New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 5 - COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
Chapter 34 - LOCAL PUBLIC AND PUBLIC SCHOOL CONTRACTS LAWS
Subchapter 5 - ELECTRONIC PROCUREMENT
Section 5:34-5.2 - Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Bid" means the response submitted by an offeror through an electronic procurement platform in response to a request for bids, for which the contract is awarded to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder or, in the case of the sale or surplus property (including renewable energy certificates) or the sale or lease of real property, to the highest bidder. This term also encompasses a bid being submitted through a paper-based process parallel to electronic bid submission.

"BPU" means the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

"Commodity" or "commodities" means gasoline, diesel fuel, snow removal chemicals, public works materials and supplies, including road and roadway construction materials, or any other such materials as may be approved by the Director to be procured by a local unit through a reverse auction.

"Electronic procurement" means the use of computer technology and the Internet for the solicitation and submission of offers; the provision of notice of revisions or addenda to advertisements or offer documents; the use of reverse auctions; and related practices to assist in determining the successful offeror pursuant to law for goods and services contracts, public works contracts, the sale of personal property, and other public procurement-related activities and services as may be determined appropriate by the Director.

"Electronic procurement platform" or "platform" means a computer software program facilitating electronic procurement of goods and services and public works contracts provided by the vendor of the software over the Internet as a service, except that this term shall not include an electronic municipal tax lien service subject to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 54:5-19.1a and N.J.A.C. 5:33. This term shall also encompass platforms for the online competitive sale of surplus property or real property, or competitive solicitations for the lease of real property. Email systems, including, but not limited to, Outlook, Gmail, and Hotmail, shall not constitute electronic procurement platforms for purposes of this subchapter; however, this definition shall not be interpreted to prohibit either party from receiving email prompts concerning answers to offeror questions, issuance of notices, or other information transmitted through the electronic procurement platform.

"Energy" means gas supply service or gas related service or electric generation service or electric related service as set forth in the Electric Discount and Energy Competition Act ( P.L. 1999, c. 23) and Board of Public Utilities rules regarding Government Energy Aggregation Programs at N.J.A.C. 14:4-6.

"Local unit" means a board of education as defined in the Public School Contracts Law, N.J.S.A. 18A:18A-1et seq., or a contracting unit as defined in the Local Public Contracts Law, P.L. 1971, c. 198 (N.J.S.A. 40A:11-1et seq.).

"National cooperative contract" means a contract that has been developed utilizing a competitive bidding process by a contracting unit as defined at N.J.S.A. 52:34-6.2b(3)that is located in another state. For purposes of this definition "competitive bidding process" requires open competition, or competition among qualified or pre-qualified offerors, submission of bids, advertisement of the procurement as a national cooperative contract or a regional contract that includes New Jersey in its region, and awarded pursuant to a "lowest responsible," "most advantageous to the local unit, price and other factors considered," or other similar standard legally employed by the local unit awarding the contract.

"Offer" means the response submitted by an offeror through an electronic procurement platform, or submitted by paper if allowed by the local unit in parallel with electronic submission, in response to a solicitation for bids, proposals, qualifications, or quotations conducted in a manner authorized under the laws of the State of New Jersey.

"Offeror" means an individual or entity submitting an offer through an electronic procurement platform in response to a solicitation for bids, proposals, qualifications, or quotations conducted in a manner authorized under the laws of the State of New Jersey, or an individual or entity submitting a paper-based response if allowed by the local unit in parallel with electronic submission.

"Offer package" means the forms, documents, and data entry fields provided to prospective offerors for use in responding to a solicitation.

"Offer submission" means documents and information entered into data entry fields that comprise an offeror's response to a solicitation for bids, proposals, qualifications, or quotations conducted through an electronic procurement platform or a paper-based submission process if allowed by the local unit in parallel with electronic submission.

"Personal identifying information" means information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity including, but not limited to, the individual's name, Social Security number, or biometric records, alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information that is linked, or linkable, to a specific individual, such as, but not limited to, a mother's maiden name and date and place of birth.

"Public works" means as set forth at N.J.A.C. 5:34-1.2. The term "public works" shall include "public works construction" contracts as defined at N.J.S.A. 40A:11-4.9.

"Qualifications" means responses submitted by contractors or vendors in response to a request for qualifications solicited by a local unit, from which the local unit will determine which contractors or vendors are permitted to submit bids or proposals.

"Real property" shall include, in addition to land and anything growing on, attached to, or erected on the land, development rights or easements, or any right, interest, or estate in the area extending above any real property, or capital improvement thereon, to such a height or altitude as any title, interest, or estate in real property may extend, commonly known as "air rights."

"REC" means a renewable energy certificate issued by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, such as, but not limited to, solar renewable energy certificates (SRECs).

"Reverse auction" means an auction where bidders submit progressively lower bids versus a bidder's initial bid, with the winner submitting the lowest responsible bid, rather than a standard auction process where the highest bid wins.

"Set-aside program" means a program enacted by a local unit as permitted under N.J.S.A. 18A:18A-51 through 59 or 40A:11-41 through 49, as applicable, whereby certain contracts or portions thereof are reserved for qualified minority business enterprises, qualified women's business enterprises, qualified small business enterprises, qualified veterans business enterprises, or any other qualified business enterprises for which set-aside programs are permitted under the Local Public Contracts Law or Public School Contracts Law.

"Surplus property" means personal property not needed for a local unit's public use. This term shall encompass renewable energy certificates (RECs) but shall not include personal property that is necessary or incidental to the furnishing, refurnishing, or refurbishing of a building sold or leased as part of an online auction of real property.