2000-2002
PUBLIC CONTRACT CODE
SECTION 2000-2002
2000. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law requiring a local agency to award contracts to the lowest responsible bidder, any local agency may require that a contract be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder who also does either of the following: (1) Meets goals and requirements established by the local agency relating to participation in the contract by minority business enterprises and women business enterprises. If the bidder does not meet the goals and requirements established by the local agency for that participation, the local agency shall evaluate the good faith effort of the bidder to comply with those goals and requirements as provided in paragraph (2). (2) Makes a good faith effort, in accordance with the criteria established pursuant to subdivision (b), prior to the time bids are opened, to comply with the goals and requirements established by the local agency relating to participation in the contract by minority or women business enterprises. (b) (1) The bidder attended any presolicitation or prebid meetings that were scheduled by the local agency to inform all bidders of the minority and women business enterprise program requirements for the project for which the contract will be awarded. A local agency may waive this requirement if it determines that the bidder is informed as to those program requirements. (2) The bidder identified and selected specific items of the project for which the contract will be awarded to be performed by minority or women business enterprises to provide an opportunity for participation by those enterprises. (3) The bidder advertised, not less than 10 calendar days before the date the bids are opened, in one or more daily or weekly newspapers, trade association publications, minority or trade oriented publications, trade journals, or other media, specified by the local agency for minority or women business enterprises that are interested in participating in the project. This paragraph applies only if the local agency gave public notice of the project not less than 15 calendar days prior to the date the bids are opened. (4) The bidder provided written notice of his or her interest in bidding on the contract to the number of minority or women business enterprises required to be notified by the project specifications not less than 10 calendar days prior to the opening of bids. To the extent possible, the local agency shall make available to the bidder not less than 15 calendar days prior to the date the bids are opened a list or a source of lists of enterprises which are certified by the local agency as minority or women business enterprises. If the local agency does not provide that list or source of lists to the bidder, the bidder may utilize the list of certified minority or women business enterprises prepared by the Department of Transportation pursuant to Section 14030.5 of the Government Code for this purpose. (5) The bidder followed up initial solicitations of interest by contacting the enterprises to determine with certainty whether the enterprises were interested in performing specific items of the project. (6) The bidder provided interested minority and women business enterprises with information about the plans, specifications, and requirements for the selected subcontracting or material supply work. (7) The bidder requested assistance from minority and women community organizations; minority and women contractor groups; local, state, or federal minority and women business assistance offices; or other organizations that provide assistance in the recruitment and placement of minority or women business enterprises, if any are available. (8) The bidder negotiated in good faith with the minority or women business enterprises, and did not unjustifiably reject as unsatisfactory bids prepared by any minority or women business enterprises, as determined by the local agency. (9) Where applicable, the bidder advised and made efforts to assist interested minority and women business enterprises in obtaining bonds, lines of credit, or insurance required by the local agency or contractor. (10) The bidder's efforts to obtain minority and women business enterprise participation could reasonably be expected by the local agency to produce a level of participation sufficient to meet the goals and requirements of the local agency. (c) The performance by a bidder of all of the criteria specified in subdivision (b) shall create a rebuttable presumption, affecting the burden of producing evidence, that a bidder has made a good faith effort to comply with the goals and requirements relating to participation by minority and women business enterprises established pursuant to subdivision (a). (d) "Local agency," as used in this section, means a county or city, whether general law or chartered, city and county, school district, or other district. "District," as used in this section, means an agency of the state, formed pursuant to general law or special act, for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries. (e) "Minority or women business enterprise," as used in this section, means a business enterprise that meets both of the following criteria: (1) A business that is at least 51 percent owned by one or more minority persons or women or, in the case of any business whose stock is publicly held, at least 51 percent of the stock is owned by one or more minority persons or women. (2) A business whose management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more minority persons or women. (f) "Minority person," for purposes of this section, means Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans (including American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, and Native Hawaiians), Asian-Pacific Americans (including persons whose origins are from Japan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, Samoa, Guam, the United States Trust Territories of the Pacific, Northern Marianas, Laos, Cambodia, and Taiwan), or any other group of natural persons identified as minorities in the project specifications by the local agency. (g) This section does not apply to any of the following: (1) Any contract, funded in whole or in part by the federal government, to the extent of any conflict between the requirements imposed by this section and any requirements imposed by the federal government relating to participation in a contract by a minority or women business enterprise as a condition of receipt of the federal funds. (2) The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, or any other local agency that has authority to facilitate the participation of minority or women business enterprises substantially similar to the authority granted to the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District pursuant to Section 20229 of this code or the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission pursuant to Section 130239 of the Public Utilities Code. 2001. (a) Any local agency, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 2000, that requires that contracts be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder meeting, or making a good faith effort to meet, participation goals for minority, women, or disabled veteran business enterprises shall provide in the general conditions under which bids will be received, that any person making a bid or offer to perform a contract shall, in his or her bid or offer, set forth the following information: (1) The name and the location of the place of business of each subcontractor certified as a minority, women, or disabled veteran business enterprise who will perform work or labor or render service to the prime contractor in connection with the performance of the contract and who will be used by the prime contractor to fulfill minority, women, and disabled veteran business enterprise participation goals. (2) The portion of work that will be done by each subcontractor under paragraph (1). The prime contractor shall list only one subcontractor for each portion of work as is defined by the prime contractor in his or her bid or offer. (b) The Subletting and Subcontracting Fair Practices Act (Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 4100) shall apply to the information required by subdivision (a) relating to subcontractors certified as minority, women, or disabled veteran business enterprises. (c) For purposes of this section, "subcontractor" and "prime contractor" shall have the same meaning as those terms are defined in Section 4113. (d) As used in this section, "contract" does not include a contract negotiated pursuant to Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 4525) of Division 5 of Title 1 of the Government Code. 2002. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law requiring a local agency to award contracts to the lowest responsible bidder, any local agency may do any of the following in facilitating contract awards to small businesses: (1) Provide for a small business preference in construction, the procurement of goods, or the delivery of services where responsibility and quality are equal. The preference to a small business shall be up to 5 percent of the lowest responsible bidder meeting specifications. (2) Establish a subcontracting participation goal for small businesses on contracts and grant a preference, up to a maximum of 5 percent, to those bidders who meet the goal. (3) Require bidders to make good faith efforts to meet a subcontracting participation goal for small business contracts. Bidders that fail to meet the goal shall demonstrate that they made good faith efforts to utilize small business contractors. (b) The term "small business," as used in this section, shall be defined by each local agency.