125.021 Operation, and superintendence of telephone, other telecommunication, and computer services for state agencies.

125.021 Operation, and superintendence of telephone, other telecommunication, and computer services for state agencies.

(A) Except as to the military department, the general assembly, the bureau of workers’ compensation, the industrial commission, and institutions administered by boards of trustees, the department of administrative services may contract for telephone, other telecommunication, and computer services for state agencies. Nothing in this division precludes the bureau or the commission from contracting with the department to authorize the department to contract for those services for the bureau or the commission.

(B)(1) As used in this division:

(a) “Active duty” means active duty pursuant to an executive order of the president of the United States, an act of the congress of the United States, or section 5919.29 or 5923.21 of the Revised Code.

(b) “Immediate family” means a person’s spouse residing in the person’s household, brothers and sisters of the whole or of the half blood, children, including adopted children and stepchildren, parents, and grandparents.

(2) The department of administrative services may enter into a contract to purchase bulk long distance telephone services and make them available at cost, or may make bulk long distance telephone services available at cost under any existing contract the department has entered into, to members of the immediate family of persons deployed on active duty so that those family members can communicate with the persons so deployed. If the department enters into contracts under division (B)(2) of this section, it shall do so in accordance with sections 125.01 to 125.11 of the Revised Code and in a nondiscriminatory manner that does not place any potential vendor at a competitive disadvantage.

(3) If the department decides to exercise either option under division (B)(2) of this section, it shall adopt, and may amend, rules under Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to implement that division.

Effective Date: 10-20-1993; 05-18-2005; 06-21-2005; 09-05-2006; 2008 HB562 09-22-2008