School public bid limits

AN ACT Relating to school district public bid limits; and 1
reenacting and amending RCW 28A.335.190. 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
Sec. 1. RCW 28A.335.190 and 2023 c 395 s 17 and 2023 c 4 s 1 are 4
each reenacted and amended to read as follows: 5
(1) When, in the opinion of the board of directors of any school 6
district, the cost of any furniture, supplies, equipment, building, 7
improvements, or repairs, other construction work by a contractor who 8
meets the criteria in RCW 39.04.350, or other purchases, except 9
books, will equal or exceed the threshold levels specified in 10
subsections (2) and (4) of this section, complete plans and 11
specifications for such work or purchases shall be prepared and 12
notice by publication given in at least one newspaper of general 13
circulation within the district, once each week for two consecutive 14
weeks, of the intention to receive bids and that specifications and 15
other information may be examined at the office of the board or any 16
other officially designated location. The cost of any public work, 17
improvement, or repair for the purposes of this section shall be the 18
aggregate of all amounts to be paid for labor, material, and 19
equipment on one continuous or interrelated project where work is to 20
be performed simultaneously or in close sequence. The bids shall be 21
S-4121.1
SENATE BILL 6263
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Senators Muzzall, Wellman, Nobles, and Shewmake
Read first time 01/21/26. Referred to Committee on Early Learning &
K-12 Education.
p. 1 SB 6263
in writing and shall be opened and read in public on the date and in 1
the place named in the notice and after being opened shall be filed 2
for public inspection. 3
(2) Every purchase of furniture, equipment, or supplies, except 4
books, the cost of which is estimated to be in excess of (($40,000)) 5
$75,000, shall be on a competitive basis. The board of directors 6
shall establish a procedure for securing telephone and/or written 7
quotations for such purchases. Whenever the estimated cost is from 8
(($40,000 up to)) $75,000 up to $150,000, the procedure shall require 9
quotations from at least three different sources to be obtained in 10
writing or by telephone, and recorded for public perusal. Whenever 11
the estimated cost is in excess of (($75,000)) $150,000, the public 12
bidding process provided in subsection (1) of this section shall be 13
followed. 14
(3) Any school district may purchase goods produced or provided 15
in whole or in part from class II inmate work programs operated by 16
the department of corrections pursuant to RCW 72.09.100, including 17
but not limited to furniture, equipment, or supplies. School 18
districts are encouraged to set as a target to contract, beginning 19
after June 30, 2006, to purchase up to one percent of the total goods 20
required by the school districts each year, goods produced or 21
provided in whole or in part from class II inmate work programs 22
operated by the department of corrections. 23
(4) The board may make improvements or repairs to the property of 24
the district through a department within the district without 25
following the public bidding process provided in subsection (1) of 26
this section when the total of such improvements or repairs does not 27
exceed the sum of (($75,000)) $100,000. Whenever the estimated cost 28
of a building, improvement, repair, or other public works project is 29
((one hundred thousand dollars )) $100,000 or more, the public bidding 30
process provided in subsection (1) of this section shall be followed 31
unless the contract is let using the small works roster process in 32
RCW 39.04.151 through 39.04.154 or under any other procedure 33
authorized for school districts. One or more school districts may 34
authorize an educational service district to establish and operate a 35
small works roster for the school district under the provisions of 36
RCW 39.04.151 through 39.04.154. 37
(5) The contract for the work or purchase shall be awarded to the 38
lowest responsible bidder as described in RCW 39.26.160(2) but the 39
board may by resolution reject any and all bids and make further 40
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calls for bids in the same manner as the original call. On any work 1
or purchase the board shall provide bidding information to any 2
qualified bidder or the bidder's agent, requesting it in person.3
(6) In the event of any emergency when the public interest or 4
property of the district would suffer material injury or damage by 5
delay, upon resolution of the board declaring the existence of such 6
an emergency and reciting the facts constituting the same, the board 7
may waive the requirements of this section with reference to any 8
purchase or contract: PROVIDED, That an "emergency," for the purposes 9
of this section, means a condition likely to result in immediate 10
physical injury to persons or to property of the school district in 11
the absence of prompt remedial action. 12
(7) This section does not apply to the direct purchase of school 13
buses by school districts and educational services in accordance with 14
RCW 28A.160.195. 15
(8) This section does not apply to the purchase of Washington 16
grown food. 17
(9) At the discretion of the board, a school district may develop 18
and implement policies and procedures to facilitate and maximize to 19
the extent practicable, purchases of Washington grown food including, 20
but not limited to, policies that permit a percentage price 21
preference for the purpose of procuring Washington grown food.22
(10) As used in this section, "Washington grown" has the 23
definition in RCW 15.64.060. 24
(11) As used in this section, "price percentage preference" means 25
the percent by which a responsive bid from a responsible bidder whose 26
product is a Washington grown food may exceed the lowest responsive 27
bid submitted by a responsible bidder whose product is not a 28
Washington grown food. 29
(12) For purposes of this section, "construction work" does not 30
include the following services: (a) Construction management services; 31
(b) value engineering; (c) constructability review; (d) building 32
commissioning; and (e) other construction-related professional and 33
personal services. 34
(13) Beginning January 1, 2023, requests for proposals or 35
qualifications, advertisements, bids, or calls for bids pursuant to 36
this section for the services listed under subsection (12) of this 37
section((,)) must include the standard clauses required under RCW 38
39.19.050. 39
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(14) Beginning January 1, 2023, requests for proposals or 1
qualifications, advertisements, bids, or calls for bids pursuant to 2
this section for the services listed under subsection (12) of this 3
section((,)) are subject to the procurement requirements of chapter 4
39.10 or 39.80 RCW, as applicable to the method of project delivery.5
(15) Beginning January 1, 2023, school districts may use 6
interlocal agreements under chapter 39.34 RCW to procure the services 7
listed under subsection (12) of this section only if the agreements 8
are executed following a competitive, qualification-based procurement 9
process for these services pursuant to chapter 39.10 or 39.80 RCW.10
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