It is a violation of this section for an official of any political subdivision or the state itself to willfully or knowingly avoid compliance with procurement or competitive bidding statutes or to willfully or knowingly split or separate purchases or work projects with the intent of avoiding compliance with such statutes. If any officer or employee of any public entity willfully or knowingly violates this section, the public entity which the officer or employee serves shall be liable for civil penalties not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each offense, such civil penalty to be payable to the office of the public agency bringing an enforcement action, upon court order, to reimburse the reasonable expense of enforcing compliance with competitive bidding and procurement statutes.