(a) The Department of Information Resources, in cooperation with the commissioner, shall adopt performance and interoperability standards for software used by school districts for financial accounting or attendance reporting.
(b) Standards adopted under this section must ensure that the software will enable a school district to share and report information in a timely manner for purposes of financial management, operational decision-making, and transparency of district operations to the public.

(c) The Department of Information Resources:
(1) shall include compliance with standards adopted under this section as a requirement in any solicitation for software anticipated to be used for a purpose described by Subsection (a);
(2) shall require a vendor awarded a contract in response to a solicitation described by Subdivision (1) to certify that the software complies with the standards adopted under this section; and
(3) may negotiate state contract pricing for software that complies with the standards adopted under this section.