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Iowa Resident Bidder Preference
Revised August 14, 2024
Iowa Code
Title I. State Sovereignty and Management
Subtitle 4. Executive Branch
Chapter 8A. Department of Administrative Services
Subchapter III. Physical Resources
Part 2. Purchasing
8A.311 . Competitive bidding–preferences–reciprocal application–direct purchasing
1. a. All equipment, supplies, or services procured by the department shall be purchased by a competitive bidding procedure as established by rule. However, the director may exempt by rule purchases of noncompetitive items and purchases in lots or quantities too small to be effectively purchased by competitive bidding. Preference shall be given to purchasing Iowa products and purchases from Iowa-based businesses if the Iowa-based business bids submitted are comparable in price to bids submitted by out-of-state businesses and otherwise meet the required specifications. If the laws of another state mandate a percentage preference for businesses or products from that state and the effect of the preference is that bids of Iowa businesses or products that are otherwise low and responsive are not selected in the other state, the same percentage preference shall be applied to Iowa businesses and products when businesses or products from that other state are bid to supply Iowa requirements.
12. The state and its political subdivisions shall give preference to purchasing Iowa products and purchasing from Iowa-based businesses if the bids submitted are comparable in price to those submitted by other bidders and meet the required specifications.
23. a. The state, through the department, shall give a preference to purchasing equipment, supplies, or services from or awarding public improvement contracts pursuant to subsection 11 to an Iowa-based business as provided under paragraph “b”, as appropriate, if the bid submitted is comparable in price to those submitted by other bidders and meets the required specifications. However, before giving the preference, the department shall confirm with the Iowa employer support of the guard and reserve committee that the requirements of paragraph “b” have been met by the Iowa-based business.
b. To receive a preference as provided by this subsection, the Iowa-based business employer shall have adopted policies beyond those otherwise required by law to support employees who are officers or enlisted persons in the national guard and organized reserves of the armed forces of the United States consistent with standards adopted by the Iowa employer support of the guard and reserve committee. To be eligible for such preference, an employer shall submit to the committee a copy of the applicable policies adopted by the employer and shall sign and submit to the committee a statement of support of persons in the employ of the employer who serve in the national guard and the reserves, recognizing the vital role of the national guard and the reserves, and pledging all of the following:
(1) To neither deny employment nor limit or reduce job opportunities because of an employee’s service in the national guard or organized reserves of the armed forces of the United States.
(2) To grant leaves of absence during a period of military duty or training.
(3) To ensure that all employees are aware of the employer’s policies and the requirements of section 29A.43.
Iowa Code
Title II. Elections and Official Duties
Subtitle 3. Public Contracts and Bonds
Chapter 73. Preferences
Subchapter I. Iowa Products and Labor
73.6 . Iowa coal
It shall be unlawful for any commission, board, county officer or other governing body of the state, or of any county, township, school district or city, to purchase or use any coal, except that mined or produced within the state by producers who are, at the time such coal is purchased and produced, complying with all the workers’ compensation and mining laws of the state. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable if coal produced within the state cannot be procured of a quantity or quality reasonably suited to the needs of such purchaser, nor if the equipment now installed is not reasonably adapted to the use of coal produced within the state, nor if the use of coal produced within the state would materially lessen the efficiency or increase the cost of operating such purchaser’s heating or power plant, nor to mines employing miners not now under the provisions of the workers’ compensation Act or who permit the miners to work in individual units in their own rooms.
Iowa Code
Title II. Elections and Official Duties
Subtitle 3. Public Contracts and Bonds
Chapter 73A. Public Contracts and Bonds
Subchapter II. Reciprocal Resident Bidder and Labor Force Preference
73A.21 . Reciprocal resident bidder and resident labor force preference by state, its agencies, and political subdivisions–penalties
1. For purposes of this section:
c. “Nonresident bidder” means a person or entity who does not meet the definition of a resident bidder.
g. “Resident bidder” means a person or entity authorized to transact business in this state and having a place of business for transacting business within the state at which it is conducting and has conducted business for at least three years prior to the date of the first advertisement for the public improvement. If another state or foreign country has a more stringent definition of a resident bidder, the more stringent definition is applicable as to bidders from that state or foreign country.
h. “Resident labor force preference” means a requirement in which all or a portion of a labor force working on a public improvement is a resident of a particular state or country.
