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Committee reports bill allowing Turnpike Commission limited use of design‑build 'best value' procurement
Summary
The House Transportation committee reported Senate Bill 1377, which would let the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission use design‑build best‑value procurement under specified conditions, limit the number of procurements per year, and restrict stipend use; the measure was reported as committed with no negative votes.
The House Transportation committee voted to report Senate Bill 1377 as committed after hearing a staff description and brief discussion. Kyle, the staff presenter, said the bill ‘‘creates a new chapter in the vehicle code to authorize the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to use design build best value procurement.’’
The bill would restrict the Turnpike Commission to using design‑build best‑value only when a project would benefit from project complexity, potential for innovation, specialized equipment or systems, project risk, schedule needs or estimated project value. It would permit up to 10 one‑step procurements and up to 10 two‑step procurements per calendar year, require an evaluation committee to score proposals, allow alternative technical concepts submitted by offerors, and permit stipends only for two‑step procurements. The separations act, prevailing wage act and certain procurement‑code provisions would apply to the new chapter, and the authority could not be exercised until four years after the chapter’s effective date, according to Kyle.
The chair said he had ‘‘disagreements with the proposal as it sits today’’ but would support it and asked members for an affirmative vote. A committee member echoed support, telling the chair, ‘‘we wanna do what's best for our construction, best for our taxpayers,’’ and encouraged the senate to consider complementary language. Representative Schurrin asked whether language previously deemed too broad had been fixed; the chair replied stakeholders had worked overnight to resolve concerns and said the Associated Builders and Contractors had given verbal support.
The committee conducted a voice vote; the chair asked, ‘‘Are there any negative votes?’’ and, after none were raised, announced that SB 1377 would be reported as committed. Kyle also noted on the record that the bill passed the senate 49–0 and that it is similar to an earlier House bill that passed 191–12 but differs by excluding PennDOT and by other limits.
Next steps: the bill was reported as committed by the committee and will proceed in the legislative process. The chair said he hopes for continued discussions with the senate about whether PennDOT should be allowed to use the same procurement tool in the future.
