A. All procurement for state agencies shall be performed by the state purchasing agent except as otherwise provided in the Procurement Code.

B. All procurement for state agencies excluded from the requirement of procurement through the office of the state purchasing agent shall be performed by a central purchasing office, the chief procurement officer or as otherwise provided in the Procurement Code.

C. All procurement for local public bodies shall be performed by a central purchasing office designated by the governing authority of the local public body except as otherwise provided in the Procurement Code. Local public bodies shall identify their designated central purchasing office to the state purchasing agent and shall report their chief procurement officers to the state purchasing agent.

History: Laws 1984, ch. 65, § 70; 2013, ch. 70, § 5.

The 2013 amendment, effective July 1, 2013, permitted the chief procurement officers to act for state agencies that are excluded from the requirement of procurement through the state purchasing agent; required local public bodies to identify their central purchasing office and report their chief procurement officer to the state purchasing agent; in Subsection B, after "central purchasing office", deleted "designate by statute, the governing authority of that state agency" and added "the chief procurement officer"; and in Subsection C, added the last sentence.

Violation of former act. — Appointment of a local insurance agency as an exclusive agent for the life, accident, sickness and hospital benefits for the employees of a county, whose duties would be to conduct a survey of the needs of the employees, prepare specifications to be submitted in invitations to bid, take care of all mechanical work in the bidding process, recommend to a county commission which bid should be accepted and service the policy of the successful bidder as if it were the agent of the bidder, receiving the commission for such work from the successful insurance company, would have been a violation of the former Public Purchases Act. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-135.

When former act not violated. — If the state purchasing agent secured free technical assistance from a supplier in order to aid in preparing specifications, the former Public Purchases Act was not violated. 1967 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 67-118.

Group insurance. — Except for the statutory exceptions to the former Public Purchases Act, all purchases of group insurance for employees of state agencies were required to be done by the state purchasing agent. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-117.

Lease purchase. — A lease purchase of personalty by a school district is exempted from the Bateman Act (6-6-11, 6-6-13 to 6-6-18 NMSA 1978), but was subject to the former Public Purchases Act in respect to bidding requirements. 1964 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 64-141.

When rental exempt. — The rental of realty and school buildings whereby the local school board rents from private entities for school purposes did not come within the provisions of the former Public Purchases Act. 1964 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 64-141.

Delegation restricted. — Under the former Public Purchases Act, the local public body had no authority to delegate the performance of purchasing to someone other than the central purchasing office. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-135.