(a) Public Purpose. The City finds that evaluating the feasibility of project labor agreements for City building and other public improvement projects and articulating standards and establishing reporting requirements to evaluate the responsibility of public contractors further the following public purposes:
(1) Promotion of better quality workmanship on City building and other public improvement projects, which in turn saves tax dollars and protects the public health, safety and morals; and
(2) Promotion of labor peace during periods of time when public buildings or other public improvements are under construction, which likewise confers a significant benefit to the public's health, safety and morals.
(b) Evaluation of Project Labor Agreements Required.
(1) The Mayor, or his or her assignee, with the assistance of the Law Department, shall meet with the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council, or other appropriate trade union, in connection with the public bidding and contract awarding process for every prepared City building and other City improvement project in which the engineering estimate for the project exceeds four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) to evaluate whether a project labor agreement will advance the City's procurement interest in cost, efficiency, and quality, and in promoting labor- management stability, as well as compliance with applicable legal requirements governing safety and health, equal employment opportunity, labor and employment standards and other matters.
(2) If the Mayor, or his or her designee, determines that use of a project labor agreement will serve the goals set forth in Section 107.02(a), the Mayor, or his designee, shall negotiate a project labor agreement with the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council, or other appropriate trade unions.
A. The bidding documents for each such City building or other improvement project shall contain a written provision requiring the successful bidder to comply with and adhere to all of the provisions of any project labor agreement negotiated by the Mayor for the project.
B. The City shall not thereafter enter into any contract with the successful bidder for the construction of any such City building or other improvement, unless the contract contains a provision requiring the successful bidder, and all of his or her contractors and subcontractors, to comply with and adhere to the provisions of the negotiated project labor agreement.
(c) Rejection of Project Labor Agreement; Council Action Required. If the Mayor, with respect to any proposed City building or other improvement project with an engineer estimate in excess of four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000), determines that a project labor agreement will not serve the goals set forth in Section 107.02(a), the Mayor shall submit a written report and recommendation to the Clerk of Council, which thereafter shall be acted upon by Council as hereinafter provided, prior to the preparation of bid documents for the said project. The report of the Mayor shall state the Mayor's reasons for believing that negotiating a project labor agreement for the said project will not substantially further the purposes of this chapter, and shall contain his or her recommendation to Council to not negotiate a project labor agreement. The report shall be presented to the members of Council at Council's next regular or special meeting which occurs at least five days after the Clerk of Council's receipt of the Mayor's report and recommendation. At that meeting of Council, or at Council's next regular or special meeting, Council shall, by motion, determine whether the Mayor's recommendations to not negotiate a project labor agreement should be adapted. If a majority of the members of Council vote against the motion to adopt, than the Mayor, or his or her designee, with the assistance of the Law Department, shall be required to forthwith negotiate a project labor agreement for the said project. Thereafter, all of the requirements of Section 107.02 shall apply with respect to the said project.
(d) Responsible Contracting Standards and Procedures Established.
(1) The Mayor, or his or her designee, in connection with the public bidding and contract awarding process for every proposed City building and other City improvement project, shall, prior to the awarding of contracts, establish criteria for evaluating the responsibility of the apparent lowest bidder and require that the apparent lowest responsible bidder provide information necessary to ascertain the pecuniary and financial responsibility, accountability, reliability, skill, capacity, judgment, interview and moral worth to do business in our community. In the event the apparent lowest bidder fails to furnish the requested information and/or the information provided demonstrates a lack of responsibility, the apparent lowest bidder shall be rejected and thereby is disqualified, and the next lowest bidder shall become the apparent lowest responsible bidder.
