Established; duties; contracts for stationery, printing, paper, and fuel; use of approved credit cards for certain purchases; State Procurement Fund.

(a) There shall be in the Department of Finance the Division of Purchasing. The functions and duties of the Division of Purchasing shall be as follows:

(1) To purchase all personal property and nonprofessional services, except alcoholic beverages, which shall be purchased by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and except as otherwise provided by law, for the state and each department, board, bureau, commission, agency, office, and institution thereof, except as provided in subsection (e).

(2) To make and supervise the execution of all contracts and leases for the use or acquisition of any personal property and nonprofessional services unless otherwise provided by law.

(3) To fix standards of quality and quantity and to develop standard specifications for all personal property and nonprofessional services acquired by the state or any department, board, bureau, commission, agency, office, or institution thereof.

(4) To maintain records as to prices and sources of supply of such personal property and nonprofessional services, such records to be open to the inspection of any state, county, municipal, or other public officer or employee charged with the duty of acquiring any such property and nonprofessional services or article for his or her department, board, bureau, commission, agency, office, institution, county, municipal corporation, or local public body.

(5) To manage, supervise, and control all printing and binding for the state and for each department, board, bureau, commission, agency, office, and institution thereof and the distribution of all printed matter and to make and supervise the execution of all contracts with respect thereto, unless otherwise provided by law.

(6) To require the periodic reporting of all purchases of furniture, fixtures, supplies, material, equipment, and other personal property, except printing, and all contracts and leases for the use or acquisition thereof by or for counties, the purchase, contract or lease price of which is $100.00 or more, and to require information in connection therewith, to prescribe forms and fix the time for submitting such reports, and, when requested by any county, municipal corporation, and other local public body (including any board of education) to make such purchases, contracts, or leases for it. It shall be the duty of every county to make such report on forms furnished by the Department of Finance, whenever requested so to do, but not more than once every 30 days.

(7) To perform such other functions and duties of the Department of Finance as may from time to time be assigned by the Director of Finance.

(b) As long as the constitution so requires, all stationery, printing, paper, and fuel used in the legislative and other departments of the government shall be furnished, and the printing, binding, and distribution of the laws, journals, departmental reports, and all other printing, binding, and repairing and furnishing the halls and rooms used for the meetings of the Legislature and its committees shall be performed under contract, to be given to the lowest responsible bidder below a maximum price, under such regulations as have been or may be prescribed by law and as may be promulgated by the Director of Finance. No member or officer of any department of the government shall be in any way interested in such contracts, and all such contracts shall be subject to the approval of the Governor, the Auditor and the Treasurer. All contracts not required to be approved by a named officer or officers by the constitution shall be subject to the approval of the Director of Finance, who may, however, provide for the automatic approval thereof by compliance with the general rules or regulations promulgated by him or her.

(c) The purchasing agent is further authorized to establish and maintain a system for the purchase of personal property and nonprofessional services by state departments, agencies, boards, and institutions that conduct their purchasing activities through the Division of Purchasing, through the utilization of approved credit cards. County and municipal governments and instrumentalities or public corporations thereof may participate in the state fleet fuel card program subject to the terms and conditions of the program related to the utilization of the fleet fuel card; provided, however, that county and municipal governments and instrumentalities or public corporations thereof shall not otherwise be subject to this subsection. The purchasing agent shall establish by administrative rule a process for the competitive solicitation of credit card providers. The state Comptroller and the purchasing agent shall promulgate fiscal procedures governing the payment of charges incurred by credit card users and the utilization of credit cards. The use of approved credit cards shall be established by the state Comptroller and the purchasing agent, with the approval of the Director of Finance, and be published through the Alabama fiscal procedures, in which each purchase made using approved credit cards is required to have prior approval by the department head or his or her designee and a record of such purchases and approvals is to be maintained. The purchasing agent may select the provider or providers offering the highest fees to the division for the use of its credit card or credit cards. Fees received by the division for the use of credit cards shall be placed in a special fund entitled the State Procurement Fund in the State Treasury for the use of the division and such funds shall be appropriated, budgeted, and allotted in accordance with Sections 41-4-80 to 41-4-96, inclusive, and 41-19-1 to 41-19-12, inclusive, and only in amounts stipulated in general appropriations bills and other appropriation bills. Approved credit cards may be issued to requisitioning agencies upon the recommendation of the purchasing agent and the approval of the Director of Finance. Approved credit cards will be assigned to the department and will be in limited number. Such credit cards may be utilized to purchase items of personal property and nonprofessional services, and shall not exceed the limitations set forth in subsection (a) of Section 41-16-24. The director of the governmental entity utilizing credit cards is responsible for the proper use of credit cards assigned to his or her agency, in accordance with rules established by Alabama fiscal procedures. The purchasing agent may collect any credit card from any agency at any time due to improper use. The purchasing agent shall submit an annual report and accounting regarding the use of credit cards by each governmental entity to the Director of Finance and the Governor.

(d) The Division of Purchasing is authorized to charge a biannual registration fee to vendors desiring to register with the division to receive invitations-to-bid for any goods or services solicited by the division and to charge departments, boards, bureaus, commissions, agencies, offices, and institutions for their proportionate share of operating costs of the division. Any fee must be set by administrative rule upon the approval of the Director of Finance. Any fees collected under this provision shall be deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the State Procurement Fund and shall be appropriated, budgeted, and allotted in accordance with Sections 41-4-80 to 41-4-96, inclusive, and 41-19-1 to 41-19-12, inclusive, and only in amounts stipulated in general appropriations bills and other appropriation bills.

(e) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, state departments, agencies, boards, and institutions may purchase personal property from any vendor that offers the item at a price at least ten percent below the price established on a statewide contract by the Division of Purchasing for the same item, provided that each acquisition of personal property pursuant to this subsection, whether for a single item or multiple items, does not exceed fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000). The Division of Purchasing shall confirm that the terms and conditions of such purchase are substantially similar to those of the statewide contract for the same item prior to the approval of any purchase pursuant to this subsection. This subsection shall not apply to construction or road-building materials, as identified by the purchasing agent. Any purchase that would be directly connected to any IT network used by the state shall require prior approval by the Secretary of Information Technology.

Any acquisition of personal property pursuant to this subsection shall be purchased solely from vendors physically located within the state, if the purchaser is to take possession of the purchased goods at the vendor's physical location.

The price of any goods or services purchased pursuant to this subsection shall be the market price readily available to the public at large.

Any acquisition of personal property pursuant to this subsection is not exempt from the supervision and administration of the Division of Purchasing.

(Acts 1939, No. 112, p. 144; Code 1940, T. 55, §108; Acts 1989, No. 89-947, p. 1866, §1; Act 2009-763, p. 2310, §1; Act 2014-378, p. 1431, §1; Act 2018-195, §1.)