1. For purposes of this chapter, specification means a description of all required physical, design, performance, functional, and other characteristics of a commodity or service the purchaser requires and, consequently, what a bidder must offer. The office of management and budget and institutions of higher education shall develop similar specifications for purchases of commodities and services of high common usage. State agencies and institutions shall provide such assistance as may be requested by the office of management and budget and the institutions of higher education in the development of specifications. The office of management [...]

The office of management and budget shall establish and maintain current lists of persons that desire to provide commodities or services to the state. Every person that desires to bid or submit a proposal on contracts for commodities or services awarded under this chapter must be an approved vendor in order to be placed on the bidders list.

A contract for commodities or services may be entered by competitive sealed proposals when a determination is made that the use of competitive sealed bidding is either not practicable or not advantageous to the state. The request for proposal must state the relative importance of price and other factors and subfactors, if any. Proposals must be opened so as to avoid disclosure of contents to competing offerors during the process of negotiation. All proposals received pursuant to a competitive sealed proposal process are exempt records under subsection 5 of section 44-04-17.1 until an award [...]

1. A procurement not exceeding the amount established by written directive of the director of the office of management and budget or by the state board of higher education under subsection 5 of section 15-10-17 may be made in accordance with small purchase procedures. 2. A small purchase need not be made through competitive sealed bidding or competitive sealed proposals. However, small purchases must be made with competition that is practicable under the circumstances. 3. Procurement requirements may not be artificially divided as to constitute a small purchase under this section.

1. An interested party may protest the award of a contract, the notice of intent to award a contract, or a solicitation for commodities or services by the office of management and budget or purchasing agency under this chapter. The protest must be submitted in writing to the procurement officer responsible for the contract or solicitation within seven calendar days after the protestor knows or should have known of the facts giving rise to the protest. 2. If a contract has been awarded, the procurement officer immediately shall give notice of a protest to [...]