Amended in Assembly March 28, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1971

Introduced by Assembly Member Bocanegra

February 19, 2014

An act to begin delete amend Section 52051.5 of the Education Code, relating to school accountability. end delete begin insert add and repeal Article 3.3 (commencing with Section 20119) of Chapter 1 of Part 3 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code, relating to best value procurement. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1971, as amended, Bocanegra. begin delete School accountability: Academic Performance Index. end delete begin insert Public contracts: school districts: competitive bidding: best value. end insert

begin insert

The Local Agency Public Construction Act requires the governing board of any school district to let any contract for a public project, as defined, involving an expenditure of $15,000 or more, to the lowest responsible bidder that gives security as the board requires, or else reject all bids.

end insert begin insert

This bill would authorize the bid evaluation and selection for public projects that exceed $1,000,000 to be determined by the best value for the school district. The bill would establish various requirements applicable to the use of the best value procurement method for the evaluation and selection of public projects by school districts under this authorization.

end insert begin delete

Existing law, the Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with approval of the State Board of Education, to develop an Academic Performance Index to measure the performance of schools and school districts, especially the academic performance of pupils. Existing law, for purposes of the act, requires all references to schools to include charter schools.

end delete begin delete

This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to the provision requiring all references to schools to include charter schools.

end delete

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Article 3.3 (commencing with Section 20119) is
added to Chapter 1 of Part 3 of Division 2 of the end insert begin insert Public Contract
Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

 

Article begin insert 3.3. end insert   School Districts -- Best Value Procurement

 

begin insert 20119. end insert   

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to enable school
districts to use cost-effective options for building and modernizing
school facilities. The Legislature has recognized the merits of the
best value procurement method process in the past by authorizing
its use for projects undertaken by the University of California.

(b) The Legislature also finds and declares that school districts
using the best value procurement method require a clear
understanding of the roles and responsibilities of each participant
in the best value process. As reflected in the University of
California report to the Legislature, the benefits of a best value
procurement method include a reduction in contract delays, change
orders, and claims producing a savings in both contract costs and
administration.

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide an optional,
alternative procedure for bidding and building school construction
projects.

(d) In addition, it is the intent of the Legislature that the best
value procurement method is not intended to change in any manner
any guideline, criteria, procedure, or requirement of the governing
board of the school district to let any contract for a project to the
lowest responsible bidder or else reject all bids.

begin insert 20119.1. end insert   

As used in this article:

(a) “Best value” means a procurement process whereby the
selected 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, and required 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,
at 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) “Project” has the same meaning as “public project” is
defined in subdivision (c) of Section 22002.

(h) “Qualifications” means financial condition, relevant
experience, demonstrated management competency, labor
compliance, the safety record of the bidder, and to the extent
relevant, the preceding qualifications as they pertain to all
subcontractors proposed to be used by the bidder for designated
portions of the work.

(i) “Relevant experience” means the experience, competency,
capability, and capacity to complete projects of similar size, scope,
or complexity.

(j) “Safety record” shall be deemed “acceptable” if its
experience modification rate for the most recent three-year period
is an average of 1.00 or less, and its average total recordable
injury or illness rate and average lost work rate for the most recent
three-year period do not exceed the applicable statistical standards
for its business category, or if the bidder is a party to an alternative
dispute resolution system as provided for in Section 3201.5 of the
Labor Code. If the experience modification rate for the most recent
three-year period is or was 1.00 or higher, a bidder may attach a
letter of explanation that the school district may review and take
into consideration when evaluating the bidder’s acceptable safety
record.

(k) (1) “Skilled and trained workforce” means a workforce
that meets both of the following criteria, as applicable:

(A) All the workers are either registered apprentices or skilled
journeypersons.

(B) (i) As of January 1, 2015, at least 30 percent of the skilled
journeypersons are graduates of an apprenticeship program for
the applicable occupation that was either approved by the Chief
of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards pursuant to Section
3075 of the Labor Code or located outside California and approved
for federal purposes pursuant to the apprenticeship regulations
adopted by the federal Secretary of Labor.

