The division must have a procedure for limited contract exceptions, subject to review by the Director of Administrative Services, and it must keep a written rationale on file when an exception is granted.
(1) Subject to review by the Director of Administrative Services, the division shall provide procedures to grant limited exceptions from sections 73-807, 73-815, and 73-816 for: (a) Sole source contracts, emergency contracts, and contracts when the price has been established by the federal General Services Administration or competitively bid by another state or group of states, a group of states and any political subdivision of any other state, a political subdivision of another state, or a cooperative purchasing organization on behalf of a group of states or political subdivisions of other states; and (b) Other circumstances or specific contracts when any of the requirements of sections 73-807, 73-815, and 73-816 are not appropriate for or are not compatible with the circumstances or contract. The division shall provide a written rationale which shall be kept on file when granting an exception under this subdivision. (2) The following types of contracts are not subject to sections 73-807, 73-815, 73-816, and 73-817: (a) Contracts for services subject to the Nebraska Consultants' Competitive Negotiation Act; (b) Contracts for services subject to federal law, regulation, or policy or state statute, under which a state agency is required to use a different selection process or to contract with an identified contractor or type of contractor; (c) Contracts for professional legal services and services of expert witnesses, hearing officers, or administrative law judges retained by state agencies for administrative or court proceedings; (d) Grant agreements or cooperative agreements; (e) Contracts with a value of fifteen million dollars or less with direct providers of medical, behavioral, or developmental health services, child care, or child welfare services to an individual; (f) Agreements for services to be performed for a state agency by another state or local government agency or contracts made by a state agency with a local government agency for the direct provision of services to the public; (g) Agreements for services between a state agency and the University of Nebraska, the Nebraska state colleges, the courts, the Legislature, or other officers or state agencies established by the Constitution of Nebraska; (h) Department of Insurance contracts for financial or actuarial examination, for rehabilitation, conservation, reorganization, or liquidation of licensees, and for professional services related to residual pools or excess funds under the agency's control; (i) Department of Transportation contracts for all road and bridge projects; (j) Nebraska Investment Council contracts; (k) Contracts under section 57-1503; (l) Contracts for the erection of, construction of, renovation of, repair of, or addition to any building; for original equipment for any building; for the construction of any road or bridge; or for the performance of any work related to such contracts; (m) Subject to section 83-146, contracts for the purchase or use of the products of the labor of the inmates of any charitable, reformatory, or penal institution of the state; (n) Contracts for leases by the state or a state agency of real property; (o) Contracts for works of art; (p) Contracts for advertising or public announcements; (q) Direct or miscellaneous purchases pursuant to section 73-814; and (r) Department of Water, Energy, and Environment contracts for all water infrastructure projects. History: Laws 2003, LB 626, § 7; Laws 2011, First Spec. Sess., LB4, § 5; Laws 2012, LB858, § 10; Laws 2014, LB974, § 1; Laws 2017, LB339, § 250; R.S.1943, (2018), § 73-507; Laws 2024, LB461, § 13; Laws 2025, LB180, § 2; Laws 2026, LB759, § 11.