Sec. 2155.078. TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION OF STATE AGENCY PURCHASING PERSONNEL AND VENDORS. (a) The commission shall establish and administer a system of training, continuing education, and certification for state agency purchasing personnel. The training and continuing education for state agency purchasing personnel must include ethics training. The commission may establish and offer appropriate training to vendors on a cost recovery basis. The commission may adopt rules to administer this section, including rules relating to monitoring a certified purchaser's compliance with the continuing education requirements of this section.
(a-1) The training, continuing education, and certification required under Subsection (a) must include:
(1) training on the selection of an appropriate procurement method by project type; and
(2) training conducted by the Department of Information Resources on purchasing technologies.
(b) Notwithstanding Subsection (n), all state agency purchasing personnel, including agencies exempted from the purchasing authority of the commission, must receive the training and continuing education to the extent required by rule of the commission. The training and continuing education must include ethics training. A state agency employee who is required to receive the training may not participate in purchases by the employing agency unless the employee has received the required training or received equivalent training from a national association recognized by the commission. The equivalent training may count, as provided by Subsection (k), toward the continuing education requirements.
(c) The commission shall set and collect a fee from state agencies that employ purchasing personnel. The commission shall set the fee in an amount that recovers the commission's costs under this section.
(d) The commission may provide training, continuing education, and certification under this section to purchasing personnel employed by a political subdivision or other public entity of the state. Political subdivision purchasing personnel may receive, but are not required to receive, the training, continuing education, or certification provided under this section. The commission shall collect the fees described by Subsection (c) for training, education, or certification under this subsection.
(e) The commission may provide training and continuing education under this section using its own personnel or through contracts with private entities. The commission may also, by agreement with a public entity, use the services of persons employed by the public entity to provide training and continuing education under this section.
(f) The commission shall provide at least three levels of training under this section.
(g) The basic training level must include an introduction to contract purchasing methods, ethical issues affecting purchasing decisions, and instruction in any other processes and issues that the commission considers appropriate for introductory purchasing training.
(h) The second training level must include advanced instruction in formal and informal bidding methods, introduction to negotiation methods, instruction in writing specifications, and instruction in any other processes and issues that the commission considers appropriate for the second level of purchasing training.
(i) The third training level must include an introduction to complex negotiations, instruction in the criteria for determining which product or service offers the best value for the state, and instruction in any other processes and issues that the commission considers appropriate for advanced purchasing training.
(j) The commission may prescribe the circumstances under which a state agency may delegate to a certified purchaser signature purchasing authority to approve purchase orders.
(k) The commission shall require a reasonable number of hours of continuing education to maintain a certification level. The commission may allow attendance at equivalent certification training recognized by the commission to count toward the required number of hours. Maintenance of the certification level may be by yearly renewal or another reasonable renewal period comparable to nationally recognized certification requirements.
(l) The commission's prerequisites for receiving a level-two purchaser certification must include completion of the basic training level, passage of a written examination, and a minimum number of years of purchasing experience prescribed by the commission.
(m) The commission's prerequisites for receiving a level-three purchaser certification must include completion of the second training level, passage of a written examination, and a minimum of three years of purchasing experience.
(n) This section does not apply to an institution to which Section 51.9335, Education Code, applies or to an institution to which Section 73.115, Education Code, applies.
Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1206, Sec. 6, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 165, Sec.31.01(21), eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 426, Sec. 1, eff. June 18, 1999; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 309, Sec. 7.05, eff. June 18, 2003.
Amended by:
Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1049 (S.B. 5), Sec. 2.07, eff. June 17, 2011.
Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 326 (S.B. 20), Sec. 12, eff. September 1, 2015.
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