2740 - Contracts.
§ 2740. Contracts. All contracts or orders for work, material or supplies performed or furnished in connection with construction, shall be awarded by the authority pursuant to resolution of the governing body except as hereinafter provided. Such awards, when applicable, shall be made in compliance with paragraph (e) of subdivision four and subdivision seven of section one hundred twenty-w of the general municipal law. In any construction contract, the authority may provide a program for the payment of damages for delays and incentive awards in order to encourage timely project completion. An action, suit or proceeding contesting the validity of a contract awarded pursuant to this section, or the validity of the procedures relating to such award, shall be governed by the provisions of subdivision six of section one hundred twenty-w of the general municipal law and the term "municipality" as used in such subdivision six shall mean the authority. The bidder whose bid is accepted shall give security for the faithful performance of the contract, and such other security as the authority may require, and may be required to maintain any construction done under the contract for such period as shall be stipulated, all in the manner prescribed and required by the authority and the sufficiency of such security shall, in addition to the justification and acknowledgement, be approved by the authority. All bids or proposals shall be publicly opened by the governing body or its duly authorized agent. If the bidder whose bid or proposal has been accepted after advertising shall neglect or refuse to accept the contract within five days after written notice that the contract has been awarded to him on his bid or proposal or, if he accepts but does not execute the contract and give proper security, the authority shall have the right to declare his deposit forfeited. In case any work shall be abandoned by any contractor, the authority may, if it determines that the public interest is thereby served, adopt on behalf of the authority any or all subcontracts made by such contractor for such work and all such subcontractors shall be bound by such adoption if made. No bid or proposal shall be accepted from or any contract awarded to, any person or corporation who is in arrears to the authority or any participating county upon any obligation of the authority or any participating county. Every contract shall be executed in duplicate, one copy of which shall be held by the authority and one copy of which shall be delivered to the contractor. The authority may adopt, utilize, ratify and confirm any request for proposals, invitation for sealed bids, plans, specifications and notices heretofore or hereafter published by any participating county with respect to any proposed project. The provisions of this section shall supersede any inconsistent provisions of the general municipal law, or any other general, special or local law, or the charter of any participating county. 1. Provided further that all contracts for design, construction, services or materials for projects authorized by this title shall require that such contracts and documents soliciting bids or proposals therefor shall contain or make reference to the following provisions: (a) The contractor will not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment because of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, or marital status, and will undertake or continue programs of affirmative action to insure that minority group persons and women are afforded equal employment opportunity without discrimination. Such action shall be taken with reference, but not be limited to recruitment, employment, job assignment, promotion, upgrading, demotion, transfer, layoff, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation, and selections for training or retraining, including apprenticeship and on-the-job training.(b) At the request of the authority, the contractor shall request each employment agency, labor union, or authorized representative of workers with which he or she has a collective bargaining or other agreement or understanding, to furnish a written statement that such employment agency, labor union or representative shall not discriminate because of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability or marital status and that such union or representative will cooperate in the implementation of the contractor's obligations hereunder. (c) The contractor will state, in all solicitations or advertisements for employees placed by or on behalf of the contractor, in performance of the contract that all qualified applicants will be afforded equal employment opportunity without discrimination because of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability or marital status. (d) The contractor will include the provisions of paragraphs (a) through (c) of this subdivision in every subcontract or purchase order in such a manner that such provisions will be binding upon each subcontractor or vendor as to its working connection with a contract. 2. The authority shall establish procedures and guidelines to ensure that contractors and subcontractors undertake programs of affirmative action as required by this section. Such procedures may require, after notice in a bid solicitation, the submission of an affirmative action program prior to the award of any contract, or at any time thereafter, and may require the submission of compliance reports relating to the operation and implementation of any affirmative action program adopted hereunder. Such procedures and guidelines shall be consistent with the guidelines promulgated by the office of federal contract compliance programs of the United States department of labor pursuant to presidential executive order eleven thousand two hundred forty-six, as amended, and any state statutory or regulatory requirements. The authority shall, in the promulgation of procedures and guidelines pursuant to this section, cooperate with any federal, state or local agency established for the purpose of implementing affirmative action compliance programs. 3. The authority shall seek meaningful participation in the performance of contracts by minority business enterprises and shall establish measures and procedures to identify those contracts and items of work for which minority business enterprises may best bid to actively and affirmatively promote and assist their participation so as to facilitate the award of a fair share of contracts to such enterprises. For purposes hereof, "minority business enterprise" shall mean any business enterprise which is at least fifty-one per centum owned by, or in the case of a publicly owned business, at least fifty-one per centum of the stock of which is owned by citizens or permanent resident aliens who are Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian or women, and such ownership interest is real, substantial and continuing. The provisions of this subdivision shall not be construed to limit the ability of any minority business enterprise to bid on any contract. 4. In the implementation of subdivisions two and three of this section, the authority shall consider compliance by any contractor with the requirements of any federal, state or local law concerning minority business enterprises or equal employment opportunity, which may effectuate the requirements of this section. If the authority determines that by virtue of the imposition of the requirements of any such law, in respect to contracts affected by this section, that the provisions thereof duplicate or conflict with such law, the authority shall waive the applicability of this section to the extent of such duplication or conflict.5. In order to implement the requirements and objectives of this section, the authority shall be responsible for monitoring the contractors' compliance with the provisions hereof, for advising contractors on the availability of competing qualified minority business enterprises to perform contracts proposed to be awarded and for making recommendations to contractors to improve the access of minority business enterprises to such contracts.