Title: Permissible Contacts During
Restricted Period of Governmental Procurement

Effective
Date:   January 1, 2006

I.
REASON FOR POLICY

·
Provide
general University expectations regarding appropriate communications during the
restricted period of a procurement

·
Avoid
violation of state and federal laws associated with State Finance Law
§§139-j and 139-k

II.
POLICY STATEMENT

It is the policy of
SUNY Fredonia to ensure that only permissible contacts occur during the
restricted period of a governmental procurement that involves an estimated
annualized expenditure in excess of $15,000 for commodities, services,
technology, public work, construction, revenue contracts as defined in State
Finance Law §§139-j(l)(i), the purchase,
sale or lease of real property, and/or the acquisition or granting of other
interest in real property.  Impermissible
contacts shall be reported in accordance with applicable State and Federal laws.
SUNY Fredonia shall
accomplish this through the following:

·    Designate a person or persons who
may be contacted by offerers relative to the procurement  and make this information known within
the solicitation documents

·    Provide a copy of this policy and
associated laws to all vendors interested in a covered solicitation

·    Require disclosure by Offerers about
any findings of non-responsibility made within the previous four years by any
Governmental Entity and if the finding of non-responsibility was due to (1)
engaging in impermissible contacts with a Governmental Entity or (2) the
intentional provision of false or incomplete information to a Governmental
Entity

·    Require from all Offerers a written
affirmation of understanding and agreement to comply with SUNY Fredonia’s
policies and procedures relating to permissible contacts

·    Require from the winning vendor a
certification of compliance to the completeness, truth and accuracy of all
information

·    Include in the covered procurement
documents a provision authorizing termination if the certification referenced
above is found to be intentionally false or intentionally incomplete

·    Review the New York State Office of
General Services published list of
non-responsible and debarred vendors for violations of SFL
§§139-j and 139-k and consider such information in its’
determination of responsibility of the proposed vendor

·    Collect, record, report (if
applicable) and maintain certain information pertaining to those who contact
SUNY Fredonia in an attempt to influence a covered procurement during the
restricted period

·    Notify the University Ethics
Officer of impermissible contacts who will then review and/or investigate any
such alleged violations of the law and determine whether the Offerer has
knowingly and willingly violated State Finance Law §139-j and 139-k

·    If such determination  is that a violation has occurred,
Offerer will be found non-responsible and required notifications will be made

III.  DEFINITIONS

For the purpose of this section, the following terms will have the following meanings unless specified otherwise.

a.       "Governmental entity" shall mean:  (1)any department, board, bureau, commission,  division, office, council, committee or officer of the state, whether permanent or temporary; (2) each house of  the  state legislature; (3)the unified court system; (4) any public authority, public benefit corporation or commission created by or existing pursuant to the public authorities law; (5)any public authority or  public benefit corporation, at least one of whose    members is appointed by the governor or who serves as a member by virtue of holding a civil office of the state; (6) a municipal agency, as that term is defined in paragraph (ii) of subdivision (s) of section one-c of the legislative law; or (7) a subsidiary or affiliate of such a public authority.

b.       "Article of procurement" shall mean a commodity, service, technology, public work, construction, revenue contract, the purchase, sale or lease of real property or an acquisition or granting of other interest in real property, that is the subject of a governmental procurement.

c.        "Contacts" shall mean any oral, written or electronic communication with a governmental entity under circumstances where a reasonable person would infer that the communication was intended to influence the governmental procurement.

d.       "Proposal" shall mean any bid, quotation, offer or response to a governmental entity's solicitation of submissions relating to a procurement.

e.       "Governmental procurement" shall mean: (i) the preparation or terms of the specifications, bid documents, request for proposals, or evaluation  criteria for a procurement contract, (ii) solicitation for a procurement contract, (iii) evaluation of a procurement  contract,  (iv) award, approval, denial or disapproval of a procurement contract, or (v) approval or denial of an assignment, amendment (other than amendments that are authorized and payable under the terms of the procurement contract as it was finally awarded or approved by the comptroller, as applicable), renewal or extension of a procurement  contract, or any other material change in the procurement contract resulting in a financial benefit to the offerer.

f.         "Restricted period" shall mean the period of time commencing with the earliest written notice, advertisement or solicitation of a request for proposal, invitation for bids, or solicitation of proposals, or any other method for soliciting a response from offerers intending to result in a procurement contract with a governmental entity and ending with the final contract award and approval by the governmental entity and, where applicable, the state comptroller.

g.       "Procurement contract" shall mean any contract or other agreement for an article of procurement involving an estimated annualized expenditure in excess of fifteen thousand dollars.  Grants, article eleven-B state  finance law contracts, intergovernmental agreements, railroad and utility  force accounts, utility relocation project agreements or orders and eminent domain transactions shall not be deemed procurement contracts.

h.       "Offerer" shall mean the individual or entity, or any employee, agent or consultant or person acting on behalf of such individual or entity, that contacts a governmental entity about a governmental procurement during the restricted period of such governmental           procurement.

i.          "Revenue contract" shall mean any written agreement between a governmental entity, as that term is defined in subparagraphs one, four, five, six or seven of paragraph a of this subdivision, and an  offerer whereby the governmental entity gives or grants a concession or a franchise.

j.         "Unified court system" shall, for the purposes of this section only, mean the unified court system of the state of New York, or the office  of court administration, where appropriate, other than town and village justice courts in jurisdictions with a  population under fifty thousand, when it acts solely in an administrative capacity to engage in governmental procurements and shall not include the unified              court system or any court of  the state judiciary when it acts to hear and decide cases of original or appellate jurisdiction or otherwise acts in its judicial, as opposed to administrative, capacity.

III.  PERMISSIBLE CONTACTS

In general, contacts must be made to the designated person or persons at SUNY Fredonia, but the following constitute exceptions to this requirement;

·    Submission of a bid, proposal or response for a procurement contract

·    Submission of written questions when written responses are to be provided to all offerers

·    Participation in a pre-bid conference

·    Complaints by an offerer to Office of General Counsel where the designated person for the procurement contract of SUNY Fredonia fails to respond in a timely manner

·    Negotiations with SUNY Fredonia after a tentative award

·    Debriefings about a procurement contract award

·    Filing of written disputes in administrative hearings, judicial proceedings and to the Attorney General, Inspector General, District Attorney, or State Comptroller

IV.   IMPERMISSIBLE CONTACTS

Impermissible contacts occur when the offerer contacts a person who is not the designated contact person for the applicable procurement in an attempt to influence the governmental procurement.  When an offerer contacts a person, other than the designated person(s), and engages in communication which a reasonable person would infer was intended to influence the governmental procurement, this contact is not permitted under the law and is required to be recorded by the person(s) contacted, reported, and made a part of the procurement record.  The obligations under the law are activated when an Offerer or anyone working on behalf of the Offerer has any oral, written, or electronic communication with SUNY Fredonia employees which a reasonable person would believe is intended to influence the procurement.  There does not have to be financial interest present for there to be an attempt to influence the procurement.

V.
RELATED INFORMATION

Additional information regarding applicability and requirements of State
Finance Law §§139-j and 139-k, may be found in the Office of
Facilities Planning located at 140 Hendrix Hall, SUNY Fredonia, Fredonia, NY, 14063
and also by clicking on the link for State Finance Law Sections 139-j and 139-k
at the Facilities Planning web site at:

·    www.fredonia.edu/admin/cfm

V.
AUTHORITY FOR POLICY

State Finance Law §§139-j
and 139-k