2. Notwithstanding this chapter, chapter 73, chapter 309, chapter 310, chapter 331, or chapter 384, when a contract for a public improvement is to be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, a resident bidder shall be allowed a preference as against a nonresident bidder from a state or foreign country if that state or foreign country gives or requires any preference to bidders from that state or foreign country, including but not limited to any preference to bidders, the imposition of any type of labor force preference, or any other form of preferential treatment to bidders or laborers from that state or foreign country. The preference allowed shall be equal to the preference given or required by the state or foreign country in which the nonresident bidder is a resident. In the instance of a resident labor force preference, a nonresident bidder shall apply the same resident labor force preference to a public improvement in this state as would be required in the construction of a public improvement by the state or foreign country in which the nonresident bidder is a resident.
3. If it is determined that this may cause denial of federal funds which would otherwise be available, or would otherwise be inconsistent with requirements of any federal law or regulation, this section shall be suspended, but only to the extent necessary to prevent denial of the funds or to eliminate the inconsistency with federal requirements.
4. The public body involved in a public improvement shall require a nonresident bidder to specify on all project bid specifications and contract documents whether any preference as described in subsection 2 is in effect in the nonresident bidder’s state or country of domicile at the time of a bid submittal.
Iowa Administrative Code
Agency 11. Administrative Services Department
Title VI. Central Procurement
Chapter 117. Procurement of Goods and Services of General Use
11.117.2(8A) . Definitions
“Iowa-based business” means an entity that has its principal place of business in Iowa.
“Iowa product” means a product(s) produced or grown in Iowa.
11.117.6(8A) . Preferred products and vendors
117.6(1) Preference to Iowa products and services.
a. All requests for proposals for materials, products, supplies, provisions and other needed articles and services to be purchased at public expense shall not knowingly be written in such a way as to exclude an Iowa-based company capable of filling the needs of the purchasing entity from submitting a responsive proposal.
b. The department and state agencies shall make every effort to support Iowa products when
making a purchase. Tied responses to solicitations, regardless of the type of solicitation, shall be decided in favor of the Iowa products. Tied bids between Iowa products shall be decided in accordance with subrule 117.13(4).
117.6(2) Preference to Iowa-based businesses. The department and state agencies shall make every effort to support Iowa-based businesses when making a purchase. Tied responses to solicitations, regardless of the type of solicitation, shall be decided in favor of the Iowa-based business. Tied bids between Iowa-based businesses shall be decided in accordance with subrule 117.13(4).
11.117.13(8A) . Awards
117.13(4) Tied bids and preferences. If an award is based on the highest score and there is a tied score, or if the award is based on the lowest cost and there is a tied cost, the award shall be determined by a drawing. Whenever it is practical to do so, the drawing will be held in the presence of the vendors with the tied bids. Otherwise, the drawing will be held in front of at least three noninterested parties. All drawings shall be documented.
a. Notwithstanding the foregoing, whenever a tie involves an Iowa vendor and a vendor outside the state of Iowa, first preference will be given to the Iowa vendor. Whenever a tie involves one or more Iowa vendors and one or more vendors outside the state of Iowa, the drawing will be held among the Iowa vendors only. Tied bids involving Iowa-produced or Iowa-manufactured products and items produced or manufactured outside the state of Iowa will be resolved in favor of the Iowa product. If a tied bid does not include an Iowa vendor or Iowa-produced or Iowa-manufactured product, preference will be given to a vendor based in the United States or products produced or manufactured in the United States over a vendor based or products produced or manufactured outside the United States.
Iowa Administrative Code
Agency 761. Transportation
Chapter 20. Procurement of Equipment, Materials, Supplies, and Services
761.20.4 (307). Formal advertising procedures and requirements
20.4(6) Recommendation of award.
b. Tied responses. Responses which are equal in all respects and are tied in price shall be resolved among the tied bidders by giving first preference to an Iowa bidder and second preference to the bidder who satisfactorily performed a contract the previous year for the same item at the same location. If the tie involves bidders with equal standing, the award shall be determined by lot among these bidders. A tied bidder or the bidder’s representative may witness the determination by lot.
761.20.5 (307). Limited solicitation procedures and requirements
20.5(4) Award. The award shall be offered to that responsible bidder whose response meets the requirements of the solicitation and is the most advantageous to the department. An Iowa bidder will be given preference over an out-of-state bidder when responses are equal in all respects and are tied in price.