Section 139-K. Disclosure of contacts and responsibility of offerers

1.
  For purposes  of  this  section,  the  following  terms  will  have  the
  following meanings unless specified otherwise.
    a.  "Governmental  entity"  shall  mean:  (1)  any  department, board,
  bureau, commission, division, office, council, committee or  officer  of
  the  state,  whether permanent or temporary; (2) each house of the state
  legislature; (3) the unified court system;  (4)  any  public  authority,
  public benefit corporation or commission created by or existing pursuant
  to  the public authorities law; (5) a public authority or public benefit
  corporation, at least one of whose members is appointed by the  governor
  or  who  serves  as  a member by virtue of holding a civil office of the
  state; (6) municipal agency, as that term is defined in  paragraph  (ii)
  of  subdivision  (s)  of  section one-c of the legislative law; or (7) a
  subsidiary or affiliate of such a public authority.
    b.  "Article  of  procurement"  shall  mean  a   commodity,   service,
  technology,  public  work, construction, revenue contract, the purchase,
  sale or lease of real property or an acquisition or  granting  of  other
  interest  in  real  property,  that  is  the  subject  of a governmental
  procurement.
    c. "Contacts" shall mean any oral, written or electronic communication
  with a governmental entity under circumstances where a reasonable person
  would infer  that  the  communication  was  intended  to  influence  the
  governmental procurement.
    d.  "Proposal"  shall  mean any bid, quotation, offer or response to a
  governmental  entity's  solicitation  of  submissions  relating   to   a
  procurement.
    e. "Governmental procurement" shall mean: (i) the preparation or terms
  of   the  specifications,  bid  documents,  request  for  proposals,  or
  evaluation criteria for a procurement contract, (ii) solicitation for  a
  procurement  contract,  (iii) evaluation of a procurement contract, (iv)
  award, approval, denial or disapproval of a procurement contract, or (v)
  approval or denial of an assignment, amendment  (other  than  amendments
  that  are  authorized  and  payable  under  the terms of the procurement
  contract as it was finally awarded or approved by  the  comptroller,  as
  applicable),  renewal  or  extension  of  a procurement contract, or any
  other material  change  in  the  procurement  contract  resulting  in  a
  financial benefit to the offerer.
    f.  "Restricted  period" shall mean the period of time commencing with
  the earliest written notice, advertisement or solicitation of a  request
  for  proposal, invitation for bids, or solicitation of proposals, or any
  other method for soliciting a response from offerers intending to result
  in a procurement contract with a  governmental  entity  with  the  final
  contract  award  and  approval  by  the  governmental  entity and, where
  applicable, the state comptroller.
    g. "Procurement contract" shall mean any contract or  other  agreement
  for   an  article  of  procurement  involving  an  estimated  annualized
  expenditure in excess  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  Grants,  article
  eleven-B   state   finance  law  contracts,  program  contracts  between
  not-for-profit organizations, as defined in  article  eleven-B  of  this
  chapter,  and  the  unified  court system, intergovernmental agreements,
  railroad  and  utility  force  accounts,  utility   relocation   project
  agreements or orders and eminent domain transactions shall not be deemed
  procurement contracts.
    h.  "Offerer"  shall  mean  the individual or entity, or any employee,
  agent or consultant or person acting on behalf  of  such  individual  or
  entity,  that  contacts  a  governmental  entity  about  a  governmental
  procurement  during  the  restricted   period   of   such   governmental
  procurement.

    i.  "Revenue  contract"  shall  mean  any  written agreement between a
  governmental entity, as that term is defined in subparagraphs one, four,
  five, six or seven of paragraph a of this subdivision,  and  an  offerer
  whereby  the  governmental  entity  gives  or  grants  a concession or a
  franchise.
    j.  "Unified  court  system"  shall,  for the purposes of this section
  only, mean the unified court system of the state of  New  York,  or  the
  office  of  court administration, where appropriate, other than town and
  village justice courts in jurisdictions with a  population  under  fifty
  thousand, when it acts solely in an administrative capacity to engage in
  governmental procurements and shall not include the unified court system
  or  any  court  of  the  state judiciary when it acts to hear and decide
  cases of original or appellate jurisdiction or  otherwise  acts  in  its
  judicial, as opposed to administrative, capacity.
    2.   Each  governmental  entity  shall  ensure  that  solicitation  of
  proposals or bid documents or specifications, or contract documents,  as
  applicable, for procurement contracts shall require offerers to disclose
  findings  of  non-responsibility  made within the previous four years by
  any governmental entity where such prior finding  of  non-responsibility
  was due to: (a) a violation of section one hundred thirty-nine-j of this
  article,  or  (b)  the  intentional  provision  of  false  or incomplete
  information to a governmental entity.
    3. The failure of an offerer to timely disclose accurate  or  complete
  information to a governmental entity pursuant to subdivision two of this
  section   shall  be  considered  by  such  governmental  entity  in  its
  determination of the responsibility  of  such  offerer.  No  procurement
  contract shall be awarded to any such offerer, its subsidiaries, and any
  related   or  successor  entity  with  substantially  similar  function,
  management, board of directors, officers and shareholders  (hereinafter,
  for   the   purposes   of   this  subdivision,  "offerer"),  unless  the
  governmental entity finds that the award of the procurement contract  to
  the  offerer is necessary to protect public property or public health or
  safety, and that the offerer is the only source capable of supplying the
  required  article  of  procurement  within  the   necessary   timeframe,
  provided,  that the governmental entity shall include in the procurement
  record a statement describing the basis for such a finding.
    4. Upon any contact in the restricted period, the governmental  entity
  shall  obtain  the  name,  address, telephone number, place of principal
  employment and occupation of  the  person  or  organization  making  the
  contact and inquire and record whether the person or organization making
  such  contact was the offerer or was retained, employed or designated by
  or on behalf of the offerer to appear before or contact the governmental
  entity about the governmental procurement. All recorded  contacts  shall
  be included in the procurement record for the procurement contract.
    5.  Any  procurement  contract award subject to the provisions of this
  section and section one hundred  thirty-nine-j  of  this  article  shall
  contain  a certification by the offerer that all information provided to
  the procuring governmental  entity  with  respect  to  this  section  is
  complete,  true  and  accurate, and each such procurement contract shall
  contain a provision authorizing the  governmental  entity  to  terminate
  such  contract in the event such certification is found be intentionally
  false or intentionally incomplete. The governmental entity shall include
  in the procurement record a  statement  describing  the  basis  for  any
  action taken pursuant to such termination provision.
    6.  Any  communications received by a governmental entity from members
  of the state legislature, or legislative staffs, when  acting  in  their
  official  capacity, shall not be considered to be a "contact" within the

  meaning of this section and shall not  be  recorded  by  a  governmental
  entity pursuant to this section.
    * NB Repealed March 10, 2010