Colorado § 24-103-1104 - State procurement equity program - established - goal - preliminary implementation maximization of contracting opportunities - expansion of historically underutilized business registry - real-time solicitation assistance help desk - bond assistance program - cash fund - report - repeal.

§ 24-103-1104. State procurement equity program - established - goal - preliminary implementation maximization of contracting opportunities - expansion of historically underutilized business registry - real-time solicitation assistance help desk - bond assistance program - cash fund - report - repeal.

(1) (a) The state procurement equity program is established in the department. The department, in accordance with its existing state procurement related duties of promulgating state contracting fiscal rules and providing procurement related guidance and management, including contract forms and the contract management system, to most state executive branch agencies, shall act to ensure the expeditious development and full implementation of the program as required by this part 11. The department shall act in consultation with, to the extent required by this part 11 or as otherwise deemed necessary or advisable by the department, the office, the procurement technical assistance center, the small business development center, the minority business office, the department of transportation, and other persons or entities that have expertise or interest in procurement generally or in state procurement equity.

(b) The goal of the program is to reduce disparities identified in the state disparity study report between the availability of historically underutilized businesses and the utilization of such businesses in state procurement.

(2) As implementation of the program, the department shall:

(a) Provide, at all times during regular state business hours, solicitation assistance through a help desk. The department shall track usage of solicitation assistance and, to the extent feasible, follow up with recipients of solicitation assistance to determine and track the extent to which they have succeeded in being awarded state contracts. The department shall also continuously monitor usage of the solicitation assistance help desk to determine whether the amount of human and financial resources dedicated to the provision of solicitation assistance is optimal to meet demand while stewarding state resources.

(b) (I) Create a bond assistance program to help historically underutilized businesses that are small businesses to offset all or a portion of the cost of obtaining a surety bond that is required for a solicitation for a state procurement opportunity.

(II) The bond assistance program cash fund is hereby created in the state treasury. The fund consists of general fund money transferred to the fund as required by subsection (2)(b)(III) of this section and any other money that the general assembly may appropriate or transfer to the fund. The state treasurer shall credit all interest and income derived from the deposit and investment of money in the fund to the fund. Money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the department for the implementation of the bond assistance program.

(III) (A) On July 1, 2022, the state treasurer shall transfer two million dollars from the general fund to the bond assistance program cash fund.

(B) On June 30, 2026, the state treasurer shall transfer the unexpended and unencumbered balance of the bond assistance program cash fund to the general fund.

(IV) The department must use any encumbered balance that remains in the bond assistance cash fund after the transfer under subsection (2)(b)(III)(B) of this section only to fulfill the obligations encumbering the balance of the fund.

(V) This subsection (2)(b) is repealed, effective December 1, 2027.

(c) Carefully consider all of the recommendations in the state disparity study report that are not required to be implemented pursuant to subsections (2)(a) to (2)(c) of this section to determine whether, using only existing resources, it can implement or make meaningful progress towards implementing any of the recommendations. If the department determines that it can implement or make meaningful progress towards implementing any such recommendation using only existing resources, it shall do so.

(3) The department shall report to the general assembly regarding its preliminary implementation of the program during the department's January 2025 departmental presentation to legislative committees of reference required by section 2-7-203 (2)(a).

Source: L. 2022: Entire part added, (SB 22-163), ch. 433, p. 3051, § 1, effective June 8. L. 2026: (2)(b)(III) amended and (2)(b)(IV) and (2)(b)(V) added, (HB 26-1388), ch. 284, p. 1570, § 1, effective June 1.