(a) Any consultant who desires to provide consulting services to the department in any calendar year shall be required to submit, not later than the fifteenth day of November immediately preceding such calendar year, information concerning their qualifications as may be required by the department. Such consultants shall provide the department with additional or updated information upon request by the department. The commissioner shall by January first, annually, analyze the information submitted and determine those consultants qualified to perform services in areas of expertise established by the department. The commissioner shall publish annually, in accordance with the provisions of section 13b-20g, at any time between September first to October first, a notice that any person, firm or corporation which desires to be listed with the department as a consultant shall submit such information as required pursuant to this subsection to the department. Such notice shall also list the areas of expertise likely to be needed by the department during the next calendar year.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, any consultant, who has not submitted his qualifications to the department, pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, shall not be eligible to perform consultant services for the department. Any prequalified consultant, who has submitted his qualifications to the department, pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, who desires to provide consultant services to the department in response to a notice published in accordance with the provisions of section 13b-20g shall submit only a letter of interest to that effect.

(c) If the prequalified list contains less than five consulting firms or does not include a consultant with a particular expertise required by the department, any consultant may submit a letter of interest to the department in response to a notice published, in accordance with the provisions of section 13b-20g. The letter of interest shall set forth the consultant's qualifications for performing the specific service sought by the department. The selection panel shall then develop a qualified list of consultants in accordance with sections 13b-20i and 13b-20j.

(P.A. 83-521, S. 4, 13; P.A. 89-152, S. 1; P.A. 91-124, S. 5.)

History: P.A. 89-152 inserted new Subsec. (a) re process for prequalification of consultants and designated former provisions as Subsec. (b); P.A. 91-124 in Subsec. (a) changed the submittal date from November thirtieth to the fifteenth and deleted the provision requiring consultants moving into the state or expanding their services to submit information to the department, in Subsec. (b) added language making prequalification mandatory for those consultants desiring to provide services to the department and added a new Subsec. (c) establishing procedures for the department to obtain consultant when the prequalification list does not contain a consultant with the necessary expertise or when the list contains less than five consultants.