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The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Section 26: Standards and guidelines applicable to maintenance and repair; compliance inspections; transfer of supervision and control over maintenance and repair operations from state agency or building authority to the office of facilities management or to the commissioner

[ First paragraph effective until May 30, 2023. For text effective May 30, 2023, see below.]

  Section 26. The director shall recommend to the commissioner standards and guidelines applicable to maintenance and repair. Said standards and guidelines shall be complied with by state agencies and building authorities. The director shall also develop maintenance and repair standards and guidelines for use by the department of housing and community development. Said standards and guidelines shall be advisory only.

[ First paragraph as amended by 2023, 7, Sec. 33 effective May 30, 2023. See 2023, 7, Sec. 298. For text effective until May 30, 2023, see above.]

  The director shall recommend to the commissioner standards and guidelines applicable to maintenance and repair. Said standards and guidelines shall be complied with by state agencies and building authorities. The director shall also develop maintenance and repair standards and guidelines for use by the executive office of housing and livable communities. Said standards and guidelines shall be advisory only.

  State agencies and building authorities shall certify to the director, once each year, that all maintenance and repair standards and guidelines have been complied with, or if the state agency or building authority has not so complied, the reasons for noncompliance. The director may order, in his discretion and without prior notice, inspection of state agency or building authority buildings, for the purpose of insuring compliance with maintenance and repair standards and guidelines. If the director finds that a state agency or building authority is not in compliance, the director shall report such noncompliance to the commissioner, the head of the state agency or building authority, the secretary of administration and finance, and in the case of building authorities, the board of higher education and the board of trustees of the relevant institution. If a state agency or building authority fails within 3 months of such notification to comply with said standards and guidelines, the director shall recommend to the commissioner emergency measures that should be taken.

  The director may direct, subject to the approval of the commissioner, once a state agency or building authority is found to be not in compliance with maintenance and repair standards and guidelines, that the state agency or building authority report in detail to the director on a monthly basis the status, progress and problems of maintenance and repair operations at the state agency or building authority's facilities. The director shall recommend to the commissioner regulations to be adopted governing information to be included in the monthly report. The director shall make quarterly reports to the commissioner on the status of maintenance and repair operations at the relevant state agency or building authority. At such time as the commissioner determines, with the advice of the director, that maintenance and repair operations have come into compliance with all applicable standards and guidelines, the state agency or building authority shall be relieved of the necessity of making monthly detailed reports.

  Where it is deemed necessary, the commissioner, on the advice of the director, may recommend that the office assume supervision and control over maintenance and repair operations normally carried out by the state agency or building authority. The secretary of administration and finance, after consultation with the secretary of the executive office in which the relevant state agency or building authority is located, and, in the case of building authorities, after consultation with the board of trustees of the relevant institution, may order transfer of supervision and control of maintenance and repair operations to the commissioner. Upon making such order, the commissioner shall forthwith file a copy of said order with the budget director, the comptroller, the house and senate committees on ways and means, and the joint committee on post audit and oversight, specifying the scope of the authority so transferred and the direction of said transfer. Said transfer may be for such period of time as the commissioner deems appropriate. Where the commissioner has so assumed control and supervision, the commissioner shall make quarterly reports to the secretary of administration and finance on the status of maintenance and repair operations at the affected state agency or building authority.