(a) A government agency may recover the direct cost
of providing the public access only by charging a fee for downloading
procurement notices and bid or proposal solicitation packages posted
on the ESBD. For state agencies, these fees may not exceed the state
agency's published rate for open records requests.
(b) The comptroller and other state agencies may not
charge a fee designed to recover the cost of preparing and gathering
the information that is published in the ESBD. These costs are considered
part of a procuring agency's responsibility to publicly inform potential
bidders or respondents of its procurement contract opportunities.
(c) A non-governmental entity may use information posted
in the ESBD in providing a service that is more than only the downloading
of information from the business daily, including a service by which
appropriate bidders or respondents are matched with information that
is relevant to those bidders or respondents, and may charge a lawful
fee that the entity considers appropriate for the service.
|