Contracting and procurement authority of the department; settlements; notification required.

(1) When the department, or any entity or enterprise within the department, determines that it is in the best interest of the public to resolve a protest filed in accordance with s. 120.57(3) of the award of a contract being procured pursuant to s. 337.11 or related to the purchase of personal property or contractual services being procured pursuant to s. 287.057, through a settlement that requires the department to pay a nonselected responsive bidder a total sum of $1 million or more, including any amount paid pursuant to s. 334.049, any amount paid pursuant to s. 337.11(8) which is not included in the department’s work program approved by the Legislature as part of the General Appropriations Act, or any amount paid pursuant to any other law, the department must:

(a) Document in a written memorandum by the secretary the specific reasons that such settlement and payment to a nonselected responsive bidder is in the best interest of the state. The written memorandum must be included and maintained in the department’s permanent files concerning the procurement and must include:

1. A description of the property rights, patent rights, copyrights, trademarks, or the engineering design or other design work that the department will acquire or retain as a result of such settlement; and

2. The specific appropriation in the existing General Appropriations Act which the department intends to use to provide such payment.

(b) Provide prior written notification to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Senate and House of Representatives minority leaders, the chair and vice chair of the Legislative Budget Commission, and the Attorney General at least 5 business days, or as soon thereafter as practicable, before the department makes the settlement agreement final. Such written notification must include the written memorandum required pursuant to paragraph (a).

(c) Provide, at the time settlement discussions regarding any such payment have begun in earnest, written notification of such discussions to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Senate and House of Representatives minority leaders, the chair and vice chair of the Legislative Budget Commission, and the Attorney General.

(2) The department may not pledge any current or future action by another branch of state government as a condition of any procurement action. Any settlement that commits the state to spending any amount in excess of current appropriations, to the appropriation of funds in a subsequent fiscal year, or to policy changes inconsistent with current state law must be contingent upon and subject to legislative appropriation or statutory amendment. The department may agree to use its efforts to procure legislative funding or statutory amendments.