(a) The apparent lowest and best responsible bidder shall provide information necessary to ascertain the pecuniary and financial responsibility, accountability, reliability, skill, capacity, judgment, and integrity to do business in the City. In the event the apparent lowest and best responsible bidder fails to furnish the requested information and/or the information provided demonstrates a lack of responsibility, the apparent lowest and best responsible bidder shall be rejected and thereby is disqualified and the next lowest and best responsible bidder shall become the apparent lowest bidder.
(b) To properly evaluate the qualifications and responsibility of the apparent lowest and best responsible bidder, the Mayor or his designee shall require a bidder to furnish the following items:
(1) A description of its experience with projects of comparative size, complexity and cost within recent years, and 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 the contractor's timeliness of performance, quality of work, extension requests, fines and penalties imposed and payment thereof, liens filed, history of claims for extra work, and contract defaults, together with explanations of same;
(3) Identification and description of any projects within the immediately preceding five years in which the apparent lowest and best responsible bidder was determined by a public entity not to be a responsible bidder, and the reasons given by the public entity, together with an explanation thereof;
(4) Documentation of financial responsibility, which may include, in the Mayor's or his designee's discretion, a certified financial statement prepared by a certified public accountant, to insure that the apparent lowest and best responsible 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 and best responsible bidder, to the extent that any such licensure is necessary to perform the work contemplated by the contract;
(6) Disclosure of any and all OSHA violations within the immediately preceding three years as well as all notices of OSHA citations filed against the apparent lowest and best responsible 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 immediately preceding 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 rights or equal employment opportunities;
(8) Disclosure of any litigation within the immediately preceding five years (including copies of pleadings) in which the apparent lowest and best responsible 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;
(9) Disclosure of allegations of violations within the immediately preceding five years of the prevailing wage law and any other federal or state labor law, including but not limited to, child labor violations, failure to pay wages, unemployment insurance tax delinquencies, or unfair labor practices;
(10) Disclosure of any criminal indictments, or convictions, involving the apparent lowest and best responsible bidder, its officers, directors, owners and/or managerial employees, within the immediately preceding five years;
(11) Disclosure of any pending claims or violations within the immediately preceding five years concerning federal, state or municipal laws, codes, rules and regulations, including any Workers' Compensation law, or any anti-discrimination law;
(12) Disclosure of whether the contractor had been disqualified from any public project by virtue of having been found to be not responsible;
(13) Disclosure of any performance bond cancellation or a claim made on a performance bond;
(14) Disclosure of any fines or penalties imposed as a result of contractor's untimeliness in completing a project;
(15) Disclosure of any default or failure to complete any project in accordance with the relevant project's contract requirements;
(16) Documentation verifying the filing of any required tax returns or failure to pay any required taxes to any governmental entity;
(17) Documentation of whether the contractor, and its owners, members, directors or officers, have been convicted of a criminal offense in connection with obtaining, attempting to obtain, and/or performing any public or private contract;
(18) Documentation of whether the contractor, and its owners, members, directors or officers, have been convicted of a federal or state criminal offense involving embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, making false statements, tax evasion or receiving stolen property;
(19) Documentation verifying the contractor's health insurance and pension benefits provided to its employees, if applicable:
(20) Documentation that a substance abuse program that includes testing has been established by the contractor;
(21) Documentation that the contractor has a written safety and health program, including but not limited to training, inspections and complaint procedures, if applicable;
(22) Documentation as to whether the contractor's work force is drawn mainly from the Northeast Ohio region; and
(23) Identification of all work to be subcontracted by the contractor. All subcontractors are also subject to the approval of the Mayor or his designee based on the above-considerations.
(c) In the event the amount of the lowest and best responsible 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 or his designee reserves the right to inquire further of the apparent lowest and best responsible bidder to determine whether the bid contains mathematical errors, omissions and/or erroneous assumptions and whether the apparent lowest and best responsible bidder has the capability to perform and complete the contract for the bid amount.
(d) In determining whether a contractor is a responsible bidder under this chapter, the Mayor or his designee shall evaluate the information required to be furnished by bidders. Neither the Mayor, nor his designee, nor the City shall have any independent duty to verify the bidder representations and disclosures required under subsection (b) hereof. The Mayor or his designee reserves the right to request additional information of a bidder or to waive any or all of the provisions and requirements of this Chapter 127.
(Ord. 2012-65. Passed 12-18-12.)