N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 9 § 6209.9

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 43, October 23, 2024

Section 6209.9 - Contracts

(a) In addition to complying with all statutory requirements, all contracts for the purchase of voting systems by county boards, hereinafter to be designated 'purchaser', shall include the following requirements:

(1) Training. Vendors of voting systems shall provide for sufficient training of boards of elections personnel in the following:

(i) training prior to delivery of voting systems and equipment on procedures for unpacking, assembling and acceptance testing of such equipment;

(ii) training for proper use of such equipment including maintenance, storage and transportation procedures;

(iii) the vendor shall provide complete operations manuals (including operations manuals for any auxiliary features, programming, hardware, telecommunications systems and central vote tabulating systems) upon delivery of voting systems equipment to a jurisdiction. Such manuals shall include one copy of procedures to be followed by inspectors at polling places. The vendor shall permit this copy to be reproduced and distributed by the county board at its training school for election inspectors or the vendor shall supply as many copies of the procedures as required by purchaser for such distribution;

(iv) the vendor shall assist in the training of all elections personnel (including election inspectors) during the first two elections, to include a general election, in which the system or equipment is used. Such assistance relating to the number of people and the hours of assistance shall be identified in the executed contract.

(v) sufficient training for county board personnel in the use of the vendor's voting system's supporting software, procedures to be used to accomplish ballot face layout and ballot programming, and all other features of the software.

(2) Service provisions

(i) The contract shall identify the obligations of the vendor to promptly rectify any problems identified through testing any or all of the voting systems equipment delivered to the purchaser.

(ii) The vendor shall, without additional cost, provide to the purchaser a five-year guarantee of parts and service, that such voting systems equipment shall be kept in good working order and that other statutory requirements are met. Shipping costs for any factory repairs or part replacement will be incurred by the vendor.

(iii) The vendor shall provide to the purchaser of said voting systems equipment a detailed listing of proper maintenance, storage and transportation procedures to be carried out by each purchaser.

(iv) The vendor and the purchaser shall agree in writing as to the proper maintenance procedures to be implemented on each piece of equipment and shall further agree in writing as to the obligations of each party for servicing and maintenance procedures.

(v) The vendor must correct any problems or defects in the voting equipment or voting systems within a commercially reasonable time period. If the time for resolving problems or defects is insufficient to allow for adequate resolution prior to use in an election, an alternate machine or unit shall be provided by the vendor, and such machine or unit shall be subjected to the acceptance testing requirements of this Part.

(vi) The vendor shall provide the purchaser with the criteria necessary for the proper operation of the voting system or equipment at a polling place.

(3) Polling site survey.

(i) The vendor, together with the purchaser, shall survey the present polling places in a jurisdiction to which its voting system or equipment has been sold, to determine whether or not such polling places meet environmental conditions for the proper operation of the voting system or equipment. This provision shall apply to those polling places which are in use at the time of the proposed sale.

(ii) If any polling places are not compatible, the vendor shall advise the jurisdiction purchasing the voting system or equipment on the methods or procedures that the said jurisdiction may use to remedy any such problem.

(4) Additional requirements:

(i) delivery schedule;

(ii) acceptance testing requirements;

(iii) storage and maintenance responsibilities; and

(iv) shipping delivery guidelines and requirements.

(v) a list of system proprietary and non-proprietary consumables, extended warranties, services, and other such items as may be considered by county boards for purchase, with the exception of programming, as county boards are prohibited from contracting with a vendor for programming services.

(b) A vendor entering into a contract shall affirm that:

(1) the submitted voting system complies with all applicable rules adopted by the State Board, and with all applicable 2005 Federal Voting System Guidelines;

(2) the vendor will quote and provide a statewide, uniform price for each unit of the voting system's equipment;

(3) the submitted voting system's software does not contain any code, procedures or other material (including but not limited to 'viruses', 'worms', 'time bombs', and 'drop dead' devices that may cause the voting system to cease functioning at a future time), which may disable, damage, disarm or otherwise affect the proper operation of the voting system, any hardware, or any computer system or other property of the State Board or county board; and

(4) any submitted voting system provides methods through security seals or device locks to physically secure against attempts to interfere with correct system operations. Such physical security shall guard access to machine panels, doors, switches, slots, ports, peripheral devices, firmware, and software.

(c) The vendor shall post a bond or letter of credit to cover any and all expenses, costs, and damages, including but not limited to all costs of inspecting or testing a voting system that does not meet the standards contained in this Part and all costs incurred in conducting any new election resulting from any breach of the warranties and representations required to be made anywhere in this Part, or in the New York State Election Law. Said bond or letter of credit shall be set by the State Board.

(d) For purposes of the initial purchases of voting machines and systems, pursuant to the Federal Help America Vote Act of 2002, and the State Election Reform and Modernization Act of 2005, all contracts entered by the State Board or county boards with vendors, must comply with Office of General Services (OGS) regulations on purchasing procedures and purchases from preferred sources, found in NYCRR Title 9, Subtitle G, Subchapter A, Part 250, section 250.0 through and including section 250.11.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 9 § 6209.9