(a) Public Purpose. The City finds that evaluating the feasibility of project labor agreements for City building 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 projects, which saves tax dollars and protects the public health, safety, and morals well being; and
(2) Compliance with deadlines for the construction of public buildings, a significant benefit to the public's health, safety and morals well being.
(b) Evaluation of Project Labor Agreements Required.
(1) The Mayor or his designee, with the assistance of the Law Department, shall meet with the appropriate trade union, in connection with the public bidding and contract awarding process for every proposed City building projects in which the engineering estimate for the project exceeds two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) to evaluate whether a project labor agreement will advance the City's procurement interest in cost, efficiency, and quality 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 designee, determines that use of a project labor agreement will serve the goals set forth in Section 109.025(a) of this chapter, the Mayor or his designee, shall negotiate a project labor agreement with the appropriate trade union.
(3) The bidding documents for each such City building 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.
(4) The City shall not thereafter enter into any contract with the successful bidder for the construction of any such City building unless the contract contains a provision requiring the successful bidder, and all of his 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 project with an engineer estimate in excess of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), determines that a project labor agreement will not serve the goals set forth in Section 109.025(a) of this chapter, 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 project. The report of the Mayor shall state the Mayor's reasons for believing that negotiating a project labor agreement for the project will not substantially further the purposes of this chapter, and shall contain his recommendation to Council not to 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 or recommendation. At that meeting of Council, or at Council's next regular or special meeting, Council shall by motion determine whether the Mayor's recommendation not to negotiate a project labor agreement should be adopted. If a majority of the members of Council vote against the motion to adopt, then the Mayor, or his designee, with the assistance of the Law Department, shall be required to forthwith negotiate a project labor agreement for the project. Thereafter, all of the requirements of Section 109.025 shall apply with respect to the project.
(d) Responsible Contracting Standards and Procedures Established.
(1) The Mayor, or his 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 and integrity 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 is disqualified and the next lowest bidder shall become the apparent lowest 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 timeliness of performance quality of work, extension requests, fines and penalties, imposed and payments thereof, liens filed, history of claims for extra work, contract defaults, together with explanations of the 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 citations filed against the apparent lowest bidder in the same three-year period, together with a description and explanation of rededication or other steps taken regarding such violations and notices of violation;
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. Disclosure 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 past 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 violation within the past five years or 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 workforce 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 disproportionably 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) Prior to a final determination that the apparent lowest bidder is not responsible, the City shall notify the party of the same, in writing, stating the reasons causing concern, and setting forth a time, date, and place for the apparent lowest bidder to appear and be heard by the Mayor or his designee, prior to a determination being made regarding its responsibility.
(Ord. 7-2009. Passed 1-20-09.)