(1) This code must be construed and applied to promote underlying purposes and policies.
(2) The underlying purposes and policies of this code are:
(a) to provide increased economy in state procurement activities and to maximize to the fullest extent practicable the purchasing values of funds while ensuring that procurements are the most advantageous to the State and in compliance with the provisions of the Ethics Government Accountability and Campaign Reform Act;
(b) to foster effective broad-based competition for public procurement within the free enterprise system;
(c) to develop procurement capability responsive to appropriate user needs;
(d) to consolidate, clarify, and modernize the law governing procurement in this State and permit the continued development of explicit and thoroughly considered procurement policies and practices;
(e) to require the adoption of competitive procurement laws and practices by units of state and local governments;
(f) to ensure the fair and equitable treatment of all persons who deal with the procurement system which will promote increased public confidence in the procedures followed in public procurement;
(g) to provide safeguards for the maintenance of a procurement system of quality and integrity with clearly defined rules for ethical behavior on the part of all persons engaged in the public procurement process; and
(h) to develop an efficient and effective means of delegating roles and responsibilities to the various government procurement officers.