# Arkansas Act 208 of 2023 - municipal bidding and Ark. Code Ann. section 14-58-303 > *Archived legal-authority source. The public original was independently acquired and preserved on 2026-08-10.* ## Source metadata - **Publisher or court:** Arkansas General Assembly - **URL:** https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2023R%2FPublic%2FACT208.pdf - **Resolved URL:** https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2023R%2FPublic%2FACT208.pdf - **Archived:** 2026-08-10, from unauthenticated public access - **Wayback snapshot:** save failed 2026-08-10; retry pending - **Source class:** primary public record or court opinion ## Proposition boundary Municipal bidding threshold and governing-body waiver for exceptional situations where bidding is not feasible or practical. An archive-quality official text URL remains to be located. ## Extract ### Page 1 Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law. Act 208 of the Regular Session *JLL019* 02-22-2023 13:49:34 JLL019 State of Arkansas As Engrossed: S2/22/23 1 94th General Assembly A Bill 2 Regular Session, 2023 HOUSE BILL 1318 3 4 By: Representative Cavenaugh 5 By: Senator J. Bryant 6 7 For An Act To Be Entitled 8 AN ACT CONCERNING THE ALLOWABLE BASES FOR BIDS FOR 9 CERTAIN MUNICIPAL PURCHASES AND CONTRACTS; AND FOR 10 OTHER PURPOSES. 11 12 13 Subtitle 14 CONCERNING THE ALLOWABLE BASES FOR BIDS 15 FOR CERTAIN MUNICIPAL PURCHASES AND 16 CONTRACTS. 17 18 19 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 20 21 SECTION 1. Arkansas Code § 14-58-303(b)(2)(A), concerning municipal 22 purchases and contracts, is amended to read as follows: 23 (2)(A)(i) Except as provided under § 14-58-104, in a city of the 24 first class in which the amount of expenditure for any purpose or contract 25 exceeds the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000), the mayor or the 26 mayor's authorized representative shall invite competitive bidding on the 27 purpose or contract by legal advertisement in any local newspaper. 28 (ii) Bids received pursuant to the advertisement 29 shall be opened and read on the date set for receiving the bids in the 30 presence of the mayor or the mayor's authorized representative. 31 (iii) The mayor or the mayor's authorized 32 representative has exclusive power to award the bid to the lowest responsible 33 bidder, subject to the provisions in subdivision (b)(2)(A)(iv) of this 34 section, and may reject any and all bids received. 35 (iv) For the purchase of supplies, apparatus, 36 ### Page 2 As Engrossed: S2/22/23 HB1318 2 02-22-2023 13:49:34 JLL019 equipment, materials, and other items under this subdivision (b)(2), the city 1 may base its award on the following method of evaluation if notice of the 2 method of evaluation is stated in the bid notice: 3 (a) The lowest immediate cost; 4 (b) The lowest demonstrated life cycle cost; 5 (c) The lowest demonstrated term costs; or 6 (d) A combination of two (2) or more of the 7 lowest immediate cost, the lowest demonstrated life cycle cost, and the 8 lowest demonstrated term costs. 9 (v) A bid, quote, and the documentation related to a 10 bid or quote shall be maintained as required under § 14-59-114(a)(1). 11 12 SECTION 2. Arkansas Code § 14-58-303(d), concerning municipal 13 purchases and contracts, is amended to read as follows: 14 (d) For purposes of As used in this section: 15 (1) "Lowest demonstrated life cycle cost" means the cost of an 16 asset as determined by the mayor or the mayor's authorized representative to 17 be credibly established by a bidder over the life cycle of the asset, taking 18 into consideration the asset's initial capital costs, maintenance costs, 19 operating costs, and residual value at the end of the life of the asset; 20 (2) "Lowest demonstrated term cost" means the cost of an asset 21 as determined by the mayor or the mayor's authorized representative to be 22 credibly established by a bidder over a portion of the life cycle of the 23 asset, taking into consideration the asset's initial capital costs, 24 maintenance costs, and operating costs during the portion of the life cycle 25 of the asset; 26 (3) "Lowest responsible bidder" means the bidder who offers 27 trustworthiness and responsibility concerning the subject purchase and whose 28 bid offers the lowest cost to the city under subdivision (b)(2)(A) of this 29 section; 30 (4) “Reverse internet auction” means an internet-based process 31 in which bidders: 32 (A) Are given specifications for items and services being 33 sought for purchase by a municipality; and 34 (B) Bid against one another in order to lower the price of 35 the item or service to the lowest possible level; and 36 ### Page 3 As Engrossed: S2/22/23 HB1318 3 02-22-2023 13:49:34 JLL019 (2)(5) “Reverse internet auction vendor” means an internet-based 1 entity that hosts a reverse internet auction. 2 3 /s/Cavenaugh 4 5 6 APPROVED: 3/6/23 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 **Wayback failure**: Save Page Now did not return a response during the bounded 2026-08-10 capture pass. Retry pending. ## Notes - Tier: 2 - primary public record or court opinion. - Cited by: [[ALPR Procurement Below the Appropriation Line]], [[Arkansas Municipal County and State Cooperative Procurement Law]], [[Competitive-Bid Exemption (Sole-Source Procurement)]], [[Sole-Source Procurement Language Avoidance]], [[The Genetec-to-Flock Pre-Flock Transition]], [[Vendor-Imposed Secrecy as Procurement Routine]].