(a) Except as provided herein, no Commonwealth agency under the control of the executive branch shall be a project applicant under this act. Operating expenses of any Commonwealth agency under the control of the executive branch are not an eligible project cost.

(b) The Department of Public Welfare¹ may be a project applicant to provide for the conversion of medical assistance services from a fee-for-service basis to a prepaid managed-care basis subject to prior approval of this conversion mechanism by the Health Care Financing Agency of the Federal Department of Health and Human Services and prior notice of project details and Federal approval to the chairman and minority chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the chairman and minority chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Maximum term of the bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness issued for this project shall be five years.