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S2822AProcurement & Contracts

Public Property and Works - State Purchases

This bill creates rules for long-term contracts between state agencies and private companies for public construction and management projects.

Introduced63 Yea7 Nay5 Not voting
Population
Affected
35
Email Legislator
Introduced Mar 4, 2026Committee Senate Finance

Plain-English Summary

This bill sets rules for how Rhode Island state agencies can enter into public-private partnership agreements. These are long-term contracts where a private company helps develop, finance, build, or manage state-owned property or assets. The bill requires the state to create official guidelines for these partnerships by July 2027. It also outlines what must be included when asking for proposals, such as financing plans, proof of the company's qualifications, and a "value for money" analysis. Finally, it includes protections for workers, requiring prevailing wages, labor harmony plans, and reviews if state union jobs might be replaced.

For younger readers

Sometimes the state government needs to build or fix big things, like roads or buildings. To do this, they can team up with businesses in a "public-private partnership." This bill makes a list of rules for how the government and businesses can work together on these big projects. It says the state has to carefully check the business to make sure they are qualified and that the deal is a good use of money. It also makes sure the workers who build the projects are paid fairly and that current government workers are protected from losing their jobs.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Construction contractorsState employeesLabor unionsPrivate developersState purchasing officials
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
Amount unknown

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Mandates the payment of prevailing wages for all relevant contractors and subcontractors, ensuring fair compensation and protecting workers from exploitation.
  • Requires a project labor agreement study for large projects over $25 million and demands labor harmony plans, strongly supporting unionized labor and collective bargaining rights.
  • Includes strict protections against the unchecked privatization of state services by triggering oversight laws if unionized state or quasi-public employees might be displaced.
  • Promotes and encourages public-private partnerships, which progressives often view as a gateway to the privatization of critical public infrastructure and services.
  • Allows private corporations to profit from state-owned physical assets, potentially prioritizing corporate revenue over the public good and community welfare.
  • Shifts some operational control of public assets to private entities, which could reduce direct democratic accountability and transparency in how public services are managed.
For Conservatives
  • Explicitly encourages public-private partnerships, expanding opportunities for private corporations to profit from and participate in large-scale state infrastructure projects.
  • Requires a value for money analysis, ensuring that government spending on infrastructure is evaluated for financial efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
  • Shifts significant financial and operational risks associated with developing and maintaining state-owned assets from the taxpayers to the private contracting partners.
  • Mandates prevailing wages for all workers on these projects, which artificially inflates labor costs and interferes with free-market wage setting.
  • Strongly favors labor unions by requiring studies for project labor agreements on large projects and mandating continuous labor harmony plans.
  • Imposes heavy bureaucratic regulations and oversight reviews, particularly when state employee jobs are affected, slowing down privatization efforts and limiting corporate freedom.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

2 versions
Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 72 additions

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 37-2-31 of the General Laws in Chapter 37-2 entitled "State Purchases" is hereby amended to read as follows: 37-2-31. Use of other types of contracts.

(a) Definitions:

(1) “Private partner” means any non-governmental entity that is a party in a public-private partnership with a state agency.

(2) “Project labor agreement” means a prehire collective bargaining agreement between an owner and labor unions involving a specific construction project.

(3) “Public-private partnership agreement” means a long-term contract between the state and a private partner that develops, finances, constructs, operates, or maintains a state-owned physical asset or property in which the private party bears significant risk over the long term.

(4) “Risk” means financial, operational, or legal uncertainty associated with the private partner’s participation.

(5) "State" means and refers to the definition in § 37-2-7.

(6) “Value for money” means the analysis used to compare the financial impacts to the agency of use of a public-private partnership delivery method against other delivery methods. This process looks to determine the ideal delivery method when considering cost, quality, time, and performance.

(b) Subject to the limitations of §§ 37-2-29 and 37-2-30, any type of contract which will promote the best interests of the state may be used, including public-private partnership agreements.

(c) On or before July 1, 2027, the chief purchasing officer within the department of administration shall promulgate rules for a state agency to evaluate, solicit, or enter into a public- private partnership agreement. The rules shall reflect the intent to promote and encourage the use of public-private partnerships in the state. The chief purchasing officer shall consult with design- builders, progressive design-builders, construction managers, other contractors and design professionals, including engineers and architects, labor organizations, and other appropriate professionals during the development of the rules.

(d) A state agency utilizing a public-private partnership shall continue to be responsible for oversight of any function that is delegated to or otherwise performed by a private partner. State contracts using this method shall be awarded by a competitive procurement following the provisions of chapter 2 of title 37 ("state purchases").

(e) Any request for proposals for a contract utilizing a public-private partnership shall include at a minimum:

(1) The parameters of the proposed public-private partnership agreement;

(2) The duties and responsibilities to be performed by the private partner or private partners;

(3) The methods of oversight to be employed by the contracting agency;

(4) The duties and responsibilities that are to be performed by the contracting agency and any other parties to the contract;

(5) The evaluation factors and the relative weight of each factor to be used in the scoring of awards;

(6) An evaluation for the value for money conducted by a subject matter expert engaged by the contracting agency that opines on whether the public-private partnership constitutes fair value for the state;

(7) Plans for financing and operating the project and the revenues, service payments, bond financings, and appropriations of public funds needed for the qualifying project and the value for money analysis;

(8) Comprehensive documentation of the experience, capabilities, capitalization and financial condition, and other relevant qualifications of the private entity submitting the proposal;

(9) All contracts for public-private partnerships must adhere to chapter 13 of title 37 (“labor and payment of debts by contractors”), which requires all relevant contractors and subcontractors performing work on the public-private partnership to pay their employees, as defined in § 37-13- 7(c), prevailing wages;

(10) All contracts for public-private partnership must also adhere to § 37-2-59 and other requirements of contracting for construction projects when state funds are being deployed;

(11) For all public-private partnership agreements over twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000), the awarding authority under this chapter shall conduct an objective, reasoned study, using established reviewable criteria, to determine whether to utilize a project labor agreement;

(12) The private partner's plans for labor harmony pursuant to § 37-13-2 for the entire term of the agreement, including construction, reconstruction and capital and routine maintenance; and remedies for any failure to maintain labor harmony; and

(13) Other information required by the contracting agency to evaluate the proposals submitted and the overall proposed public-private partnership.

(f) A private entity desiring to be a private partner shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the contracting agency that it is capable of performing any duty, responsibility, or function it may be authorized or directed to perform as a term or condition of the public-private partnership agreement.

(g) Notwithstanding any general law or special law to the contrary, prior to the award of any pending/all public private partnership agreement(s), whereby any/all state or quasi-public employees, represented by a bargaining unit may be displaced, chapter 148 of title 42 ("privatization of state services"), and chapter 149 of title 42 ("state expenditures for non-state employee services") and after the awarded project is operational, the provisions of chapter 2.3 of title 37 ("government oversight and fiscal accountability review act") shall apply, in addition to any/all provisions contained in an applicable collective bargaining agreement.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.