A BILL to amend and reenact § 2.2-4304 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Virginia Public Procurement Act; cooperative procurement; re-roofing.
HB1044 amends Virginia’s Public Procurement Act provisions on joint and cooperative procurement. The bill expands and clarifies when public bodies may buy from another public body’s cooperative contract, including contracts administered by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the Virginia Sheriffs’ Association, and it preserves existing exceptions for architectural and engineering services and most construction. It also specifically adds an exception allowing cooperative procurement for re-roofing projects that do not involve structural modification, alongside existing carve-outs for artificial turf and track surfaces, stream restoration, stormwater management practices, and playground equipment.
The bill also addresses state and local purchasing of goods and services through federal and other governmental contracts. It authorizes state agencies and institutions, with the required approvals, to purchase certain goods, nonprofessional services, and information technology/telecommunications items from U.S. General Services Administration contracts or other federal agency contracts, and it permits counties, cities, towns, and school boards to do the same for goods and nonprofessional services. It further directs the Department of General Services and the Virginia Information Technologies Agency to review and revise procurement procedures to encourage use of federal contracts where appropriate.
HB1044 would amend § 2.2-4304 of the Code of Virginia to broaden cooperative procurement options for public bodies and to expressly permit re-roofing projects that do not alter structure to be procured through cooperative contracts. It would also reinforce and expand access to federal and intergovernmental contract vehicles for state and local entities, while keeping approval requirements in place for certain state purchases and preserving competitive procurement expectations for covered acquisitions. The practical effect is to give public bodies more flexibility to use existing contracts for faster or potentially lower-cost purchasing, especially for routine construction-related work and technology purchases.
The bill appears generally favorable to procurement efficiency and administrative savings, with its structure focused on expanding purchasing flexibility rather than imposing new restrictions. The absence of recorded votes or committee transcripts limits the available evidence of debate, but the bill’s language suggests a policy preference for streamlining public purchasing and reducing transaction costs. The inclusion of specific carve-outs for re-roofing and other project types indicates an effort to respond to prior procurement limitations and make cooperative procurement more usable for public entities.
The main points of potential contention are the scope of construction-related exceptions and the degree to which cooperative procurement should be allowed to bypass ordinary competitive procedures. The bill preserves the general prohibition on construction purchases through another public body’s contract, but creates targeted exceptions, including re-roofing without structural modification, which may raise concerns about how broadly such exceptions could be applied. Another possible issue is the balance between procurement flexibility and oversight, particularly for information technology and telecommunications purchases that require approval from the Chief Information Officer or the Director of the Division of Purchases and Supply.