(a) 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, 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 thereby is disqualified and the next lowest bidder shall become the apparent lowest responsible bidder.
(b) The Mayor shall require a bidder to furnish the following items:
(1) Description 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;
(2) Documentation from previous projects regarding timeliness of performance, quality of work, extension requests, fines and penalties imposed and payment thereof, li%ns filed, history of claims for extra work, contract defaults, together with explanations of same;
(3) Identification and description of any projects within the previous five years in which 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;
(4) 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;
(5) Disclosure of any suspension or revocation 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;
(6) Disclosure of any and all OSHA violations within 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 remediation or other steps taken regarding such violations and notices of violation;
(7) 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;
(8) 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;
(9) 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;
(10) Disclosure of violations of the workers compensation law;
(11) 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;
(12) 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;
(13) Documentation of the contractor's participation and contributions to a bona fide apprenticeship program;
(14) Documentation that the contractor provides health insurance and pension benefits to its employees;
(15) Identification of whether the contractor's workforce is drawn mainly from area residents;
(16) Identification of all work to be subcontracted. All subcontractors are also subject to the approval of the Mayor based on the above considerations.
(c) In the event the amount of the lowest bid appears disproportionately low when compared to 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.
(d) Prior to a final determination that the apparent lowest bidder is not responsible, the City shall notify the party of 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. 181-00. Passed 7-24-00.)
(e) 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. The Mayor or his or her designee reserves the right to request additional information of a bidder. Any contractor who fails to satisfy three or more of the criteria listed in divisions (e)(1) through (e)(23) of this section shall be presumed to not be a responsible contractor.
(1) The contractor and/or its owners must have been in the construction business for at least five years.
(2) The contractor must not have been disqualified from any public project by virtue of having been found to be not responsible.
(3) The contractor must not have had a performance bond canceled or had a claim made on a performance bond.
(4) The contractor must not have been fined or had penalties imposed as a result of untimeliness in completing a project.
(5) The contractor must not have been found in default or failed to complete any project in accordance with contract requirements.
(6) The contractor must not have been found to have committed any unfair labor practice or any other labor law violation (e.g., FLSA, FMLA).
(7) The contractor must not have been found to have violated any employment discrimination law.
(8) The contractor must not have been found to have violated the Workers' Compensation Law.
(9) The contractor must not have been found to have violated either State or Federal prevailing wage laws.
(10) The contractor must not have been found to have committed more than one willful or repeated OSHA violation in the last three years.
(11) The contractor must not have a penalty rating from the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
(12) The contract must not have failed to file any required tax returns or failed to pay any required taxes to any governmental entity.
(13) Neither the contractor, high level management personnel nor any owners may have had any professional licenses, permits or certifications suspended or revoked.
(14) 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.
(15) 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.
(16) Neither the contract nor its owners may have filed for bankruptcy.
(17) The contractor must have obligated itself to make ongoing and regular contributions to an apprenticeship program registered with the Bureau of Apprenticeship Training of the United States Department of Labor.
(18) The contractor must have obligated itself to provide health insurance benefits to its employees.
(19) The contractor must have obligated itself to provide retirement benefits to its employees.
(20) The contractor must have a substance abuse program that includes testing and treatment.
(21) The contractor must have a written safety and health program that includes training, inspections and a complaint procedure.
(22) The contractor must have at least five satisfactory references from the most recently completed projects of similar size and scope.
(23) The contractor must currently employ or have a reliable source for hiring sufficient qualified skilled, safety-trained workers to perform the project.
(Ord. 178-02. Passed 6-3-02; Ord. 260-02. Passed 3-1-04.)