6.12 Responsible Contractor Policy
Contracts and Subcontracts over $250,000
I. Purpose
The Bucks County Community College (“BCCC”) recognizes there is a need to ensure that all work on public construction and maintenance contracts is performed by responsible, qualified firms that maintain the capacity, expertise, personnel and other qualifications and resources necessary to successfully perform public contracts in a timely, reliable and cost-effective manner.
To effectuate the purpose of selecting responsible contractors for public contracts and to protect the BCCC’s proprietary investment in such contracts, prospective contractors and sub-contractors should be required to meet pre-established, clearly defined minimum standards relating to contractor responsibility, particularly requirements concerning technical qualifications, competency, experience, adequacy of resources, including equipment, financial and personnel, and satisfactory records of past performance in terms of safety, law compliance and business integrity.
It is also critical to recognize that due to the substantial impact that skilled craft labor has on public works projects, and due to the limited availability of skilled construction craft labor and imminent craft labor skill shortages it is necessary to require contractors and subcontractors to participate in established, formal apprenticeship training programs as a condition of bidding and performing work, for the purpose of both promoting successful project delivery and ensuring future workforce development needed for future projects.
Therefore, the BCCC shall require compliance with the provisions of this policy by business entities seeking to provide services to the BCCC as specified herein. The requirements of this policy are intended to supplement, not replace, standards and policies of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, existing contractor qualification and performance standards or criteria currently required by law, public policy or contracting documents, when necessary. However, in the event that any of the provisions of this policy conflict with any public policy or contracting documents of the BCCC, this policy shall prevail.
III. Responsible Contractor Requirements
- This policy shall apply to all public works projects with contracts valued at or above $250,000.00 undertaken by the BCCC for construction, demolition, alteration, renovation, repair, service and maintenance work and shall apply to those recipients of contracts valued at or greater than $250,000 on said projects.
- All firms engaged in contracts covered by this policy shall be qualified, responsible contractors or subcontractors that have sufficient capabilities in all respects to successfully perform contracts on which they are engaged, including the necessary experience, equipment, technical skills and qualifications and organizational, financial and personnel resources. Firms bidding on public contracts shall also be required to have a satisfactory record of past performance, law compliance and business ethics.
III. Contractor Responsibility Certifications
- As a condition of performing work on a public works contract subject to the policy, a general contractor, construction manager or other lead or prime contractor seeking award of a contract shall submit a Contractor Responsibility Certification. Subcontractors used on the contract are likewise required to provide similar Subcontractor Responsibility Certifications as provided by section 7 of this policy.
- The Contractor Responsibility Certification shall be completed on a form provided by the BCCC and shall reference the project for which a bid is being submitted by name and contract or project number.
- In the Contractor Responsibility Certification the construction manager, general contractor or other lead or prime contractor shall confirm and certify the following facts regarding its past performance and work history and its current qualifications and performance capabilities:
- The firm and its employees have all valid, effective licenses, registrations or certificates required by federal, state, county or local law, including, but not limited to, licenses, registrations or certificates required to: (a) do business in the designated locale; and (b) perform the contract work it seeks to perform. These shall include, but not be limited to, licenses, registrations or certificates for any type of construction or maintenance trade work or specialty work which the firm proposes to self-perform.
- The firm meets the bonding requirements for the contract, as required by applicable law or contract specifications and any insurance requirements, as required by applicable law or contract specifications, including general liability insurance, workers compensation insurance and unemployment insurance.
- The firm has not been debarred or suspended by any federal, state or local government agency or authority in the past three years.
- The firm has not defaulted on any project in the past three years.
- The firm has not had any type of business, contracting or trade license, registration or other certification revoked or suspended in the past three years.
- The firm and its principals/owners have not been convicted of any crime relating to the contracting business in the past ten years.
- The firm has not within the past three years been found in violation of any laws applicable to its contracting business, including, but not limited to, license laws, tax laws, prompt payment laws, wage and hour laws, prevailing wage laws, environmental laws or others, where the result of such violation was the payment of a fine, back pay damages or any other type of penalty in the amount of $1,000 or more.
- The firm will pay all craft employees that it employs on the project the current wage rates and fringe benefits as required under applicable federal, state or local wage laws.
- All craft labor that will be employed by the firm for the project have completed at least the OSHA 10-hour training course for safety established by the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Administration.
- The firm will employ craft employees in all classifications and individual trades required to successfully perform the work related to this project.
