S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9179
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 12, 2022
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. REICHLIN-MELNICK -- read twice and ordered printed,
   and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
 
 AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to the electron-
   ic submission and public posting of bids for New  York  state  thruway
   authority construction, reconstruction and improvement contracts

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 359 of the public authorities law,
 as amended by section 1 of part F of chapter 58 of the laws of 2022,  is
 amended to read as follows:
   1.  On assuming jurisdiction of a thruway section or connection or any
 part thereof, or of a highway connection, the  authority  shall  proceed
 with  the  construction, reconstruction or improvement thereof. All such
 work shall be done pursuant to a contract or contracts  which  shall  be
 let  to  the  lowest  responsible  bidder,  by sealed proposals publicly
 opened, OR BY ELECTRONICALLY SECURE PROPOSAL SUBMISSION AS PERMITTED  BY
 THE  AUTHORITY  AND  ELECTRONICALLY POSTED FOR PUBLIC VIEW, after public
 advertisement and upon such terms and conditions as the authority  shall
 require;  provided,  however,  that the authority may reject any and all
 proposals and may advertise for new proposals, as herein provided, if in
 its opinion, the  best  interests  of  the  authority  will  thereby  be
 promoted; provided further, however, that at the request of the authori-
 ty,  all  or  any  portion  of  such work, together with any engineering
 required by the authority in connection therewith, shall be performed by
 the commissioner and his subordinates in the department  of  transporta-
 tion  as  agents  for,  and  at  the expense of, the authority. A sealed
 proposal may be accepted through an electronic platform  established  or
 used  by the authority, provided that any sealed proposal received elec-
 tronically shall be made public at the same time as any competing  paper
 proposal,  and  provided  further  that the authority shall, at minimum,
 provide the same opportunity and time for  submitting  sealed  proposals
 physically  as  for sealed proposals submitted electronically, and shall
 provide the opportunity for bidders to  submit  sealed  proposals  phys-
 ically  any time that it provides the opportunity to submit sealed elec-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD14871-03-2
 S. 9179                             2
 
 tronic proposals. In addition, the authority shall establish  a  process
 for  accommodating force majeure events that prevent the submission of a
 sealed electronic proposal, including but not limited  to  internet  and
 power  outage  events,  and  for automatically confirming receipt of any
 sealed electronic proposal received. All bidders shall  be  notified  of
 the time and place of any such adjournment or rejection.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.