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107 Op. Md. Att'y Gen. 3 (2022)

handle is hein.sag/sagmd0111 and id is 1 raw text is: COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES PROCUREMENT - STATE PERSONNEL - SERVICE CONTRACTS - PREFERENCE FOR STATE EMPLOYEES - MEANING OF A PROVISION REQUIRING CERTAIN UNIVERSITIES TO HAVE POLICIES THAT PROMOTE THE PURPOSES OF § 13-402 OF THE STATE PERSONNEL & PENSIONS ARTICLE AND THAT ARE, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PRACTICABLE, SIMILAR TO § 13-218.1 OF THE STATE FINANCE & PROCUREMENT ARTICLE January 11, 2022 The Honorable Maggie McIntosh Maryland House of Delegates You have requested our opinion on two questions related to Senate Bill 342 of 2016 (S.B. 342). See 2016 Md. Laws, ch. 65, codified at Md. Code Ann., State Fin. & Proc. (SFP) § 11- 203(e)(4). That legislation imposed two requirements on the University System of Maryland (USM), Morgan State University (Morgan State), and St. Mary's College of Maryland (St. Mary's College) (collectively, the Universities). First, it required the Universities to have certain policies that promote the purposes of § 13-402 of the State Personnel and Pensions Article (SPP), a provision which establishes a preference for using State employees, rather than private contractors, to perform certain services in State-operated facilities. Second, it required that the Universities' policies must, to the maximum extent practicable, be similar to § 13-218.1 of the State Finance and Procurement Article, which establishes a notice-and-conferral requirement before the issuance of a solicitation for certain service contracts. In light of those requirements, you asked about what obligations S.B. 342 places on the Universities with respect to their procurement policies. You also asked whether, and to what extent, the Universities' current policies comply with S.B. 342's requirements. As to your first question, there are both procedural and substantive requirements that the Universities must meet. Procedurally, S.B. 342 requires the Universities to amend their procurement policies-not implement the necessary changes through some other means-and have those amendments approved by the Board of Public Works (BPW). See SFP § 11-203(e)(3). Substantively, the Universities' amended policies must promote the purposes of SPP § 13-402 by implementing a process for evaluating service contracts that is sufficiently 3