Extends provisions of law relating to providing local governments greater contract flexibility and cost savings by permitting certain shared purchasing among…

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Jeremy Zellner says this is needed

This bill would extend the authority, until June 30, 2027, of New York State municipalities, school districts, and other local governmental entities to purchase from federal and other states' contracts for goods or services that were competitively bid, as provided in General Munici- pal Law § 103(16). Cooperative purchasing, also commonly referred to as "piggy-backing," is a procurement method whereby if a government agency has already awarded a contract to one or more vendors for a good or service through a competitive process consistent with the procurement standards in New York State statute, the contract can be utilized by other government agencies on the same terms and conditions. Piggybacking has been proven to reduce the administrative costs and burdens by localities and the costs related to goods and services; resulting in savings to the govern- mental entities which utilize cooperative purchasing. Accordingly, since cooperative purchasing was authorized in 2013, thousands of Political subdivisions throughout New York State have used piggyback contracts for thousands of purchases and have used the resulting savings to reduce the cost-pressures on their budgets and taxpayers. If this bill is not approved, the authority to realize these savings and efficiencies will expire on June 30, 2026. Extending this statute, a year before its sunset date will allow local governments to continue to use cooperative purchasing and avoid the need to contingently prepare a request for proposal for goods or services in the event the statute is not extended beyond i.ts expiration date.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.