Title 31, Public Works and Property

(a) The Commissioner of Public Works shall—(1) participate in the planning of, supervise the construction of, and repair and maintain, all government buildings and grounds, public roads, highways, seawalls, wharves, seaways, public recreation areas, airports, and properties of li…

(a) Subject to subsection (b), no real or personal property of the Government of the Virgin Islands or any subdivision thereof as defined by Title 1, section 253, subsection (b), VIC, and specifically including the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, Virgin Islands Port Aut…

This chapter may be cited and shall be known as the “Government Motor Vehicle Management and Control Act”.

(a) The Legislature declares it to be the policy of the Government of the Virgin Islands and the purpose of this chapter to:(a) Achieve maximum cost-effectiveness of Government motor vehicles in support of the established missions and objectives of the various Government agencies…

(a) As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:(a) “Agency” means any agency, bureau, commission, department or subdivision of the executive branch of the Government, including independent instrumentalities, but specifically excluding the Virgin Islan…

(a) The Division of Transportation of the Department of Property and Procurement shall have as its chief executive officer, the Deputy Commissioner, whose duties and responsibilities shall be:(a) Establishment and operation of a central facility on the Islands of St. Croix, St. J…

(1) There shall be one Central Motor Pool facility on the Islands of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas, each of which shall be headed by a Motor Pool Supervisor whose duties and responsibilities shall be:(1) Assignment on a daily basis of pool vehicles to Government employees re…

(1) The Division shall establish, operate and maintain a computer-based system which shall:(1) Record and control pool vehicle use, repair and maintenance, fuel consumption, repair costs and replacement scheduled;(2) Account for, control and maintain a perpetual inventory system;…

(a) No Government agency shall procure any motor vehicle of any type unless prior approval is first obtained from the Commissioner or his designee, the Deputy Commissioner and such approval is ratified by the Legislature's Committee on Finance; provided, however if the Committee …

The pool vehicles under the jurisdiction of the Division shall be available and utilized only for official government business.

Only the Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be provided a motor vehicle on the basis of their office. All other individuals assigned motor vehicles shall record all trips on a log provided by the Division, specifying beginning and ending mileage and job function performed. Ho…

Home storage or personal assignment of pool vehicle shall be permitted only upon individual case-by-case determinations in which the cost savings to the Government is substantiated, or in which the health, safety or welfare of the general public are essentially affected, or in wh…

(a) Where Government employees are required upon the request of the chief executive officer of their agency to use their personally owned motor vehicle in the conduct of official government business which they are responsible for, they shall be reimbursed at the rate of sixty-fiv…

(1) The Commissioner or his designee, the Deputy Commissioner shall study the cost-effectiveness of operating maintenance facilities as opposed to commercial alternatives and shall develop a plan for maximally cost-effective motor vehicle maintenance. The Commissioner or his desi…

(a) All motor vehicle fuels shall be purchased from the Division of Transportation, except where the Commissioner or his designee, the Deputy Commissioner determines in writing that it is not cost beneficial to the Government. (b) The Commissioner of Property and Procurement shal…

The Commissioner or his designee, the Deputy Commissioner, shall ensure that all pool vehicles are identified as such through the use of permanent Government license plates and the Territorial Seal or an agency decal. No pool vehicle shall be exempt from the requirements of ident…

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to motor vehicles assigned to the Governor and Lieutenant Governor.

(a) The Commissioner or his designee, the Deputy Commissioner shall develop and implement a Territory-wide Motor Pool Safety Program for operators of Government motor vehicles which shall serve to reduce the number of accidents involving such motor vehicles. (b) The Commissioner …

(a) Any official or employee of the Government who violates any statute, rule, regulation or executive order pertaining to the acquisition, assignment, disposal, identification, operation, maintenance, repair, storage, supervision, control or regulation of any Government motor ve…

(a) The Commissioner of the Virgin Islands Police Department shall establish a maintenance division within the Virgin Islands Police Department, in both districts, to repair, maintain and equip police vehicles. (b) The Commissioner shall hire all personnel, and establish rules, r…

(a) The Deputy Commissioner of the Department may sell by public auction or otherwise dispose of any motor vehicles that are worn gut, unusable or obsolete to the extent that the motor vehicles are no longer economical or safe for continued use by the Government. (b) The Deputy C…

(a) The Commissioner of Property and Procurement shall manage and control government property and shall have authority over the disposition and use of such property, including inventorying and establishing forms and procedures for sale, rental or other disposition of such propert…

(a) The Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority shall manage residential rental properties of all kinds owned or controlled by the government, except as limited by Federal law, hotels and housing development programs or projects any tenant of public housing who is displaced by f…

The Commissioner of Property and Procurement shall manage and supervise the operation of the Government Printing Office.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d), no real property including improvements thereon owned by the Government of the Virgin Islands (which property is hereafter referred to in this section as “government real estate”) shall be sold, leased, or otherwise disposed of …

Any private watchman, guard or patrol agency or contractor, as defined by Title 23, section 1301, Virgin Islands Code, doing business with the Government of the Virgin Islands, its agencies, departments or independent instrumentalities shall submit a surety bond to the Commission…

