Section 8. No state, county or municipal employee and no person acting or purporting to act on behalf of such employee, or any state, county or municipal agency, shall with respect to any public building or construction contract which is about to be or which has been competitively bid, require the bidder to make application to or furnish financial data to, or to obtain, or procure, any of the surety bonds or insurance specified in connection with such contract or specified by any law from any particular insurance or surety company, agent, or broker. This section shall not prevent the exercise by such employee on behalf of a state, county, or municipal agency of its right to approve the form, sufficiency, or manner of execution of the surety bonds and insurance furnished by the insurance or surety company selected by the bidder to underwrite said insurance and bonds. Any provisions in any invitation for bids, or in any of the contract documents, in conflict with this section are hereby declared to be contrary to the public policy of this commonwealth. Whoever violates any provision of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.