(ii) As of January 1, 2016, at least 45 percent of the skilled
journeypersons are graduates of an apprenticeship program for
the applicable occupation that was either approved by the Chief
of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards pursuant to Section
3075 of the Labor Code or located outside California and approved
for federal purposes pursuant to the apprenticeship regulations
adopted by the federal Secretary of Labor.

(iii) As of January 1, 2017, at least 60 percent of the skilled
journeypersons are graduates of an apprenticeship program for
the applicable occupation that was either approved by the Chief
of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards pursuant to Section
3075 of the Labor Code or located outside California and approved
for federal purposes pursuant to the apprenticeship regulations
adopted by the federal Secretary of Labor.

(2) A school district and a contractor are not required to track
the percentage of journeypersons that are graduates of an
apprenticeship program if the governing board of the school
district has entered into a project labor agreement that will bind
all contractors and subcontractors performing work on the project
and complies with Section 2500.

begin insert 20119.2. end insert   

(a) The governing board of any school district, for
projects over one million dollars ($1,000,000), may use the best
value procurement method in accordance with this article.

(b) The governing board of any school district shall let any
contract for a project pursuant to this article to the selected bidder
that represents the best value or else reject all bids.

(c) The bidder may be selected on the basis of the best value to
the governing board of the school district. In order to implement
this method of selection, the governing board of the school district
shall adopt and publish procedures and required guidelines for
evaluating the qualifications of the bidders that ensure the best
value selections by the school district are conducted in a fair and
impartial manner. These procedures and guidelines shall conform
to this article and shall be mandatory for the school district when
using best value selection.

(d) If the governing board of the school district deems it to be
for the best interest of the school district, the governing board of
the school district may, on the refusal or failure of the successful
bidder for a project to execute a tendered contract, award it to the
second bidder that represents the best value. If the second bidder
fails or refuses to execute the contract, the governing board of the
school district may likewise award it to the third bidder.

begin insert 20119.3. end insert   

The governing board of the school district shall
proceed in accordance with the following when awarding best
value contracts under this article:

(a) The governing board of the school district shall prepare a
solicitation for bids and give notice pursuant to Section 20112.

(b) The governing board of the school district shall establish a
procedure to prequalify bidders pursuant to Sections 20101 and
20111.6. 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 governing board of the school district will
consider in evaluating the qualifications of the bidders.

(B) The methodology and rating or weighting system that will
be used by the governing board of the school district in evaluating
bids and specifically whether proposals will be rated according
to numeric or qualitative values.

(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.

begin insert 20119.4. end insert   

Selection of the best value contractor shall be made
as follows:

(a) (1) The governing board of the school district shall evaluate
the qualifications of the bidders based solely upon the criteria set
forth in the solicitation documents, and shall assign a qualification
score to each bid.

(2) Factors in determining a qualification score shall include,
but are not limited to, price, relevant experience, skilled and
trained workforce, and acceptable safety record and shall be
weighted in accordance with the following:

(A) At least 50 percent of the total weight or consideration shall
be given to the following factors: relevant expertise, skilled and
trained workforce, and acceptable safety record. A factor listed
in this subparagraph shall not make up less than 15 percent of the
total weight or consideration.

(B) No more than 50 percent of the total weight or consideration
shall be given to price. A bidder that qualifies as a certified small
business shall receive a 5-percent bid preference.

(b) The award of the contract shall be made to the bidder whose
bid is determined, by the school district in writing, to be the best
value to the governing board of the school district. To determine
the best value contractor, the governing board of the school district
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 governing board of the school district shall issue a
written decision of its contract award.

(d) Upon issuance of a contract award, the governing board of
the school district 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 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 names of the remaining responsive bidders may be
concealed upon the request of the bidders, in which case the
governing board of the school district shall determine an
alternative method for publicly announcing its award of the
contract. The contract file shall include documentation sufficient
to support the decision to award.

begin insert 20119.5. end insert   

This article shall remain in effect only until January
1, 2022, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2022, deletes or extends
that date.

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 52051.5 of the Education Code is
amended to read:

52051.5.  

For purposes of this chapter, all references to schools
shall also include charter schools.

end delete