(a) Prior to awarding a contract, the City shall make a determination that the prospective contractor is one that has the necessary quality, fitness and capacity to perform the work set forth in the contract. Responsibility will be determined by each awarding authority from reliable information concerning a number of criteria, including but not limited to: management expertise; technical qualifications; experience; organization, material, equipment and facilities necessary to perform the work; financial resources; satisfactory performance of other contracts; satisfactory record of compliance with relevant laws and regulations; and satisfactory record of business integrity.
(b) Every bidder for a City contract must complete and submit with its bid a questionnaire developed by the DAA which will provide information the awarding authority needs in order to determine if the bidder meets the criteria set forth in Paragraph (a) of this section. If no bid is required, the prospective contractor must submit a questionnaire. The response to the questionnaire must be signed under penalty of perjury. If, after execution of a contract, the City learns that the contractor submitted false information on the questionnaire, the City may terminate the contract and pursue the remedies set forth in Section 10.40.6 of this article. The contractor shall be obligated to update its responses to the questionnaire during the term of the contract within thirty calendar days after any change to the responses previously provided if such change would affect contractor’s fitness and ability to continue performing the contract. The City may consider failure of the contractor to update the questionnaire with this information as a material breach of the contract and invoke the remedies set forth in Section 10.40.6 of this article.
(c) Questionnaires will be public records and information contained therein will be available for public review, except to the extent that such information is exempt from disclosure pursuant to applicable law. The awarding authority may rely on responses to the questionnaire, information from compliance and regulatory agencies and/or independent investigation to determine bidder responsibility.
(d) Before being declared non-responsible, a bidder shall be notified of the proposed determination of non-responsibility, served with a summary of the information upon which the awarding authority is relying and provided with an opportunity to be heard in accordance with applicable law. At the responsibility hearing, the bidder will be allowed to rebut adverse information and to present evidence that it has the necessary quality, fitness and capacity to perform the work. The bidder must exercise its right to request a hearing within five calendar days after receipt of such notice. Failure to submit a written request for a hearing within the time frame set forth in this section, will be deemed a waiver of the right to such a hearing and the awarding authority may proceed to determine whether or not the award of the contract should be made to another bidder or whether or not the bidder is non-responsible for this and future contracts. The determination by an awarding authority that the bidder is non-responsible shall be final and constitute exhaustion of the bidder’s administrative remedies.
(e) A list of individuals and entities which have been determined to be non-responsible by the City shall be maintained by the DAA. After two years from the date the individual or entity has been determined to be non-responsible, the individual or entity may request removal from the list by the awarding authority. If the individual or entity can satisfy the awarding authority that it has the necessary quality, fitness, and capacity to perform work in accordance with the criteria set forth in Paragraph (a) of this section, its name shall be removed from the list. Unless otherwise removed from the list by the awarding authority, names shall remain on the list for five years from the date of being declared non-responsible.
(f) Contractors shall ensure that their subcontractors meet the criteria for responsibility as set forth in Paragraph (a) of this section, unless the subcontract is below the threshold requirements for contracts contained in Section 10.40.1(b).
SECTION HISTORY
Added by Ord. No. 173,677, Eff. 1-14-01.
Amended by: Subsec. (c), Ord. No. 176,292, Eff. 1-1-05.