SB 51: State, County, and Municipal Road Systems; contracting procedures related to the acquisition of certain professional services by counties and municipalities; revise

Right now, Georgia counties and municipalities generally must get at least two cost estimates before awarding contracts between $20,000 and $250,000, including contracts for professional services like engineering or architecture. This bill changes that for a specific group of licensed professionals: architects, interior designers, land surveyors, landscape architects, and professional engineers. Instead of comparing estimates, local governments would have to use a new qualifications-based selection process, modeled on the process the state already uses under Georgia's managerial control law (O.C.G.A. Chapter 22 of Title 50), whenever a project's professional services costs exceed $75,000 or the project's construction cost estimate exceeds $1 million. The bill also formally extends that state chapter to local governments, adding definitions for 'local government' and updating who counts as an 'agency.' Local governments could still negotiate directly if only one qualified firm responds, or expand an existing contract with a provider they already work with. The changes take effect July 1, 2027.

• Creates a new competitive qualifications-based selection process (O.C.G.A. § 36-91-3) that counties and municipalities must use to hire architects, engineers, land surveyors, landscape architects, and interior designers above certain cost thresholds.
• Exempts those professional services contracts from the existing requirement that local governments collect at least two cost estimates for expenditures between $20,000 and $250,000.
• Extends Georgia's state managerial control law over professional services (O.C.G.A. Chapter 22 of Title 50) to counties, municipalities, and consolidated governments, not just state agencies.
• Allows a local government to negotiate directly with the only firm that responds to a request for proposals, without seeking additional estimates first.
• Permits local governments to sign multi-provider 'on-demand' services contracts and to expand work with a professional firm they already have a satisfactory relationship with.
• Authorizes local governments to adopt their own ordinances, resolutions, or regulations to implement the new process, and sets a July 1, 2027 effective date.

County and municipal governments across Georgia that hire architects, engineers, land surveyors, landscape architects, or interior designers; the licensed professionals and firms competing for that public work; and local officials responsible for procurement and contracting decisions.

Local governments would have to run a more formal, qualifications-focused hiring process for design and engineering professionals on larger projects instead of simply comparing price estimates, which could change how firms compete for public design contracts and how counties and cities document those decisions.

• Section 1 and Section 2 revise O.C.G.A. §§ 32-4-63 and 32-4-113 so counties and municipalities must use the new qualifications-based process for professional services contracts instead of the two-estimate rule.
• Section 3 creates O.C.G.A. § 36-91-3, requiring local governments to select architects, engineers, surveyors, landscape architects, and interior designers competitively based on qualifications for projects above the cost thresholds in O.C.G.A. § 50-22-2.
• Section 3 also lets a local government negotiate with a sole responsive bidder, form multi-provider on-demand contracts, and expand work with an existing trusted provider.
• Section 5 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 50-22-2 to define 'agency' as a state agency or local government and adds a 'local government' definition covering counties, municipalities, and consolidated governments.
• Section 5 also updates the definition of 'project' to mean an activity with a preliminary construction cost estimate over $1 million or professional services costs over $75,000.
• Section 8 amends O.C.G.A. § 50-22-8 to let local governments adopt ordinances, resolutions, or regulations to carry out the new process, similar to state agency rulemaking authority.
• Section 9 sets the effective date as July 1, 2027.

1. 2026-02-19House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
2. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
3. 2025-03-27House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
4. 2025-03-27House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
5. 2025-03-13House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
6. 2025-03-06House Second Readers (House)
7. 2025-03-04House First Readers (House)
8. 2025-03-03Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)

• Ed Setzler (R, SD-037)Primary sponsor
• Matt Brass (R, SD-006)
• Clint Dixon (R, SD-045)
• Frank Ginn (R, SD-047)
• Emanuel Jones (D, SD-010)
• Sheikh Rahman (D, SD-005)
• Victor Anderson (R, HD-010)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 3, 2025

   54 yea, 1 nay (1 not voting, 0 absent)

   Passage: Senate Vote #122

• local government contracting
• public works bidding
• architects and engineers
• procurement rules
• county and municipal government