- The firm participates in a Class A Apprenticeship Training Program, as defined below, for each separate trade or classification in which it employs craft employees. This apprenticeship requirement assures that workers in each trade or craft employed are graduates of an apprenticeship training program in each trade or craft in which their services are utilized.
- For purposes of this section, a Class A Apprenticeship Program is an apprenticeship program that is currently registered with and approved by the U.S. Department of Labor or a state apprenticeship agency and has graduated apprentices to journey person status for at least three of the past five years. This may be an apprenticeship program that is subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. (“ERISA”) or a non-ERISA program.
- To demonstrate compliance with this section, the firm shall provide, with this certification, a list of all trades or classifications of craft employees it will employ on the project and documentation verifying it participates in a Class A Apprenticeship Program for each trade or classification listed.
- The firm has all other technical qualifications and resources, including equipment personnel and financial resources, to perform the referenced contract, or will obtain same through the use of qualified, responsible contractors.
- The firm will maintain all qualifications, resources and capabilities referenced in this certification throughout the duration of the project.
- The firm shall notify the BCCC within seven days of any material changes to all matters attested to in this certification.
- The firm understands that the Contractor Responsibility Certification required by this section shall be executed by a person who has sufficient knowledge to address all matters in the certification and shall include an attestation stating, under penalty of perjury, that the information submitted is true, complete and accurate.
- Execution of the Contractor Responsibility Certification required by this policy shall not establish a presumption of contractor responsibility, and the BCCC may require any additional information it deems necessary to evaluate a firm’s status as a responsible contractor, including technical qualifications, financial capacity or other resources and performance capabilities. The BCCC may require that such information be included in a separate Statement of Qualifications and Experience or as an attachment to the Contractor Responsibility Certification.
- The submitting firm shall stipulate in its Contractor Responsibility Certification that, if it receives a Notice of Intent to Award Contract, it will provide a Subcontractor List and required subcontractor information as specified in Section 7 of this policy.
- If the submitting firm has ever operated under another name or is controlled by another company or business entity or in the past five years controlled or was controlled by another company or business entity, whether as a parent company subsidiary or in any other business relation, it shall attached a separate statement to its Contractor Responsibility Certification that explain in detail the nature of any such relationship. Additional information may be required from such an entity if the relationship in question could potentially impact contract performance.
- If a firm fails to provide a Contractor Responsibility Certification required by this section, it shall be disqualified from bidding. No action of any nature shall lie against the BCCC because of its refusal to accept a bid for failing to provide information required by this section.
IV. Pre-Qualification Requirements
Each firm subject to the requirements of this policy must submit a Contractor Responsibility Certification at least fourteen (14) calendar days before the specified bid submission deadline. Failure to submit a Contractor Responsibility Certification by the aforesaid deadline will automatically disqualify any firm from submitting a bid or proposal for a contract.
Upon the receipt of the pre-qualification Contractor Responsibility Certification, the BCCC shall determine whether the firm meets the requirements set forth in this policy. Notice of the BCCC’s determination shall be sent to the proposed firm no less than seven (7) calendar days before the specified bid submission deadline. All firms that are determined by the BCCC to meet the qualification requirements of this policy shall be entitled to submit a bid or proposal for the project.
V. Waiver of Requirements
Upon a determination by the BCCC President and the Chair of the Board of Trustees that any public funding requirement for a specific project limits or precludes the application of any specific provisions of this policy, such provisions may be waived by a unanimous vote by the Board.
VI. Notice of Intent to Award Contract
- After it has received bids for a project, the BCCC shall issue a Notice of Intent to Award Contract to the firm offering the lowest responsible bid.
- Such Notice shall be issued immediately or as soon as practicable after bids are opened and shall stipulate that the contract award is conditioned on the issuance of a written Contractor Responsibility Determination, as required by Section 8 of this policy, compliance with Subcontractor Certifications required by §7 of the policy and any other conditions deemed appropriate by the BCCC.
VII. Subcontractor Responsibility Requirements
- Within seven (7) days of receiving a Notice of Intent to Award Contract, the prospective awardee shall submit to the BCCC a Subcontractor List, which provides the name and address of the subcontractors it will use on the project, the scope of the work assigned to each subcontractor, and for those subcontractors whose contracts are valued at or greater than $250,000, the Subcontractor Responsibility Certifications as required by this policy.
- The prospective awardee shall not be permitted to use a subcontractor on any work performed for the BCCC unless it has identified the subcontractor on its Subcontractor List and provided a Subcontractor Responsibility Certification in accordance with the requirements of Section 3 of this policy.
