AGO 89-4.

• Case Date: November 30, 1989
• Court: Colorado

Colorado Attorney General Opinions 1989. AGO 89-4. November 30, 1989Department of Law Attorney General Opinion FORMAL OPINION of DUANE WOODARD Attorney General Opinion No. 89-4 AG Alpha No. AD AC AGARI Clifford Hall State Controller 1525 Sherman Street Denver, Colorado 80203 Fiscal Year 1989-90 capital construction contracts for professional servicesDear Mr. Hall: This opinion letter is written in response to your November 13, 1989 inquiry about time limits for signing fiscal year 1989-90 capital construction contracts for professional services. QUESTION PRESENTED AND CONCLUSION Is Section 24-30-1404(7), C.R.S. (1989 Supp.) applicable to capital construction projects funded in the 1989-90 appropriations bill. Yes. ANALYSIS The purpose of Sections 24-30-1404 to 1408, C.R.S. (1988) "is to provide managerial control by the state over competitive negotiations for the acquisition of professional services provided by architects, engineers, landscape architects and land surveyors." Section 24-30-1401, C.R.S. (1988). The agency can negotiate with the highest qualified person who can provide services for a particular project. Section 24-30-1404(1), C.R.S. (1988). In 1989, the legislature enacted Section 24-30-1404(7). Subsection (7) provides that at the time of its budget request, each agency must decide whether it can complete negotiations and execute a contract within 6 months after the appropriation for a capital construction project becomes law. If it concludes that the process will take longer than the allotted time, it must formally request a waiver in its proposed budget. If the Legislature grants the waiver, then the agency must complete the contracting process within the time frames allotted by the Legislature. If the Legislature rejects the request, the process must be completed within 6 months after the appropriations become law. Section 24-30-1404(7), C.R.S. (1989 Supp.). You correctly note that it would have been impossible for agencies to request waivers in their 1989-90 budget requests because subsection (7) did not become law until April 27, 1989, 1 day after the appropriations bill became law. The question, then, is whether the inability to request a waiver makes the 6 month deadline inapplicable to capital construction contracts for fiscal year 1989-90. I conclude that it does not. When determining the...