Alabama § 41-16-52.1 - Awarding Authorities Exempted from Competitive Bidding Requirements for Repairs of Vehicles Under Certain Circumstances.

§ 41-16-52.1. Awarding Authorities Exempted from Competitive Bidding Requirements for Repairs of Vehicles Under Certain Circumstances.

(a) For purposes of this section, the term “awarding authority” means any county commission, governing body of a municipality, or an instrumentality of a county or municipality, including a waterworks board, a sewer board, a gas board, or other like utility boards and commissions.

(b) All expenditures of funds, made by or on the behalf of any awarding authority, for repair parts and the repair of vehicles shall be made at the option of the awarding authority without regard to this article when the following conditions are met:

(1) The vehicle has a gross vehicle weight rating of 12,000 pounds or less.

(2) The incident of repair does not involve more than fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000).

(3) The awarding authority solicits and documents price estimates from at least two different vendors prior to awarding the contract.

(c) The exemption provided under this section shall apply to each vehicle repaired, and the exempted expenditure shall not be aggregated with the expenditures of any other incidents of repair.

(d)(1) The option provided by subsection (b) may be exercised by the awarding authority by specific reference to this section on any purchase orders and purchase commitments executed by the awarding authority.

(2) The option shall not be exercised by any employee, agent, or servant unless done so after having received official prior approval of the respective awarding authority or unless exercised pursuant to a formal policy adopted by the awarding authority setting out conditions and restrictions under which the option shall be exercised.