiously review exemptions on a case by case basis, thereby efficiently forwarding the best interests of the State.

To further improve the State's procurement system, your Committee on Conference recommends that the Department of Accounting and General Services review UH's electronic procurement systems as a model for statewide application.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2136, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2136, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

____________________________ CAL KAWAMOTO, Chair		____________________________ MICHAEL Y. MAGAOAY, Co-Chair
		____________________________ ROBERT N. HERKES, Co-Chair