Suspended vendors; state contracts.

(1) As used in this section, the term “vendor” means a person or an entity that provides goods or services to an agency under a contract or submits a bid, proposal, or reply to provide goods or services to an agency.

(2)(a) A vendor that is in default on any contract with an agency, has failed to timely compensate its subcontractors or suppliers, or has otherwise repeatedly demonstrated a recent inability to fulfill the terms and conditions of previous state contracts or to adequately perform its duties under those contracts may not submit a bid, proposal, or reply to an agency or enter into or renew a contract to provide any goods or services to an agency after its placement, pursuant to this section, on the suspended vendor list.

(b) An agency may not accept a bid, proposal, or reply from, or enter into or renew any contract with, a vendor on the suspended vendor list until such vendor has been removed from the suspended vendor list and returned to the vendor list maintained by the department pursuant to s. 287.042(1)(a) and (b) and the vendor has reimbursed the agency for any reprocurement costs.

(3) An agency shall notify the department of any vendor that has met the grounds for suspension described in paragraph (2)(a). The agency must provide documentation to the department evidencing the vendor’s default or other grounds for suspension. The department shall review the documentation provided and determine whether good cause exists to remove the vendor from the vendor list and to place it on the suspended vendor list. If good cause exists, the department must notify the vendor in writing of its intent to remove the vendor from the vendor list and of the vendor’s right to an administrative hearing and the applicable procedures and time requirements for any such hearing. If the vendor does not request an administrative hearing, the department must enter a final order removing the vendor from the vendor list. A vendor may not be removed from the vendor list without receiving an individual notice of intent from the department.

(4) Within 21 days after receipt of the notice of intent, the vendor may file with the department a petition for a formal hearing pursuant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57 to challenge the department’s decision to remove the vendor from the vendor list. A vendor that fails to timely file a petition in accordance with this subsection is deemed to have waived its right to a hearing, and the department’s decision to remove the vendor from the vendor list becomes final agency action.

(5)(a) The department shall place any vendor removed from the vendor list pursuant to this section on the suspended vendor list. One year or more after entry of the final order of its suspension, a suspended vendor may file a petition with the department for removal from the suspended vendor list. The proceeding on the petition must be conducted in accordance with chapter 120. The vendor may be removed from the suspended vendor list if the administrative law judge determines that removal from the list would be in the public interest. In determining whether removal from the list would be in the public interest, the administrative law judge may consider, but is not limited to, whether the suspended vendor has prepared a corrective action plan that addresses the original grounds for default or failure to fulfill the terms and conditions of the contract, reimbursed the agency for any reprocurement costs, or provided additional evidence that the vendor has taken other remedial action.

(b) If a petition for removal from the suspended vendor list is denied, the vendor may not petition for another hearing on removal for a period of at least 9 months after the date of the denial. The department may petition for the suspended vendor’s removal before the expiration of such period if, in the department’s discretion, the department determines that removal from the suspended vendor list would be in the public interest.