- At the time a prospective awardee submits the Subcontractor List it shall also submit Subcontractor Responsibility Certifications and applicable supporting information for all listed subcontractors to the BCCC whose contracts meet or exceed the threshold of $250,000. Subcontractor Responsibility Certifications shall be executed by the respective subcontractors on forms prepared by the BCCC and shall contain the same information, representations, and supporting information required in Contractor Responsibility Certifications, including verification of apprenticeship qualifications as required by §3(c)(11), for each trade or classification of craft workers it will employ on the project.
- A prospective awardee shall determine whether any firm on its Subcontractor List is organized as a sole proprietorship owned and operated by a single person. This shall apply to subcontractors at any tier. For any such entity, the prospective awardee shall ensure that the sole proprietorship subcontractor is a legitimate business entity and not a misclassified employee by requiring the subcontractor to provide its Employer Identification Number and copies of any license, certificate, or registration it is required to maintain in order to do business in the state in which it is located.
- A subcontractor listed on a firm’s Subcontractor List shall not be substituted unless written authorization is obtained from the BCCC.
- In the event that the BCCC determines that a subcontractor fails to meet the requirements of this policy or is otherwise determined to be non-responsible, it may, after informing the prospective awardee, exercise one of the following options:
- Permit the awardee to substitute a qualified, responsible subcontractor in accordance with the requirements of this policy, upon submission of a completed Subcontractor Certification for the substitute and approval of the substitute by the BCCC.
- Require the awardee to self-perform the work in question if the firm has the required experience, licenses, and other qualifications to perform the work in question; or
- Disqualify the prospective awardee.
- In the event a subcontractor is disqualified under this policy the general contractor construction manager or other lead or prime contractor shall not be permitted to make any type of claim against the BCCC based on the subcontractor disqualification.
VIII. Contractor Responsibility Review and Determination
- After the BCCC has issued a Notice of Intent to Award Contract to the lowest responsible bidder, it shall undertake a contractor responsibility review process to determine whether the firm is a qualified responsible firm in accordance with
the requirements of this policy and other applicable laws and regulations. The time frame for conducting this review process shall be as determined by the BCCC. - As part of the review process, the BCCC shall ensure that the Contractor Responsibility Certification and Subcontractor Responsibility Certifications and applicable supporting information comply with the requirements of this policy.
- The BCCC will conduct additional inquiries to verify that the prospective awardee and its subcontractors have the technical qualifications and performance capabilities necessary to successfully perform the contract and that the firms have a sufficient record of law compliance, integrity, and business ethics to justify the award of a public contract. In conducting such inquiries, the BCCC may seek relevant information from the firm, its prior clients or customers, its subcontractors, or any other relevant source.
- After the BCCC determines that all responsibility certifications have been properly executed and has verified that all other relevant information submitted in response to the request pursuant to the review process indicate that the prospective awardee and its subcontractors are qualified, responsible firms, it shall issue a written Contractor Responsibility Determination for the prospective awardee.
- In the event a firm is determined to be non-responsible, the BCCC shall notify the firm and proceed to conduct a responsibility review of the next lowest, responsive bidder or, if necessary, rebid the project. A Responsibility Determination may be revoked at any time if the BCCC obtains relevant information warranting any such revocation.
IX. False and Misleading Responsibility Certifications
If the BCCC determines that a Contractor Responsibility Certification Subcontractor List, or Subcontractor Responsibility Certification contains false or misleading material information that was provided knowingly or with reckless disregard for the truth, the firm for which the certification was submitted shall be disqualified from the project and shall be prohibited from performing work for the BCCC for a period of three years. The BCCC may withhold payment of any monies due to the firm as damages and impose other applicable penalties and sanctions, including contract termination, as permitted by law or contract.
X. Execution of Final Contract
- A contract subject to this policy shall not be executed until all requirements of this policy have been fulfilled and until a Contractor Responsibility Determination has been issued by the BCCC under §8(d). Upon completion of all requirements under this policy, the BCCC may execute a final contract based upon the Notice of Intent.
- Prior to the execution of a final contract under this policy, the BCCC shall publicly post the Notice of Intent to Award, Contractor and Subcontractor Responsibility Certifications, Subcontractor Lists, related supporting documentation, and the Contractor Responsibility Determination on the BCCC website for public inspection for a period of five (5) calendar days after the issuance of the Contractor Responsibility Determination.
XI. Effective Date
Policy 6.12 was approved by the Board of Trustees on September 12, 2024, and shall apply to all contracts advertised after the effective date.