2692

LAWS OF MARYLAND

Ch. 775

(e)  Each small business set-aside purchase shall be
made through bidding procedures established by the
Secretary. Invitations to bid shall be sent to small
businesses in addition to regular bidders to establish a
reasonable price range commensurate with current market
conditions. Subject to subsection (f) of this section, the
purchase, contract, or expenditure of funds shall be awarded
in accordance with [the rules and regulations for purchasing
adopted by the Secretary] THIS ARTICLE.

(f)  The Secretary shall accept the lowest responsive
and responsible bid from a small business for a small
business set-aside, if the bid does not exceed by 5 percent
the bid received from the lowest responsive and responsible
bidder WHICH IS NOT A SMALL BUSINESS for the small business
set-aside.

(g)  The Secretary shall report twice a year to the
Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative
Review about the operation and effectiveness of the small
business set-aside program.

SUBTITLE 2. DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS PREFERENCE

[231M-1.] 8-201.

(a)  Notwithstanding other provisions of this [act]
ARTICLE, [products] SUPPLIES and services of the handicapped
shall be purchased by the State in accordance with the
provisions of this section.

(b) (1) The term "handicapped" refers to an individual
or class of individuals under a physical disability
(including blindness) or mental disability, which
constitutes a substantial handicap to employment and is of
such a nature as to prevent the individual under such
disability from currently engaging in normal competitive
employment.

(2) The term "charitable nonprofit agency for
the ["]handicapped" means an agency organized under the laws
of the United States and the State of Maryland operated in
the interest of handicapped individuals, and the net income
of which does not inure in part, or in whole, to the benefit
of any shareholder or other individual and is certified as a
sheltered workshop by the Wage and Hour Division of the
United States Department of Labor.

(c)  The Secretary of General Services shall have the
power, and it shall be his duty, to determine the fair
market price on all suitable [products] SUPPLIES
manufactured by the handicapped and services rendered by the
handicapped and offered for sale to the State or any of its
agencies by any charitable nonprofit agency for the
handicapped, incorporated under the laws of this State, and
manufacturing merchandise and providing services within this
State, and approved for such purpose by the Department of