Sec. 36.30.170. - Contract award after bids. - Alaska Statutes

(a) Except as provided in (b) - (h) of this section, the procurement officer shall award a contract based on the solicited bids with reasonable promptness by written notice to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder whose bid conforms in all material respects to the requirements and criteria set out in the invitation to bid.

(b) The procurement officer shall award a contract based on solicited bids to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder after an Alaska bidder preference of five percent, an Alaska products preference as described in AS 36.30.322 - 36.30.338, and a recycled products preference under AS 36.30.337 have been applied. In this subsection, "Alaska bidder" means a person who

(1) holds a current Alaska business license;

(2) submits a bid for goods, services, or construction under the name as appearing on the person's current Alaska business license;

(3) has maintained a place of business within the state staffed by the bidder or an employee of the bidder for a period of six months immediately preceding the date of the bid;

(4) is incorporated or qualified to do business under the laws of the state, is a sole proprietorship and the proprietor is a resident of the state, is a limited liability company organized under AS 10.50 and all members are residents of the state, or is a partnership under former AS 32.05, AS 32.06, or AS 32.11 and all partners are residents of the state; and

(5) if a joint venture, is composed entirely of ventures that qualify under (1) - (4) of this subsection.

(c) Except as otherwise provided under (e) or (f) of this section, if a bidder qualifies under (b) of this section as an Alaska bidder, is offering services through an employment program, and is the lowest responsible and responsive bidder with a bid that is not more than 15 percent higher than the lowest bid, the procurement officer shall award the contract to that bidder. This subsection does not give a bidder who would otherwise qualify for a preference under this subsection a preference over another bidder who would otherwise qualify for a preference under this subsection.

(d) The procurement officer shall award an insurance-related contract based on solicited bids to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder after an Alaska bidder preference of five percent. In this subsection, "Alaska bidder" means a person who meets the criteria set out in (b)(1) - (5) of this section and who is an Alaska domestic insurer.

(e) If a bidder qualifies under (b) of this section as an Alaska bidder, is a qualifying entity, and is the lowest responsible and responsive bidder with a bid that is not more than 10 percent higher than the lowest bid, the procurement officer shall award the contract to that bidder. This subsection does not give a bidder who would otherwise qualify for a preference under this subsection a preference over another bidder who would otherwise qualify for a preference under this subsection or (f) of this section. In this subsection, "qualifying entity" means a

(1) sole proprietorship owned by a person with a disability;

(2) partnership under former AS 32.05, AS 32.06, or AS 32.11 if each of the partners is a person with a disability;

(3) limited liability company organized under AS 10.50 if each of the members is a person with a disability; or

(4) corporation that is wholly owned by individuals and each of the individuals is a person with a disability.

(f) If a bidder qualifies under (b) of this section as an Alaska bidder, if 50 percent or more of the bidder's employees at the time the bid is submitted are persons with a disability, and if the bidder is the lowest responsible and responsive bidder with a bid that is not more than 10 percent higher than the lowest bid, the procurement officer shall award the contract to that bidder. The contract must contain a promise by the bidder that the percentage of the bidder's employees who are persons with a disability will remain at 50 percent or more during the contract term. This subsection does not give a bidder who would otherwise qualify for a preference under this subsection a preference over another bidder who would otherwise qualify for a preference under this subsection or (e) of this section.

(g) The division of vocational rehabilitation in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development shall add to its current list of qualified employment programs a list of individuals who qualify as persons with a disability under (e) of this section and of persons who qualify under (f) of this section as employers with 50 percent or more of their employees being persons with disabilities. A person must be on this list at the time the bid is opened in order to qualify for a preference under (e) or (f) of this section.

(h) A preference under (c), (e), or (f) of this section is in addition to any other preference for which the bidder qualifies, including the preference under (b) of this section; however, a bidder may not receive a preference under both (c) and (e), (c) and (f), or (e) and (f) of this section for the same contract.

(i) This section applies to all insurance contracts involving state money. In this subsection, "state money" includes state grants and reimbursement to municipalities, school districts, and other entities.

(j) In order to qualify for a preference under (c), (e), or (f) of this section, a bidder must add value by actually performing, controlling, managing, and supervising the services provided, or a bidder must have sold supplies of the general nature solicited to other state agencies, governments, or the general public.

(k) In this section, "person with a disability" means an individual

(1) who has a severe physical or mental disability that seriously limits one or more functional capacities in terms of employability; in this paragraph, "functional capacities" means mobility, communication, self-care, self-direction, interpersonal skills, work tolerance, or work skills;

(2) whose physical or mental disability

(A) results from amputation, arthritis, autism, blindness, burn injury, cancer, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, deafness, head injury, heart disease, hemiplegia, hemophilia, respiratory or pulmonary dysfunction, mental retardation, mental illness, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, musculo-skeletal disorders, neurological disorders, paraplegia, quadriplegia, other spinal cord conditions, sickle cell anemia, specific learning disability, or end stage renal disease; in this subparagraph, "neurological disorders" include stroke and epilepsy; or

(B) is a disability or combination of disabilities that are not identified in (A) of this paragraph and that are determined on the basis of an evaluation of rehabilitation potential to cause substantial functional limitation comparable to a disability identified in (A) of this paragraph; and

(3) whose vocational rehabilitation can be expected to require multiple vocational rehabilitation services over an extended period of time.