                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

COSTS OF USING SMALL, WOMEN-OWNED, OR MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESSES (§ 56-235.1:2)

In any proceeding under this title in which the Commission is required to
determine whether costs incurred by a public utility in its delivery or
provision of any goods or service are reasonable or prudent, the incremental
portion of the costs incurred as a result of the public utility&#8217;s
contracting with a small, woman-owned, or minority-owned business to deliver or
provide the goods or service rather than contracting with a business that could
have delivered or provided the goods or service at lower costs shall not be
found to be unreasonable or imprudently incurred, provided that the costs of the
delivery or provision of the goods or services by the small, woman-owned, or
minority-owned business do not exceed, by more than three percent, the costs
thereof that would have been incurred had the public utility contracted with the
lowest-cost qualified business. As used in this section, &#8220;small,
woman-owned, or minority-owned business&#8221; means a business that is
certified by the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity as a small,
women-owned, or minority-owned business pursuant to the conditions and
provisions in § 2.2-1604.

HISTORY: 2020, c. 744.