ASSEMBLY, No. 98
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION
By Assemblymen ROONEY and BUCCO
An Act concerning local public contracts and amending P.L.1971, c.198.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 16 of P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-16) is amended to read as follows:
16. Separate plans for various types of work; bids; contracts
In the preparation of plans and specifications for the erection, alteration or repair of any public building by any contracting unit, when the entire cost of the work will exceed the amount set forth in, or the amount calculated by the Governor pursuant to, section 3 of P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-3), the architect, engineer or other person preparing the plans and specifications may prepare separate plans and specifications for
(1) The plumbing and gas fitting and all kindred work;
(2) Steam power plants, steam and hot water heating and ventilating apparatus and all kindred work;
(3) Electrical work;
(4) Structural steel and ornamental iron work; and
(5) All other work required for the completion of the project.
The contracting unit or its contracting agent shall advertise for and receive, in the manner provided by law, either (a) separate bids for each of said branches of work, or (b) bids for all the work and materials required to complete the building to be included in a single overall contract, or (c) both. There will be set forth in the bid the name or names of all subcontractors to whom the bidder will subcontract the furnishing of plumbing and gas fitting, and all kindred work, and of the steam and hot water heating and ventilating apparatus, steam power plants and kindred work, and electrical work, structural steel and ornamental iron work, each of which subcontractors shall be qualified in accordance with this act. The contracting unit shall require evidence of performance security to be submitted simultaneously with the list of the subcontractors. Evidence of performance security may be supplied by the bidder on behalf of himself and any or all subcontractors, or by each respective subcontractor, or by any combination thereof which results in evidence of performance security equalling, but in no event exceeding, the total amount bid.
Whenever a bid sets forth more than one subcontractor for a particular specialty trade category the bidder shall submit to the contracting unit a certificate signed by the bidder listing each subcontractor named in the bid for that category. The certificate shall set forth the scope of work for which the subcontractor has submitted a quote and that the bidder has agreed to award to each subcontractor should the bidder be awarded the contract. The certificate shall be submitted to the contracting unit simultaneously with the list of the subcontractors. A separate certificate may be submitted for each subcontractor. If a bidder does not submit a certificate or certificates to the contracting unit, the contracting unit shall award the contract to the next lowest bidder.
Contracts shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. In the event that a contract is advertised in accordance with (c) above said contract shall be awarded in the following manner: If the sum total of the amounts bid by the lowest responsible bidder for each branch is less than the amount bid by the lowest responsible bidder for all the work and materials, the contracting unit shall award separate contracts for each of such branches to the lowest responsible bidder therefor, but if the sum total of the amounts bid by the lowest responsible bidder for each branch is not less than the amount bid by the lowest responsible bidder for all the work and materials, the contracting unit shall award a single overall contract to the lowest responsible bidder for all of such work and materials. In every case in which a contract is awarded under (b) above, all payments required to be made under such contract for work and materials supplied by a subcontractor shall, upon the certification of the contractor of the amount due to the subcontractor, be paid directly to the subcontractor.
(cf: P.L.1987, c.48, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would clarify the provision (C.40A:11-16) of the "Local Public Contracts Law" governing the responsibility of a general contractor who submits a bid for construction work to a county, municipality, or other local government contracting unit to identify in that bid the persons to whom that general contractor will subcontract certain specialty work if the bid is accepted.
Current law provides that such a bid by a general contractor shall "set forth . . . the name or names of all subcontractors to whom the bidder will subcontract the furnishing of plumbing and gas fitting, and all kindred work, and of the steam and hot water heating and ventilating apparatus, steam power plants and kindred work, and electrical work, structural steel and ornamental iron work, each of which subcontractors shall be qualified in accordance with this act."
Under the bill, whenever a bid sets forth more than one subcontractor for a particular specialty trade category, the bidder must submit to the contracting unit certificates signed by the bidder listing each subcontractor named in the bid for that category. The certificate is to set forth the scope of work for which the subcontractor has submitted a quote and that the bidder has agreed to award to that subcontractor if the contracting unit awards the bidder the underlying contract. The certificate is to be submitted to the contracting unit simultaneously with the bid. Separate certificates may be submitted for each subcontractor. In the event the bidder fails to submit certificates to the contracting unit, the contracting unit shall award the contract to the next lowest bidder.
Implementation of these procedures would curtail the practice of post-award bid shopping among subcontractors in which some general contractors are said to engage. Such bid shopping is thought to be detrimental both to subcontractors, who may be pitted against one another in order to be awarded a larger subcontract, and to contracting units, who derive no benefit from the practice. Under the bill, negotiations between contractor and subcontractor would be completed prior to submission of the underlying general contractor bids, so that those bids will represent the bidders' lowest possible price.
Requires certain public bidders to specify subcontractor's scope of work.