1. The Purchasing Division of the Department of Administration shall work directly with any using agency interested in entering into a performance contract, using the list of qualified service companies compiled by the State Public Works Division of the Department of Administration pursuant to NRS 333A.080. The Purchasing Division, in conjunction with the using agency, shall ensure that each appropriate qualified service company is notified of the using agency’s interest in entering into a performance contract and coordinate an opportunity for each such qualified service company to:

(a) Visit the site pertaining to which the using agency wishes to enter into a performance contract;

(b) Perform a comprehensive audit in the manner prescribed in NRS 333A.084; and

(c) Submit a proposal, including, without limitation, the comprehensive audit, and make a related presentation to the using agency for all operating cost-savings measures that the qualified service company determines would be practicable to implement.

2. The using agency shall:

(a) Evaluate the proposals and presentations made pursuant to subsection 1;

(b) Evaluate the financial stability of the qualified service companies that made proposals and presentations pursuant to subsection 1 based on the financial statements and ratings of the qualified service companies; and

(c) Select a qualified service company,

pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and any regulations adopted pursuant thereto, for evaluating and awarding contracts.

3. A qualified service company selected by a using agency pursuant to subsection 2 shall prepare a financial-grade operational audit, which must include, without limitation:

(a) A detailed explanation of the operating cost savings that will result from the performance contract; and

(b) A comparison of the costs of implementing the operating cost-savings measures to the operating cost savings that are anticipated as a result of the performance contract.

4. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the financial-grade operational audit prepared by the qualified service company pursuant to subsection 3 becomes, upon acceptance, a part of the final performance contract and the costs incurred by the qualified service company in preparing the financial-grade operational audit shall be deemed to be part of the performance contract. If, after the financial-grade operational audit is prepared, the using agency decides not to execute the performance contract, the using agency shall pay the qualified service company that prepared the financial-grade operational audit the costs incurred by the qualified service company in preparing the financial-grade operational audit, if the Legislature has specifically appropriated money for that purpose. An appropriation by the Legislature for the purchase and installation of an operating cost-savings measure creates no presumption that the using agency for which the money was appropriated is required to enter into such a performance contract.

(Added to NRS by 2005, 2895)