A. The Director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services shall establish and administer child care centers with funds available for that purpose.

B. The Director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services may approve a consortium, partnership, cooperative or agreement to provide child care centers with other public or private employers.

C. The child care centers shall be operated through a contract with child care providers. Specifications for a contract shall be developed with the assistance of, and subject to the approval of, the Director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. Any such contract shall be made through the Central Purchasing Division of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. The low bid will not be the single qualifier. Any child care provider shall be required to carry sufficient liability insurance coverage which will pay damages incurred as a result of the negligent acts or omissions of an employee of the child care provider within the scope of the employment of such person. Any child care provider shall meet or exceed applicable state child care facilities licensure standards.

D. Nothing in this section shall prevent the Director from utilizing paragraph 13 of Section 85.5 of this title and paragraph 3 of subsection A of Section 85.7 of this title to continue the operation of a child care center with emergency contracts when the service provider's contract is canceled or terminated before another qualified service provider is procured. The employees of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services shall not be employed to operate the centers.

E. Any parent utilizing the services of a child care center shall be responsible for the charges assessed by the child care provider for child care services.

Added by Laws 1990, c. 281, § 2, emerg. eff. May 29, 1990. Amended by Laws 1995, c. 309, § 8, eff. July 1, 1995; Laws 2001, c. 381, § 22, eff. July 1, 2001; Laws 2012, c. 304, § 1020.