[Travel-Link] Vehicle rental price agreement clarification

[HAY Tim * SSD SPO]

Attention travel arrangers: 

 

There seems to be some confusion whether or not non-state employees can
operate the vehicles provided under the Enterprise/National and Hertz
Price Agreements.  I am sending this email out as clarification as to
who can rent and operate these vehicles.    When ever a vehicle is
rented by the state, that rental vehicle falls under the same rules and
statutes that apply to state owned vehicles. They are as follows:

 

Agent means:  A person or legal entity appointed in writing by a State
agency to perform specific work.  An agent is not an independent
contractor.  Agents, paid or unpaid, are subject to the direction and
control of the agency.  An agency may not call people "agents" for the
primary purpose of justifying their transportation in a State vehicle.

 

Employee means: A person employed by the State of Oregon to do State
business for whom the State withholds income tax, provides workers
compensation coverage, and pays the workers' compensation hour-tax.
Under this definition, workers provided by a temporary employment
services agency and Department of Corrections inmates are not employees.

 

Vehicle use and storage:  No person shall drive, operate or use,
authorize or permit any person to drive, operate or use any motor
vehicle as defined in ORS 283.305 for any purpose except for Official
State business as defined in ORS 283.305 and by the rules of the Oregon
Department of Administrative Services.   

 

In other words, when reserving a vehicle that is to be operated by a
non-state employee, you need to ask the question whether that person
would be allowed to operate a state owned vehicle as an agent or
employee as defined above.  If the answer is no, then that person should
NOT be driving a vehicle under these price agreements.   The Price
Agreements state that the "traveler" is a person who is authorized to
travel by a participant, however, per ORS 283.305, the Traveler must
fall into either the Agent or Employee definition.   No other
individuals are authorized to operate the vehicles under our Price
Agreements with Enterprise/National and Hertz.  

 

The primary reason is the liability involved for the person driving the
vehicle, the Contractor and the State.    Our Price Agreements include
full damage and liability insurance coverage and if a person was
involved in an accident operating a rental vehicle, and it was
discovered that the person was not a state employee or agent of the
state, the state could ultimately end up being responsible for a
non-state employee or non-state agent accident.  

 

If you need any further clarification regarding this, please contact me.

 

 

Best regards,

 

Tim A. Hay, CPPB, CGTP, OPBC 
Lead State Procurement Analyst 
DAS State Procurement Office 
1225 Ferry St SE U140 
Salem, OR 97301-4285 

Ph.  503-378-4650 
Fax. 503-373-1626 
tim.hay at state.or.us 

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