BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1215
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Date of Hearing: June 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
SB 1215 (Price) - As Amended: April 28, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 28-2
SUBJECT : California Department of Transportation:
prequalified architectural and engineering firms
SUMMARY : Sets forth provisions by which the Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) may establish prequalified lists for
architectural and engineering (A&E) services. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Authorizes Caltrans to award A&E contracts using prequalified
lists.
2)Defines key terms, including:
a) "Prequalified list" to mean a ranked list of A&E
services firms that possess qualifications established by
Caltrans;
b) "Price schedule" to mean an agreement between Caltrans
and an A&E firm in which the firm accepts an order from
Caltrans for a service at a set price for a specified
period of time; these agreements do not oblige Caltrans to
purchase the services from the firm.
3)Sets forth procedures to govern Caltrans' establishment of
prequalified A&E lists, as follows:
a) For each type of A&E service Caltrans elects to use this
process, the department will announce a request for
statements of qualifications from firms statewide and may
also request price schedules;
b) The announcement will describe the general scope of
services to be provided within each project category;
c) Categories will be defined such that each specific
project will be substantially similar to any other project
in the category, including similar size, range, and
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geographic area, and will require substantially similar
skills and magnitude of professional effort;
d) For each category of A&E service, Caltrans will
establish separate lists for small contracts (between
$5,000 and $500,000), medium contracts (between $500,000
and $5 million), and large contracts (over $5 million) for
each of Caltrans' 12 districts;
e) A firm can only be on one list for each category for
each district;
f) Caltrans will evaluate the statements of qualifications
and performance data and develop a ranked list of qualified
firms;
g) Prequalified lists will be maintained for no more than
two years and each list must have at least three firms on
it;
h) The number of firms place on any one list will be based
on the anticipated workload during the life of the list;
i) Caltrans would be prohibited from creating a subsequent
list for the same category, size, and district until 90% of
the anticipated workload has been contracted or two years
has expired;
j) As work is needed, Caltrans will contact the top three
firms on the appropriate list to see if they are available
to work;
aa) Caltrans will then negotiate a contract with the
top-ranked firm at an amount that is fair and reasonable.
If an agreement cannot be reached, Caltrans will contact
the next highest ranked firm on the list and proceed to
negotiate a contract;
bb) Once a firm has been awarded a contract, it will be
moved to the bottom of the list; and
cc) Failure to negotiate a satisfactory agreement with
Caltrans on two separate occasions will result in the firm
being removed from the list.
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4)Provides that, notwithstanding these procedures, Caltrans may
award A&E contracts valued at between $5,000 and $250,000 to
certified small businesses or disabled veteran business
enterprises based on receiving informal price quotes.
5)Requires on or before January 1, 2014, Caltrans to report to
the Legislature on an assessment of the prequalification
process and criteria.
6)Sunsets the prequalification authority and procedures on
January 1, 2014.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Defines "architectural and engineering services" to include
all architectural, landscape architectural, environmental,
engineering, land surveying, and construction project
management services.
2)Explicitly requires, notwithstanding any other provision of
law, that selection by a state or local agency for A&E
services must be based on demonstrated competence and on
professional qualifications.
3)Requires, in the procurement of A&E services, state agencies
to encourage A&E firms to submit annual statements of
qualifications and performance data.
4)When selecting an A&E firm, requires a state agency to review
these statements, along with any others that may be submitted,
to discuss the services needed with at least three firms, and
to enter into negotiations with the firm deemed most
qualified.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author, the purpose of the bill is
to increase small business participation on state-funded A&E
contracts through the use of prequalification lists.
Potential benefits of developing a prequalified list include:
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1)Allowing work to be spread among a greater number of A&E
firms.
2)Minimizing the number of times firms have to enter into
redundant negotiations with Caltrans for substantially similar
A&E contracts.
3)Accelerating the award of A&E contracts by allowing Caltrans
to avoid having to go through the entire solicitation and
qualification evaluation process for each A&E contract.
Developing prequalified lists has potential downfalls as well.
Writing in opposition to SB 1215, the American Council of
Engineering Companies (ACEC) argues that:
1)Creating three separate silos (based on size, range, and
location) and limiting a firm to being on one list at a time
will prohibit free market competition.
2)The requirement to exclude firms from the list if they fail to
reach an agreement with Caltrans inappropriately gives the
department significant leverage.
3)Managing prequalified lists could become an onerous and
time-consuming process for Caltrans.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
American Council of Engineering Companies
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093