Public contracts: procurement: small business, microbusiness, and disabled veteran business enterprises.

The Small Business Procurement and Contract Act requires the directors of the Department of General Services and other state agencies entering into contracts for the provision of goods, information technology, and services to the state, and in the construction of state facilities, to provide for a preference, as specified, for any bid to small businesses and microbusinesses, under specified circumstances. The act permits a state agency to award a contract of a specified limited amount for the acquisition of goods, services, or information technology, to a certified small business, including a microbusiness, or to a disabled veteran business enterprise if the agency receives certain other price quotations, as specified. This bill, until January 1, 2017, would generally prohibit the Director of General Services and the directors of other state departments or offices that enter into contracts from engaging in the bundling of contracts, as defined, which has the effect of restricting or excluding small business, microbusiness, or disabled veteran business enterprise, from the state contracting process. The bill would permit the bundling of contracts by the Director of General Services during a state of emergency as declared by the Governor or if the director makes specified determinations about the bundled contract and submits them to the California Small Business Advocate, who would be required to determine whether or not a bundled contract is appropriate for that particular transaction and whose determination would be final and binding on the director. The bill would permit the advocate to make other recommendations to the director regarding any terms or conditions that might be incorporated in the bundled contract to reduce its potential negative impact on small business.