PRINTER'S NO. 895
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
759
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY M. K. KELLER, PICKETT, GROVE, KAUFFMAN, LAWRENCE,
MENTZER, MILLARD, MOUL AND SCHEMEL, MARCH 9, 2015
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON URBAN AFFAIRS, MARCH 9, 2015
AN ACT
Amending the act of May 1, 1913 (P.L.155, No.104), entitled "An
act regulating the letting of certain contracts for the
erection, construction, and alteration of public buildings,"
increasing the minimum bid requirement; and providing for
evasion of requirements.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 1 of the act of May 1, 1913 (P.L.155,
No.104), referred to as the Separations Act, amended December
22, 1981 (P.L.546, No.159), is amended to read:
Section 1. (a) Be it enacted, &c., That hereafter in the
preparation of specifications for the erection, construction,
and alteration of any public building, when the entire cost of
such work shall exceed [four thousand dollars] o ne hundred
thousand dollars subject to annual adjustment under subsection
(b), it shall be the duty of the architect, engineer, or other
person preparing such specifications, to prepare separate
specifications for the plumbing, heating, ventilating, and
electrical work; and it shall be the duty of the person or
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persons authorized to enter into contracts for the erection,
construction, or alteration of such public buildings to receive
separate bids upon each of the said branches of work, and to
award the contract for the same to the lowest responsible bidder
for each of said branches.
Every contract for the construction, reconstruction,
alteration, repair, improvement or maintenance of public works
shall comply with the provisions of the act of March 3, 1978
(P.L.6, No.3), known as the "Steel Products Procurement Act."
(b) The Department of Labor and Industry shall adjust the
amount at which competitive bidding is required in subsection
(a) on March 1 of each year to conform with increases or
decreases in the Consumer Price Index as published by the United
States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics for the
previous calendar year for Urban Wage Earners in the combined
area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 1.1. No person shall evade the provisions of section
1 by purchasing or contracting for services and personal
properties piecemeal to obtain prices under the required
advertising price, subject to annual adjustment under section
1(b). This provision is intended to make unlawful the making of
a series of purchases or contracts each for less than the price
to which section 1 applies, or by making several simultaneous
purchases or contracts, each below said price, when in either
case, the transactions involved should have been made as one
transaction for one price. Any persons who violate this
provision, and who know that the transaction in question is or
ought to be a part of a larger transaction, and that it is being
divided in order to evade the requirements of section 1, shall
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be jointly and severally subject to surcharge for ten per centum
of the full amount of the contract or purchase.
Section 3. This act shall apply to contracts and purchases
advertised on or after the effective date of this section.
Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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