The following shall apply:
(1) No elected or appointed official or officials of any city shall evade the provisions of this chapter requiring advertising for bids by purchasing or contracting for services and personal property piecemeal for the purpose of obtaining prices under the base amount of $18,500, subject to adjustment under section 11903.1 (relating to adjustments to base amount based on Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers), upon transactions which should, in the exercise of reasonable discretion and prudence, be conducted as one transaction amounting to more than the base amount of $18,500, subject to adjustment under section 11903.1.
(2) Paragraph (1) is intended to make unlawful the practice of evading advertising requirements by making a series of purchases or contracts, each for less than the advertising requirement price, or by making several simultaneous purchases or contracts, each below the price, when, in either case, the transactions involved should have been made as one transaction for one price.
(3) Any elected or appointed official who acts in violation of paragraph (1), knowing that the transaction upon which the elected or appointed official acts is or ought to be a part of a larger transaction and that it is being divided in order to evade the requirements as to advertising for bids, shall be jointly and severally subject to surcharge for 10% of the full amount of the contract or purchase. Wherever it shall appear that an elected or appointed official may have acted in violation of this section but the purchase or contract on which the elected or appointed official acted was not executed, this section shall be inapplicable.
Cross References. Section 11902 is referred to in section 11903.1 of this title.
Structure Pennsylvania Consolidated & Unconsolidated Statutes
Pennsylvania Consolidated & Unconsolidated Statutes
Section 11901 - Power to make and regulate contracts
Section 11901.1 - Contracts or purchases in excess of base amount of $18,500
Section 11901.2 - Contracts or purchases not in excess of base amount of $18,500
Section 11901.3 - Determining amount of contract
Section 11901.4 - Contracts or purchases not requiring advertising or bidding
Section 11901.5 - Receipt, opening, award or rejection of bids
Section 11901.6 - Bid, performance and payment security
Section 11901.7 - Compliance with other laws
Section 11901.8 - Prohibitions
Section 11901.9 - Lowest responsible bidder
Section 11902 - Evasion of advertising requirements
Section 11903.1 - Adjustments to base amount based on Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers
Section 11908.1 - Purchase contracts for petroleum products, fire company and participation
Section 11910 - Acceptance by contractor of Workers' Compensation Act
Section 11911 - Contracts for improvements and assignment of assessments
Section 11916 - Contracts with passenger or transportation companies