As the fight against the coronavirus wages on, local government purchasing officers, clerks, department heads, and others who handle procurements are scouring every vendor and supplier they can think of to find everything from surgical masks and gloves to rental … Read more

During the final week of the recently adjourned 2017 legislative session, the General Assembly enacted S.L. 2017-193 (H161), “Divestment from Companies that Boycott Israel.” This legislation created a new Article 6G of Chapter 147 prohibiting the investment of state funds … Read more

In 2015, the General Assembly enacted the Iran Divestment Act (IDA) which prohibits state agencies and local governments from contracting with a company that the NC State Treasurer has determined invests more than $20 million dollars in the Iranian energy … Read more

Earlier today the General Assembly passed H142 (S.L. 2017-4), Reset of S.L. 2016 repealing HB2 (S.L. 2016-3), the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, which was enacted during a special session held in March 2016.  In repealing HB2, H142 enacts … Read more

UPDATE March 2017:  See this post for a discussion of the impact of HB2’s repeal on city and county contracting authority. UPDATED April 2016:  See Trey Allen’s blog post update for information on a recent 4th Circuit ruling that has … Read more

  In the waning days of the 2015 legislative session, the General Assembly enacted legislation that once again changes the E-Verify contracting prohibition for state and local government contracts. In some respects HB318 (Protect North Carolina Workers Act) limits the … Read more

Since 1995, local governments have had express statutory authorization to prequalify bidders for public construction contracts under G.S. 143-135.8. If you look to this statute for guidance on the criteria or process to be used for prequalifying bidders, you will … Read more

Warm weather is finally here and it’s time for some spring cleaning.  There’s your worn out office chair, that dented file cabinet whose drawers are stuck shut, those obsolete computers, and goodness-knows-what that is gathering dust in the public works … Read more

My last post discussed the new design-build construction method authorized by the General Assembly during the 2013 Session.  S.L. 2013-401/H857 created not only a design-build construction contracting process, but also a construction contracting process called design-build bridging.  Enacted as G.S. … Read more

Those familiar with local government construction contracting know the drill – put out an RFQ to hire an architect or engineer to design the project and then bid the construction work. But what if a local government wants to hire … Read more