BILL NUMBER: SB 835 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 20, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 23, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wolk
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
An act to amend Sections 10506.8 10506.4,
10506.5, 10506.6, 10506.7 , 10506.8, and 10506.9 of
, and to add Section 10506.10 to, the Public Contract
Code, relating to public contracts.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 835, as amended, Wolk. Public contracts: University of
California: pilot program: best value procedures:
report. procedures.
Existing law, until January 1, 2012, establishes a pilot
program authorizing the Best Value Construction
Contract Pilot Program, which authorizes a single University of
California campus located in the City and County of San
Francisco to award construction contracts based on
the best value procedures, as defined. Existing law requires the
Regents of the University of California to adopt and publish
procedures and required criteria, as specified, that ensure that all
selections are conducted in a fair and impartial manner.
Existing law also requires, on or before January 1,
2010, the Regents of the University of California to submit a report
to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature and the Joint
Legislative Budget Committee regarding the pilot program, as
specified. Existing law requires bidders to verify specified
information under oath.
This bill would expand the pilot program described above to
apply to all campuses of the University of California, including the
medical centers, for projects over $1,000,000. This bill would
instead require the Regents of the University of California to adopt
and publish procedures and required guidelines for evaluating the
qualifications of the bidders to ensure that best value
selections by the university are conducted in a fair and impartial
manner. This bill would require the Regents of the
University of California to submit a report on the pilot program
before January 1, 2012 2015 . This bill
would extend the pilot program until January 1, 2015
2017. This bill would also make conforming changes to
related provisions .
By extending the requirement that bidders verify specified
information under oath, this bill would impose a state-mandated local
program by expanding the scope of an existing crime.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 10506.4 of the
Public Contract Code is amended to read:
10506.4. (a) This article provides for a pilot program for the
Regents of the University of California when
awarding construction contracts, applicable only to a single
University of California campus located in the City and County of San
Francisco for projects over one million dollars
($1,000,000) .
(b) The Regents of the University of California shall let any
contract for a project pursuant to this article to the lowest
responsible bidder or else reject all bids.
(c) The lowest responsible bidder may be selected on the basis of
the best value to the university, as defined in Section 10506.5. In
order to implement this method of selection, the Regents of the
University of California shall adopt and publish procedures and
required criteria guidelines for evaluating
the qualifications of the bidders that ensure that all
best value selections by the university
are conducted in a fair and impartial manner. These procedures
and guidelines shall conform to the requirements of
Sections 10506.6 and 10506.7 and shall be mandatory for the
University of California campuses in the pilot program
university when using best value selection .
(d) If one or more of the bids is substantially equal to the
lowest bid, and at least one of those bidders is a disadvantaged
business enterprise, a women business enterprise, or a disabled
veteran business enterprise, the regents may award the contract in
accordance with the policies and procedures adopted pursuant to
Section 10500.5.
(e) If the regents deem it to be for the best interest of the
university, the regents may, on the refusal or failure of the
successful bidder for a project to execute a tendered contract, award
it to the second lowest responsible bidder. If the second lowest
bidder fails or refuses to execute the contract, the regents may
likewise award it to the third lowest responsible bidder.
SEC. 2. Section 10506.5 of the Public
Contract Code is amended to read:
10506.5. For purposes of this article, the following definitions
apply:
(a) "Best value" means a procurement process whereby the lowest
responsible bidder may be selected on the basis of objective criteria
for evaluating the qualifications of bidders with the
resulting selection representing the best combination of price and
qualifications.
(b) "Best value contract" means a contract entered into pursuant
to the provisions of this article.
(c) "Best value contractor" means a properly licensed person,
firm, or corporation that submits a bid for, or is awarded, a best
value contract.
(d) "Demonstrated management competency" means the experience,
competency, capability, and capacity of the proposed management
staffing to complete projects of similar size, scope, or complexity.
(e) "Financial condition" means the financial resources needed to
perform the contract. The criteria used to evaluate a bidder's
financial condition shall include, at a minimum, capacity to obtain
all required payment bonds, performance bonds, and liability
insurance.
(f) "Labor compliance" means the ability to comply with, and past
performance with, contract and statutory requirements for the payment
of wages and qualifications of the workforce. The criteria used to
evaluate a bidder's labor compliance shall include, as a minimum, the
bidder's ability to comply with the apprenticeship requirements of
the California Apprenticeship Council and the Department of
Industrial Relations, its past conformance with such requirements,
and its past conformance with requirements to pay prevailing wages on
public works projects.
