AN ACT authorizing the city of winston‑salem to receive bids electronically in addition to or instead of paper bids when letting contracts on informal bids.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 143‑131(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	All contracts for construction or repair work or for the purchase of apparatus, supplies, materials, or equipment, involving the expenditure of public money in the amount of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) or more, but less than the limits prescribed in G.S. 143‑129, made by any officer, department, board, local school administrative unit, or commission of any county, city, town, or other subdivision of this State shall be made after informal bids have been secured. All such contracts shall be awarded to the lowest responsible, responsive bidder, taking into consideration quality, performance, and the time specified in the bids for the performance of the contract. It shall be the duty of any officer, department, board, local school administrative unit, or commission entering into such contract to keep a record of all bids submitted, and such record shall not be subject to public inspection until the contract has been awarded. Under the provisions of this subsection, a county, city, town, or other subdivision of this State may receive bids electronically in addition to or instead of paper bids. Procedures for receipt of electronic bids for contracts that are subject to the requirements of this section shall be designed to ensure the security, authenticity, and confidentiality of the bids to at least the same extent as is provided for with sealed paper bids."
SECTION 2.  This act applies to the City of Winston‑Salem only.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 19th day of May, 2011.

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		 Walter H. Dalton
	 President of the Senate

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		 Thom Tillis
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives