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S05600 Summary:

S05600 Actions:

S05600 Committee Votes:

S05600 Floor Votes:

S05600 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          5600
 
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                    IN SENATE
 
                                     April 19, 2017
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  Sen.  DeFRANCISCO -- read twice and ordered printed, and
          when printed to be committed to the Committee on Corporations, Author-
          ities and Commissions
 
        AN ACT to amend the public authorities law,  in  relation  to  requiring
          public  authorities  and public benefit corporations to negotiate with
          professional firms providing architectural or engineering services  in
          order  from  the  most qualified to the least qualified with regard to
          the provision of services to the authority or corporation
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1.  Subparagraph  (iv)  of  paragraph (b) of subdivision 3 of
     2  section 2879 of the public authorities law, as amended by chapter 383 of
     3  the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
     4    (iv) as used in this subparagraph, the term "professional firm"  shall
     5  be defined as any individual or sole proprietorship, partnership, corpo-
     6  ration,  association, or other legal entity permitted by law to practice
     7  the professions of architecture, engineering or surveying.
     8    It is the policy of New York state to negotiate contracts  for  archi-
     9  tectural  and/or  engineering  services and/or surveying services on the
    10  basis of demonstrated competence  and  qualification  for  the  type  of
    11  professional services required and at fair and reasonable fees.
    12    In   the  procurement  of  architectural,  engineering  and  surveying
    13  services, the corporation is required to  encourage  professional  firms
    14  engaged  in  the  lawful  practice of the profession to submit an annual
    15  statement of qualifications and performance data.  The  corporation  for
    16  each  proposed  project  is  required  to evaluate current statements of
    17  qualifications and performance data on file with the  corporation.    If
    18  desired,  the  corporation  may  conduct  discussions with three or more
    19  professional firms regarding anticipated design  concepts  and  proposed
    20  methods  of  approach  to the assignment. The corporation is required to
    21  select, in order of preference, based upon criteria established  by  the
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD07014-01-7
        S. 5600                             2
 
     1  corporation, no less than three professional firms deemed to be the most
     2  highly qualified to provide the services required.
     3    Every corporation is required to negotiate a contract with the highest
     4  qualified   professional   firm  for  architectural  and/or  engineering
     5  services and/or surveying services at compensation which the corporation
     6  determines in writing to be fair and reasonable to such corporation.  In
     7  making  this  decision, the corporation is required to take into account
     8  the estimated value of the services to be rendered, including the costs,
     9  the scope, complexity and professional nature thereof.
    10    The corporation shall not refuse to negotiate with a professional firm
    11  solely because the ratio of the "allowable  indirect  costs"  to  direct
    12  labor  costs  of  the  professional firm or the hourly labor rate in any
    13  labor category of the professional firm exceeds a  limitation  generally
    14  set by the corporation in the determination of the reasonableness of the
    15  estimated  cost of services to be rendered by the professional firm, but
    16  rather the corporation should also consider the reasonableness  of  cost
    17  based  on  the  total  estimated cost of the service of the professional
    18  firm which should include, among other  things,  all  the  direct  labor
    19  costs  of  the  professional  firm for such services plus all "allowable
    20  indirect costs," other  direct  costs,  and  negotiated  profit  of  the
    21  professional firm. "Allowable indirect costs" of a professional firm are
    22  defined  as  those costs generally associated with overhead which cannot
    23  be specifically identified with a single project  or  contract  and  are
    24  considered  reasonable  and  allowable  under specific state contract or
    25  allowability limits.  Should the corporation choose to engage in a qual-
    26  ification based procurement and be unable to  negotiate  a  satisfactory
    27  contract with the professional firm considered to be the most qualified,
    28  at  a  fee  the  corporation determines to be fair and reasonable to the
    29  corporation, negotiations with that professional firm shall be  formally
    30  terminated.   The corporation shall then undertake negotiations with the
    31  second most qualified professional firm. Failing accord with the  second
    32  most  qualified professional firm, the corporation shall formally termi-
    33  nate negotiations. The corporation  shall  then  undertake  negotiations
    34  with  the third most qualified professional firm. Should the corporation
    35  be unable to negotiate a satisfactory contract with any of the  selected
    36  professional  firms,  it  shall  select additional professional firms in
    37  order of their competence and qualifications and it shall continue nego-
    38  tiations in accordance with this section until an agreement is  reached.
    39  The  provisions  of  this  subparagraph  shall only apply to engineering
    40  and/or architectural services and/or surveying  services  in  excess  of
    41  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  and  shall not apply to the metropolitan
    42  transportation authority, the New York city  transit  authority  or  the
    43  Triborough bridge and tunnel authority or to any of their subsidiaries.
    44    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.