(2) The Mayor shall require bidders to furnish the following items:
A. Descriptions of its experience with projects of comparative size, complexity, and cost within recent years, demonstrating the contractor's ability and capacity to perform a substantial portion of the project with its own forces;
B. Documentation from previous projects regarding timelines of performance, quality of work, extension requests, fines and penalties imposed and payment thereof, liens filed, history of claims for extra work, contract defaults, together with explanations of same;
C. Identification and description of any projects within the previous five years that the apparent lowest bidder was determined by a public entity not to be a responsible bidder, the reasons given by the public entity, together with an explanation thereof;
D. An adequate demonstration of financial responsibility, which may include, in the Mayor's discretion, a certified financial statement prepared by a certified public accountant, to assure that the apparent lowest bidder possesses adequate resources and availability of credit and the means and ability to procure insurance and bonds required for the project;
E. Disclosure of any suspension or revocations of any professional license of any director, officer, owner, or managerial employee of the apparent lowest bidder, to the extent that any work to be performed is within the field of such licensed profession;
F. Disclosure of any and all OSHA violations with the previous three years, as well as all notices of OSHA situations filed against the apparent lowest bidder in the same three-year period, together with a description and explanation of remediation or other steps taken regarding such violations and notice of violations;
G. Disclosure of any and all violations within the previous five years pertaining to unlawful intimidation or discrimination against any employee by reason of race, creed, color, disability, sex, or national origin and/or violations of an employee's civil or labor rights or equal employment opportunities;
H. Disclosure of any litigation (including copies of pleadings) in which the apparent lowest bidder has been named as a defendant or third party defendant in an action involving a claim for personal injury or wrongful death arising from performance of work related to any project in which it has been engaged within the previous five years;
I. Disclosures of allegations of violations of the prevailing wage law and any other state or Federal labor law, including, but not limited to, child labor violations, failure to pay wages, or unemployment insurance tax delinquencies or unfair labor practices within the next five years;
J. Disclosure of violations of the workers compensation law;
K. Disclosure of any criminal convictions or criminal indictments, involving the apparent lowest bidder, its officers, directors, owners and/or managerial employees, within the past five years;
L. Disclosure of any violations within the past five years of pending charges concerning federal, state, or municipal environmental and/or health laws, codes, rules and/or regulations;
M. Documentation of the contractor's participation and contributions to a bona fide apprenticeship program;
N. Documentation that the contractor provides health insurance and pension benefits to its employees;
O. Identification of whether the contractor's work force is drawn mainly from area residents;
P. Identification of all work to be subcontracted. All subcontractors are also subject to the approval of the Mayor based on the above considerations.
(3) In the event the amount of the lowest bid appears disproportionately low when compared with estimates undertaken by or on behalf of the City and/or compared to other bids submitted, the Mayor reserves the right to inquire further of the apparent lowest bidder to determine whether the bid contains mathematical errors, omissions and/or erroneous assumptions, and whether the apparent lowest bidder has the capability to perform and complete the contract for the bid amount.
(4) In determining whether a contractor is a responsible contractor under this section, the Mayor and/or his or her designee shall evaluate the information required to be furnished by bidders, as well as consider the criteria listed in divisions (d)(4)A. through (d)(4)W. of this section. The Mayor or his or her designee reserves the right to request additional information of a bidder.
A. The contractor and/or its owners must have been in the construction business for at least five years.
B. The contractor must not have been disqualified from any public project by virtue of having been found to be not responsible.
C. The contractor must not have had a performance bond canceled or had a claim made on a performance bond.
D. The contractor must not have been fined nor had penalties imposed as a result of the untimeliness in completing a project.
E. The contractor must not have been found in default or failed to complete any project in accordance with contract requirements.
F. The contractor must not have been found to have committed any unfair labor practice or any other labor law violation (e.g., FLSA, FMLA).
G. The contractor must not have been found to have violated any employment discrimination law.
H. The contractor must not have been found to have violated the workers' compensation law.
I. The contractor must not have been found to have violated either State or Federal prevailing wage laws.
J. The contractor must not have been found to have committed more than one willful or repeated OSHA violation in the last three years.
K. The contractor must not have a penalty rating from the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
L. The contractor must not have failed to file any required tax returns or failed to pay any required taxes to any governmental entity.
M. Neither the contractor, high level management personnel nor any owners may have had any professional licenses, permit or certifications suspended or revoked.
N. Neither the contractor, high level management personnel nor any owners may have been convicted of a criminal offense in connection with obtaining, attempting to obtain, and/or performing any public or private contract.
O. Neither the contractor, high level management personnel nor any owners may have been convicted of embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, making false statements, tax evasion or receiving stolen property.
P. Neither the contract nor its owners may have filed for bankruptcy.
Q. The contractor must have obligated itself to make on-going and regular contributions to an apprenticeship program registered with the Bureau of Apprenticeship Training of the Untied States Department of Labor.
R. The contractor must have obligated itself to provide health insurance benefits to its employees
S. The contractor must have obligated itself to provide retirement benefits to its employees.
T. The contractor must have a substance abuse program that includes testing and treatment.
U. The contractor must have a written safety and health program that includes training, inspections and a complaint procedure.
V. The contractor must have at least five satisfactory references from the most recently completed projects of similar size and scope.
W. The contractor must currently employ or have a reliable source for hiring sufficient qualified skilled, safety-trained workers to perform the project.
(5) Non-Applicability. If Ohio R.C. 4116.01 through 4116.04, or substantially equivalent State law provisions, is found to be lawful by a court of competent jurisdiction, then Sections 107.01 and 107.03 shall not apply to any public improvement project which includes State funds appropriated for the purpose of that public improvement.
(Ord. 9305-2006. Passed 9-19-06.)