Under existing law, contracts for the purchase of computer equipment, hardware, and software is exempt from the competitive bidding requirements provided by general law. This bill would delete this exemption. Also under existing law, sole source contracts are exempt from the competitive bidding process. The contracts occur when the Chief Procurement Officer determines there is only one source for the required supply or service. This bill would provide a rebuttable presumption that contracts for information technology supplies or services are not subject to the single source exemption. Under existing law, purchases of computer programs and software applications are excluded from the competitive bid law requirements. This bill would specify that purchases of computer servers, redundant server, data storage, and related technologies are not included within this exclusion.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 41-16-51