(a) For purposes of this chapter:(a) “Building” means any building, structure or facility to be used in whole or in part by the Government of the Virgin Islands but shall not include residential buildings or buildings subject to the provisions of subchapter III, chapter 3, Title …

(a) Not later than 120 days from March 30, 1984, the Commissioner of Public Works shall develop and issue standards to ensure that buildings of the Government of the Virgin Islands utilize, to the maximum extent practicable, natural sunlight for illumination and natural wind ener…

Thirty days after the issuance of, or revisions to, any standards pursuant to the provisions of section 211 of this chapter, no department, office, commission, agency or other instrumentality of the Government of the Virgin Islands may construct, purchase, lease or otherwise acqu…

(a) Buildings under construction by the Department of Public Works on the date specified in section 212 of this chapter shall be modified to conform to the standards issued pursuant to section 211 of this chapter if (1) in the opinion of the Commissioner of Public Works, such mod…

The Commissioner of Property and Procurement, in accordance with law, shall provide for an economic and efficient system for the procurement and supply of all property and non-personal services, and all related functions, such as controlling, inspection, storage, issue, specifica…

(a) In all cases where the Government of the Virgin Islands is authorized to acquire real property by purchase or exchange for any public use, other than by condemnation, and the Governor shall express in writing his opinion that said real property is needed for a specific public…

(1) purchase or contract for all supplies, materials, equipment and contractual services, in the manner described in this chapter, required by any and all departments, offices, boards, institutions, and other agencies of the Government of the Virgin Islands, but not for the legis…

The Commissioner of Property and Procurement shall not issue any order for delivery on a contract or open market purchase unless the request for purchase bears certification that there is to the credit of the department, office, board, institution or other agency concerned a suff…

(a) No purchase shall be made by any department or agency of the government or by any employee of the government for any agency of the government except by written order approved by the Commissioner of Property and Procurement and issued in accordance with section 233 of this tit…

All purchases of and contracts for supplies, materials equipment and contractual services must be conducted in a manner providing for full and open competition consistent with the standards of this chapter. All procurement transactions must be conducted through competitive bids o…

(a) Except as provided for in section 239, all purchases of and contracts for supplies, materials, equipment, and contractual services and for all sales of obsolete and unusable personal property must be based on competitive bids, or competitive proposals. All expenditures made p…

(a) For the purposes of this section “preferred bidder” means (1) a person who has been a bona fide continuous resident of the Virgin Islands for at least 8 years or was born in the Virgin Islands; or (2) a firm, partnership or corporation in which at least fifty-one (51%) percen…

(a) The Commissioner of Property and Procurement, with the cooperation of the Lieutenant Governor and the Commissioner of Public Works, shall—(1) classify all the supplies, materials and equipment used by the various agencies of the government;(2) adopt as standards the minimum n…

All agencies of the government shall file with the Commissioner of Property and Procurement detailed estimates of their requirements in supplies, materials, equipment and contractual services in such manner, and at such periods as the Commissioner shall prescribe. This shall not …

(a) Supplies, material and equipment may be purchased and contractual services negotiated for, in the open market without observing the provisions of section 236 of this title provided—(1) the Governor declares, in the public interest by Proclamation that a State of Emergency exi…

The Commissioner of Property and Procurement may require the inspection or supervision of all deliveries of supplies, materials, equipment or contractual services to determine their conformance with the specifications set forth in the order or contract. Any department having the …

All agencies shall submit to the Commissioner of Property and Procurement, at such times and in such form as he shall prescribe, reports showing stocks of all supplies, materials, and equipment which are no longer used or which have become obsolete, worn out or scrapped. The Comm…

In the interest of efficiency and economy, one department, agency, or fund, may supply services, materials, or equipment to another department, agency, or fund upon request; and an amount equalling the cost of such services or materials, depreciated value of equipment or reasonab…

(a) The Commissioner of Property and Procurement shall control and supervise any and all existing storerooms and warehouses and any which may hereafter be established. (b) Appropriations shall be made by the Legislature to provide a stores revolving fund of sufficient amount to f…

The Commissioner of Property and Procurement shall establish, and from time to time amend, all rules and regulations authorized by this chapter and any others necessary to its operations. Such rules and regulations and amendments thereto shall be subject to final approval of the …

The Commissioner of Property and Procurement shall submit to the Governor an annual report on the work of his department in carrying out the provisions of this chapter and may from time to time suggest changes in this chapter which he deems necessary.

No employee of the Department of Property and Procurement shall be admitted to any share or part of any Government contract or to any benefit that may arise therefrom.

(a) No contract or purchase on behalf of the government shall be made unless the same is authorized by law or is under an appropriation adequate to its fulfillment. (b) Nor shall any otherwise authorized contract or purchase on behalf of any organization of the Government for per…

(a) Any purchase order or contract executed in violation of this chapter and of the rules and regulations promulgated for its enforcement, shall be null and ineffective and, if public funds have been expended in relation therewith, the amount so expended may be recovered in behal…