§103D-309  Contract not binding unless funds
available.  (a)  Contracts awarded pursuant to section 103D-302, 103D-303,
or 103D-306, shall neither be binding nor have any force and effect of law
unless the comptroller, the director of finance of a county, or the respective
chief financial officers of the department of education, the judiciary, or the
legislative branches of the State or county, as the case may be, endorses
thereon a certificate that there is an appropriation or balance of an
appropriation over and above all outstanding contracts, sufficient to cover the
amount required by the contract; provided that if the contract is a multi-term
contract, the comptroller, director of finance, or chief financial officer
shall only be required to certify that there is an appropriation or balance of
an appropriation over and above all outstanding contracts, that is sufficient
to cover the amount required to be paid under the contract during the fiscal
year or remaining portion of the fiscal year of each term of the multi-year
contract; provided further that the administrator of the state procurement
office shall attest in writing to any recommendation or solicitations.  This
section shall not apply to any contract under which the total amount to be paid
to the contractor cannot be accurately estimated at the time the contract is to
be awarded, or to any contract for which consideration is in kind or
forbearance, or to any contract awarded pursuant to section 103D-306 that is a
one-time payment through a purchase order.



(b)  In any contract involving not only state
or county funds but supplemental funds from the federal government, this
section shall be applicable only to that portion of the contract price as is
payable out of state or county funds.  As to the portion of the contract price
as is expressed in the contract to be payable out of federal funds, the
contract shall be construed to be an agreement to pay the portion to the
contractor, only out of federal funds to be received from the federal
government.  This subsection shall be liberally construed so as not to hinder
or impede the State in contracting for any project involving financial aid from
the federal government. [L Sp 1993, c 8, pt of §2; am L 1995, c 178, §13; am L
1999, c 149, §15]