Minnesota Statutes Utilities (Ch. 216-216H) § 216D.03. Notification center

Subd. 2. Establishment of notification center; rules. (a) The notification center services must be provided by a nonprofit corporation approved in writing by the commissioner. The nonprofit corporation must be governed by a board of directors of up to 20 members, one of whom is the director of the Office of Pipeline Safety. The other board members must represent and be elected by operators, excavators, and other persons eligible to participate in the center. In deciding to approve a nonprofit corporation, the commissioner shall consider whether it meets the requirements of this paragraph and whether it demonstrates that it has the ability to contract for and implement the notification center service.

(b) The commissioner shall adopt rules:

(c) The commissioner shall select a vendor to provide the notification center service. The commissioner may advertise for bids as provided insection 16C.06, subdivisions 1and2, and base the selection of a vendor on best value as provided insection 16C.06, subdivision 6. The commissioner shall select and contract with the vendor to provide the notification center service, but all costs of the center must be paid by the operators. The commissioner may at any time appoint a task force to advise on the renewal of the contract or any other matter involving the center's operations.

(d) An operator may submit a bid and be selected to contract to provide the notification center service under paragraph (a) or (c). The commissioner shall annually review the services provided by the nonprofit corporation approved under paragraph (a) or the vendor selected under paragraph (c).

Subd. 5. Performance reporting. (a) Each operator must submit a report to the Office of Pipeline Safety on a quarterly basis, using a form or database entry designated by the Office of Pipeline Safety. The report must contain the following information:

(b) Except for a pipeline operator that is subject to chapter 299F or 299J, an operator with fewer than 5,000 notifications received during the previous calendar year is exempt from the reporting requirement under paragraph (a).

(c) The data collected under this subdivision may not be used to initiate an enforcement action by the Office of Pipeline Safety.

(d) The commissioner must annually publish a report on the data collected under this subdivision and make the report available on the Office of Pipeline Safety website.