1. a. All purchases, contracts, or agreements where the cost or contract price exceeds the sum of $25,000 or, after the effective date of P.L.1999, c.440, the amount determined pursuant to subsection b. of this section shall, except as otherwise provided in this act, be made, negotiated, or awarded only after public advertisement for bids therefor and shall be awarded to that responsible bidder whose bid, conforming to the invitation for bids, is most advantageous to the authority, in its judgment, upon consideration of price and other factors. Any bid may be rejected when the authority determines that it is in the public interest to do so.

Any purchase, contract, or agreement where the cost or contract price is less than or equal to $25,000 or, after the effective date of P.L.1999, c.440, the amount determined pursuant to subsection b. of this section may be made, negotiated, or awarded by the authority without advertising and in any manner which the authority, in its judgment, deems necessary to serve its unique interests and purposes and which promotes, whenever practicable, full and free competition by the acceptance of quotations or proposals or by the use of other suitable methods.

b. Commencing in the fifth year after the year in which P.L.1999, c.440 takes effect, and every five years thereafter, the Governor, in consultation with the Department of the Treasury, shall adjust the threshold amount set forth in subsection a. of this section, or after the effective date of P.L.1999, c.440, the threshold amount resulting from any adjustment under this subsection, in direct proportion to the rise or fall of the index rate as that term is defined in section 2 of P.L.1971, c.198 (C. 40A:11-2), and shall round the adjustment to the nearest $1,000. The Governor shall, no later than June 1 of every fifth year, notify the authority of the adjustment. The adjustment shall become effective on July 1 of the year in which it is made.

L.1981,c.447,s.1; amended 1984, c.128, s.1; 1999, c.440, s.82.