Florida Senate - 2009 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS for CS for SB 770
Barcode 337018
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
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Floor: 1/AD/3R .
04/24/2009 10:50 AM .
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Senator Fasano moved the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
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5 Delete lines 67 - 88
6 and insert:
7 (a) The guidelines for the request for proposal must be
8 developed by the department in consultation with the area agency
9 agencies on aging and. Such guidelines must include requirements
10 for the assurance of quality and cost-efficiency of services,
11 minimum personnel standards, and employee benefits. The
12 department shall adopt a rule creating a dispute resolution
13 mechanism. The rule, which shall be adopted no later than August
14 1, 2009, and which all area agencies on aging shall be required
15 to follow, shall create standards for a bid protest and a
16 procedure for resolution. The dispute resolution mechanism
17 established in the rule shall include a provision for a
18 qualified, impartial decisionmaker who shall conduct a hearing
19 to determine whether the area agency’s proposed action is
20 contrary to the area agency’s governing statutes or rules or to
21 the solicitation specifications. The standard of proof for the
22 protestor shall be whether the area agency’s action was clearly
23 erroneous, contrary to competition, arbitrary, or capricious.
24 The dispute resolution mechanism shall also provide a mechanism
25 for review of the decisionmaker’s determination by a qualified
26 and impartial reviewer, if review is requested. The standards
27 for the bid protest shall include:
28 1. A provision requiring notice of an area agency’s
29 proposed contract award and a clear point of entry for any
30 substantially affected entity to challenge the proposed award.
31 2. A provision for an automatic stay of the contract award
32 process upon the filing of a bid protest that shall not be
33 lifted until the protest is resolved.
34 3. Provisions permitting all substantially affected
35 entities to have an opportunity to participate in the hearing,
36 to conduct discovery, to obtain subpoenas compelling the
37 appearance of witnesses, to present evidence and argument on all
38 issues involved, to conduct cross-examination, to submit
39 rebuttal evidence, and to submit proposed findings of fact and
40 conclusions of law.
41 4. Provisions for expeditious resolution of the bid
42 protest, including a requirement that once the area agency on
43 aging refers a bid protest petition to the decisionmaker, a
44 hearing shall be conducted within 30 days, unless that timeframe
45 is waived by all parties.
46 (b) For any lead agency designation conducted prior to the
47 effective date of this subsection that is the subject matter of
48 litigation on the date on which this subsection becomes law, the
49 litigants shall be entitled to proceed with discovery under the
50 Florida Rules of Civil Procedure immediately upon the date on
51 which this subsection becomes law, and the litigants shall
52 further be entitled to participate in the bid protest procedures
53 enacted by rule pursuant to this subsection. The area agency on
54 aging, in consultation with the department, shall exempt from
55 the competitive bid process any contract with a provider who
56 meets or exceeds established minimum standards, as determined by
57 the department.
58 (c) In each community care service system the lead agency
59 must be given the authority and responsibility to coordinate
60 some or all of the services, either directly or through
61 subcontracts, for functionally impaired elderly persons. These
62 services must include case management, homemaker and chore
63 services, respite care, adult day care, personal care services,
64 home-delivered meals, counseling, information and referral, and
65 emergency home repair services. The lead agency must compile
66 community care statistics and monitor, when applicable,
67 subcontracts with agencies providing core services.
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69 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
70 And the title is amended as follows:
71 Delete lines 8 - 14
72 and insert:
73 period of designation as a lead agency; revising
74 requirements with respect to the request for proposal
75 process for the designation of a lead agency for
76 community care for the elderly; requiring the
77 Department of Elderly Affairs to create a dispute
78 resolution mechanism by rule; providing requirements
79 with respect to the dispute resolution mechanism;
80 specifying required standards for a bid protest;
81 providing for specified entitlement of litigants when
82 certain lead agency designations are the subject
83 matter of litigation; eliminating provisions that
84 require an area agency on aging to exempt specified
85 providers from the competitive bid process; amending
86 s. 430.2053, F.S.; conforming