9. Construction emergencies. 1. A "construction emergency" is damage to or a malfunction in buildings or property of the state of New York caused by an unanticipated, sudden and unexpected occurrence which involves a pressing necessity for immediate repair, reconstruction or maintenance in order to permit the safe continuation of a necessary public use or function, or to protect the property of the state of New York, or the life, health or safety of any person.
* 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this law or any general or special law, where there is a construction emergency, as defined by subdivision one of this section, the commissioner of general services may, upon written notice of such construction emergency from an authorized officer of the department or agency having jurisdiction of the property, let emergency contracts for public work or the purchase of supplies, materials or equipment without complying with formal competitive bidding requirements, provided that all such contracts shall be subject to the approval of the attorney general and the comptroller and that no such contract shall exceed six hundred thousand dollars. Such emergency contracts shall be let only for work necessary to remedy or ameliorate a construction emergency.
* NB Effective until June 30, 2019
* 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this law or any general or special law, where there is a construction emergency, as defined by subdivision one of this section, the commissioner of general services may, upon written notice of such construction emergency from an authorized officer of the department or agency having jurisdiction of the property, let contracts for public work or the purchase of supplies, materials or equipment without complying with formal competitive bidding requirements, provided that all such contracts shall be subject to the approval of the attorney general and the comptroller and that no such contract shall exceed forty thousand dollars.
* NB Effective June 30, 2019
3. The office of general services shall prepare and maintain a written record of each transaction entered into, pursuant to the provisions of this section, setting forth (a) the nature of such emergency, (b) the effect thereof on public property, on the operation of government or on life, health or safety of any person, (c) a detailed description of the work to be performed and the cost of such work, (d) engineering and architectural evaluation showing the need for immediate action, and (e) the notice of construction emergency from the department or agency requesting such work. At least three oral competitive bids shall be solicited and written confirmation of each solicitation shall be furnished within a reasonable time and maintained as an official record.
* 4. Bidders for such construction emergency contracts shall be solicited from a list of bidders, which shall be regional in scope, established by the office of general services based on an invitation to contractors including certified minority and women-owned contractors to be so listed, subject to approval by the office of general services, advertised annually in the procurement opportunities newsletter published by the department of economic development, in the public notification service of the office of general services and by newspaper advertisement as provided in section eight of this article. The office of general services shall seek to provide prime contract bidding opportunities for minority and women-owned contractors in the letting of such emergency contracts. From such list of bidders, the office of general services shall solicit bidders sequentially or by rotation in such manner that the listed potential bidders shall be solicited consecutively, to the extent practicable, and thereby given fair opportunity to bid in the course of successive needs for emergency contracts. The office of general services may remove any bidder from such lists for nonresponsibility or nonreliability. The emergency contracts let under this section in each month shall be published by the office of general services in the public notification service.
The department or agency having jurisdiction of the property shall promptly and diligently take all actions and prepare and submit the required documentation relating to the contract award for the repair and remediation of the construction emergency, as necessary to deliver to the office of the state comptroller as early as practicable prior to the thirtieth day following the commencement of the work all such documentation required for the comptroller's approval of the contract.
* NB Expires June 30, 2019
Last modified: February 3, 2019