(g) "Qualifications" means financial condition, relevant
experience, demonstrated management competency, labor compliance, the
safety record of the bidder, and, if required by the bidding
documents, some or all of the preceding qualifications as they
pertain to subcontractors proposed to be used by the bidder for
designated portions of the work.
(h) "Relevant experience" means the experience, competency,
capability, and capacity to complete projects of similar size, scope,
or complexity.
(i) "Safety record" means the prior history concerning the safe
performance of construction contracts. The criteria used to evaluate
a bidder's safety record shall include, as a minimum, its experience
modification rate for the most recent three-year period, and its
average total recordable injury or illness rate and average lost work
rate for the most recent three-year period.
(j) "University" means all campuses of the University
of California , including the medical centers .
SEC. 3. Section 10506.6 of the Public
Contract Code is amended to read:
10506.6. The university shall proceed in accordance with the
following when awarding best value contracts under this article.
(a) The university shall prepare a solicitation for bids and give
notice pursuant to Section 10502.
(b) The university shall establish a procedure to prequalify
bidders. The information required pursuant to this section shall be
verified under oath by the bidder in the manner in which civil
pleadings in civil actions are verified. Information submitted by the
bidder as part of the evaluation process shall not be open to public
inspection to the extent that information is exempt from disclosure
under the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code).
(c) Each solicitation for bids shall do all of the following:
(1) Invite prequalified bidders to submit sealed bids in the
manner prescribed by this article.
(2) Include a section identifying and describing the following:
(A) Criteria that the university will consider in evaluating
bids the qualifications of the bidders
.
(B) The methodology and rating or weighting system that will be
used by the university in evaluating bids.
(C) The relative importance or weight assigned to the criteria
for evaluating the qualifications of bidders identified in
the request for bids.
(d) Final evaluation of the best value contractor shall be done in
a manner that prevents cost or price information from being revealed
to the committee evaluating the qualifications of the bidders prior
to completion and announcement of that committee's decision.
SEC. 4. Section 10506.7 of the Public
Contract Code is amended to read:
10506.7. Selection of the best value contractor shall be made as
follows:
(a) The university shall evaluate the qualifications of the
bidders based solely upon the criteria set forth in the solicitation
documents, and shall assign a qualifications score to each bid.
(b) The award of the contract shall be made to the bidder whose
bid is determined, by the university in writing, to be the best value
to the university. To determine the best value contractor, the
university shall divide each bidder's price by its qualifications
score. The lowest resulting cost per quality point will represent the
best value bid.
(c) The university shall issue a written decision of its contract
award.
(d) Upon issuance of a contract award, the university shall
publicly announce its award identifying the best value contractor to
which the award is made, the project, the project price, and the
selected best value contractor's score based on the
evaluation qualifications criteria for
evaluating the bidders listed in the request for bids. The
notice of award shall be made public and include the score of the
selected best value contractor in relation to all other responsive
bidders and their respective prices. The contract file shall include
documentation sufficient to support the decision to award.
SECTION 1. SEC. 5. Section 10506.8
of the Public Contract Code is amended to read:
10506.8. On or before January 1, 2012
2016 , the Regents of the University of California shall submit
a report to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature and
the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. The report shall include,
but is not limited to, the following information:
(a) A description of the projects awarded using the best value
procedures.
(b) The contract award amounts.
(c) The best value contractors awarded the projects.
(d) A description of any written protests concerning any aspect of
the solicitation, bid, or award of the best value contracts,
including the resolution of the protests.
(e) A description of the prequalification process.
(f) The criteria used to evaluate the bids, including the
weighting of the criteria and an assessment of the effectiveness of
the methodology.
(g) If a project awarded under this article has been completed, an
assessment of the project performance, to include a summary of any
delays or cost increases.
SEC. 2. SEC. 6. Section 10506.9 of
the Public Contract Code is amended to read:
10506.9. This article shall remain in effect only until January
1, 2015 2017 , and as of that date is
repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before
January 1, 2015 2017 , deletes or
extends that date.
SEC. 7. Section 10506.10 is added to the
Public Contract Code , to read:
10506.10. Except as otherwise provided in this article, this
article is not intended to change in any manner any guideline,
criteria, procedure, or requirement of the Regents of the University
of California to let any contract for a project to the lowest
responsible bidder or else reject all bids.
SEC. 3. SEC. 8. No reimbursement is
required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred
by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this
act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or
infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the
definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII
B of the California Constitution.