(a) The department shall exempt from its approval contracts under one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) that any state agency awards if the state agency does all of the following:

(1) Designates an agency officer as responsible and directly accountable for the agency’s contracting program.

(2) Establishes written policies and procedures and a management system that will ensure the state agency’s contracting activities comply with applicable provisions of law and regulations and that it has demonstrated the ability to carry out these policies and procedures and to implement the management system.

(3) Establishes a plan for ensuring that contracting personnel are adequately trained in contract administration and contract management.

(4) Conducts an audit every two years of the contracting program and reports to the department as it may require.

(5) Establishes procedures for reporting to the department and the Legislature on such contracts as the Legislature may require in the Budget Act.

(b) Any state agency may request the department to exempt from its approval classes or types of contracts under this section. When the department receives a request but refuses to grant the exemption, it shall state in writing the reasons for the refusal. It is the intent of the Legislature that the department shall actively implement the provisions of this section and shall exempt from its approval as wide a range of classes or types of contracts as is consistent with proper administrative controls and the best interests of the state.

(Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 28, Sec. 50. (SB 71) Effective June 27, 2013.)