Sec. 4b-100a. Construction services award panels. Screening, interview and selection of contractors. Memoranda re selection. Regulations. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 4b-100a. Construction services award panels. Screening, interview and selection of contractors. Memoranda re selection. Regulations. (a) The Department of Public Works shall establish construction services award panels which shall each consist of six members. Three of such members shall be appointed by the Commissioner of Public Works, shall be current employees of the Department of Public Works and shall serve only for deliberations involving the project for which such members are appointed. Two members shall be appointed by the department head of the user agency and one member shall be a neutral party appointed by the commissioner.

      (b) A panel established pursuant to this section shall not be deemed to be a board or commission within the meaning of section 4-9a. Such panels shall be the award panels for any contract for the construction, reconstruction, alteration, remodeling, repair or demolition of any public building for the state pursuant to subsection (g) of section 4b-91 and section 4b-24.

      (c) For each applicable contract, the commissioner shall designate one panel to screen all submitted proposals and establish a list of bidders to be interviewed and shall designate a separate panel consisting of different members to interview bidders on the list and submit a list of recommended contractors to the commissioner ranked in order of preference with the most qualified bidder listed first.

      (d) The commissioner shall designate one voting member on each panel to serve as chairperson. The chairperson shall moderate the committee, collect votes and compile the results.

      (e) Each award panel shall prepare a memorandum on the selection process indicating (1) how the evaluation criteria were applied by each panel member to determine the most qualified firms, (2) the ranking of each bidder by each panel member which shall be available to the public after execution of the contract with the selected contractor, and (3) a certification by each panel member that the selection of the most qualified firm was not the result of collusion, the giving of a gift or the promise of a gift, compensation, fraud or inappropriate influence from any person.

      (f) The commissioner shall select a contractor from among the list of firms submitted by the award panel that interviewed the contractors. After the commissioner has made a selection, the names of the contractor firms submitted to the commissioner shall be available to the public upon request. In the event the commissioner does not select the most qualified bidder listed by the awards panel, the commissioner shall prepare a written explanation of the commissioner's decision. The commissioner shall also prepare a memorandum on the final phase of the selection process, indicating how the commissioner applied the evaluation criteria to determine the successful bidder. Such memorandum shall include a certification by the commissioner that the commissioner's selection of the successful bidder was not the result of collusion, the giving of a gift or the promise of a gift, compensation, fraud or undue pressure from any person and shall be available to the public after execution of the contract with the selected contractor.

      (g) The commissioner shall adopt regulations, in accordance with chapter 54, to implement the provisions of this section.

      (P.A. 03-215, S. 8; P.A. 04-141, S. 6; P.A. 07-213, S. 16.)

      History: P.A. 03-215 effective October 1, 2004; P.A. 04-141 amended Subsec. (c) to require that list of contractors submitted to the commissioner be ranked in order of preference with the most qualified bidder listed first, amended Subsec. (e) to add Subdiv. designators, provisions re application of criteria and ranking of bidders by each panel member and provision re certification of no collusion or gift giving during the selection of the most qualified firm, designated provisions in Subsec. (e) re selection of contractor by commissioner as new Subsec. (f) and amended said Subsec. by adding provisions re written explanation of decision and certification by commissioner and replacing "most qualified firm" with "successful bidder", and redesignated existing Subsec. (f) as Subsec. (g); P.A. 07-213 amended Subsec. (a) to provide that members appointed by commissioner serve only for deliberations involving the project for which the member is appointed, eliminate provisions re the term for such members and commissioner's authority to fill vacancies on the panel and make technical changes, and made a technical change in Subsec. (b), effective July 10, 2007.