Request By:
Mr. Kendall Robinson
Owsley County Attorney
Booneville, Kentucky 41314
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You ask whether the Model Procurement Code applies to the construction of a personal care home on behalf of a tenant, which will be a Kentucky nonprofit corporation, the funding of which construction will be effected by a revenue bond issue of fiscal court pursuant to KRS 103.200. After the building is constructed, the county will lease it to the domestic corporation. KRS 103.210. See Ladt v. County of McCracken, Ky., App., 555 S.W.2d 620 (1977).
We agree with you that the Model Procurement Code applies, and the construction contract will have to be let under the applicable bidding procedure of the code.
However, we must point out to you that in OAG 80-279, copy enclosed, we ruled that the application of the Model Procurement Code is optional for local public agencies, including counties. Should the fiscal court of your county decide by formal action to come under the code, then the procurement code would apply to this situation. Where the fiscal court takes no action, the code does not apply, since S.B. 163 repealed the application statute, KRS 45A.350. Section 9 of S.B. 163 provides that "Any local public agency may adopt the provisions of KRS 45A.345 through 45A.460. No other statutes governing purchasing shall apply to a local public agency upon adoption of these provisions."
Where the county does not take formal action to come under the procurement code, KRS 424.260, requiring bidding, would apply.