There are three instances where boards of education must competitively bid:
- Boards of education must solicit bids to “build, repair, enlarge, improve or demolish any school building” if the cost of the work is over $25,000.
- Boards of education must competitively bid any contracts for the purchase of school buses.
- Boards of education must competitively bid when purchasing food and supplies, including management company services, if the cost is over $150,000.
The legal division often gets questions about whether the competitive bidding threshold associated with building, repairing, enlarging, improving or demolishing any school building has increased, and we can finally answer that question with a resounding yes. Senate Bill (SB) 3 revises the $25,000 threshold for such situations, and as a result, beginning mid-March 2017 the threshold will increase to $50,000.
For more information on competitive bidding requirements, OSBA’s competitive bidding fact sheet is available on the “Resources by Topic” page on OSBA’s website. You may note that the threshold amount has not yet been revised. The fact sheet will be updated when SB 3 and the threshold increase become effective mid-March 2017.