Rosemead Municipal Code Ch. 3.28 Public Project Bidding Procedures

Footnotes:

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Editor's note— Ord. No. 1025, § 4(Exh. A), adopted Jan. 14, 2025, amended Ch. 3.28 in its entirety to read as herein set out. Former Ch. 3.28, §§ 3.28.010—3.28.050, pertained to similar subject matter, and derived from Ord. No. 988, § 4(Exh. B), adopted June 25, 2019.

This chapter is enacted for the purpose of implementing procedures for contracts related to certain public projects in accordance with California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (California Public Contract Code Section 22000 et seq., the "Act"), including but not limited to notice and publication of the bids and the award of the contract to the lowest responsible bidder. A "public project" is as defined in Public Contract Code Section 20161.

(Ord. No. 1025, § 4(Exh. A), 1-14-25)

For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:

"Contractors list" shall mean a list of qualified contractors, identified according to categories of work. The minimum criteria for the development and maintenance of the list shall be determined by the California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission.

"Public project" is as defined in Section 22002 of the Public Contract Code, and means any of the following, but does not include "maintenance work:"

1. Construction, reconstruction, erection, alteration, renovation, improvement, demolition, and repair work involving any publicly owned, leased, or operated facility.

2. Painting or repainting of any publicly owned, leased, or operated facility.

"Maintenance work" includes all of the following:

1. Routine, recurring, and usual work for the preservation or protection of any publicly owned or publicly operated facility.

2. Minor repainting.

3. Resurfacing of streets and highways at less than one inch.

4. Landscape maintenance, including mowing, watering, trimming, pruning, planting, replacement of plants, and servicing of irrigation and sprinkler systems.

5. Work performed to keep, operate, and maintain publicly owned water, power, or waste disposal systems.

"Facility" is as defined in Section 22002 of the Public Contract Code, and means any plant, building, structure, ground facility, real property, streets and highways, or other public works improvement.

(Ord. No. 1025, § 4(Exh. A), 1-14-25)

Informal Bidding. Public projects subject to informal bid procedures may be let to contract as follows:

1. The Public Works Department shall maintain a list of Qualified contractors, identified according to categories of work.

2. All contractors on the list for the category of work being bid or all construction trade journals specified in Section 22036, or both all contractors on the list for the category of work being bid and all construction trade journals specified in Section 22036, shall be mailed a noticed inviting informal bids unless the product or service is proprietary.

3. All mailing of notices to contractors and construction trade journals pursuant to subsection 2. of this section shall be completed not less than ten calendar days before bids are due.

4. The noticing inviting informal bids shall describe the project in general terms and how to obtain more detailed information about the project, and state the time and place for the submission of bids.

5. The award of project shall be made to the lowest responsible bidder provided the contractor has posted the required bonds and insurance.

6. If all bids received are in excess of the informal bidding amount as provided by State law, the governing body of the public agency may, by adoption of a resolution by a four-fifths vote, award the contract, at an amount provided by CUPCCAA or less, to the lowest responsible bidder, if it determines the cost estimate of the public agency was reasonable.

(Ord. No. 1025, § 4(Exh. A), 1-14-25)

A. Notice Inviting Bids. Notices inviting bids shall adhere to the regulations established by State law.

B. Bidder's Security.

1. Application. Unless otherwise provided by the City Manager before the letting of public notice inviting bids, each bid shall be accompanied by bidder's security.

2. Return. Bidders shall be entitled to return of bid security; provided, however, that a successful bidder shall forfeit his or her bid security upon his or her refusal or failure to execute the contract within ten days after the preparation and mailing of the contract, unless in the latter event the City is solely responsible for the delay in executing the contract. On refusal or failure of the successful bidder to execute the contract, the contract may be awarded to the next lowest responsible bidder. In such event, the amount of the lowest bidder's security shall be applied by the City to the contract price differential between the lowest bid and the second lowest bid, and the surplus, if any, shall be returned to the lowest bidder.

C. Receipt and Opening of Bids. The notice inviting bids shall specify if bids may be submitted in physical form or electronically. Bids submitted in physical form shall be in a sealed envelope, identified as a "bid" on the envelope, and submitted to the City at or before the time specified in the notice. Bids submitted electronically shall be identified as specified in the notice and submitted to the City at or before the time specified in the notice. At the time and place specified in the notice, the bids shall be publicly opened and read. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the notice inviting bids specified that bids are to be submitted by electronic transmission, the City may open the bids electronically without a public bid opening; provided, that the bid results are available on the internet at, or immediately after, the date and time noticed for the bid opening. If the results are not immediately available on the internet, the City shall provide the bid results upon request of a bidder or the public as soon as reasonably possible.

D. Rejection of Bids. At its discretion, the City Council may reject any and all bids presented and readvertise for bids pursuant to the procedure prescribed in this chapter.

E. Award of Contracts. Except as otherwise provided herein, contracts shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.

F. Tie Bids. If two or more bids received are for the same total amount or unit price, quality and service being equal, and if the public interest will not permit the delay or readvertising for bids, the City, at its discretion, may accept the one it chooses.

G. Payment Bonds. A direct contractor awarded a public works contract above twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) must provide a payment bond, approved by the City, prior to commencing work. The City specifies in its bid solicitation that a payment bond is mandatory for any public works contract over twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00). A payment bond issued and sanctioned under this section will authorize the execution of and offer coverage for work related to a public works contract that supplements the contract for which the bond is provided, contingent upon the public entity waiving the necessity for a new bond. Note that a design professional is not considered a direct contractor and is not obligated to provide a payment bond. This requirement is inapplicable to a public works contract with a "state entity." A payment bond must be at least one hundred (100) percent of the entire payable amount under the public works contract. The bond must exist as a bond and not as a deposit in place of a bond. The bond must be executed by a licensed surety insurer.

H. Insurance. All contracts for public projects shall require the contractor to furnish evidence, in a form satisfactory to the City, that the contractor has taken out and has in force liability and worker's compensation insurance in such amounts and form as may be required by the City, in addition to any other insurance required by the City's Risk Manager.

I. Contract Retention. No contract for a public project shall provide for, authorize or permit the payment of more than ninety (90) percent of the contract price before the completion of the work done under the contract, and acceptance thereof by the City, and the expiration of the stop notice claim period and the resolution of any such claims filed thereunder.

(Ord. No. 1025, § 4(Exh. A), 1-14-25)

The City of Rosemead has opted in to the California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (California Public Contract Code Section 22000 et seq., the "Act"). Pursuant to the Act, public projects will be procured as follows:

1. The current threshold set forth in California Public Contract Code Section 22032(a) or less may be let by negotiated contract, purchase order or performed by the City's own employees by force account.

2. The current threshold set forth in California Public Contract Code Section 22032(b) or less may be let by informal bidding procedures as set forth in the California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (PCC Section 22034 et seq.).

3. The current threshold set forth in California Public Contract Code Section 22032(c)) or more will be let by formal bidding procedures as set forth in the California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (PCC Section 22037 et seq.).

4. Pre-Qualified List—A list of contractors may be developed and maintained in accordance with the provisions of Section 22034 of the Public Contract Code and criteria promulgated from time to time by the California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission (CUCCAC).

5. In the event that the monetary limits specified in Sections 22032 and 22034 of CUPCCAA are amended by the State Legislature or adjusted by the State Controller, such amendment in monetary limits shall prevail and apply.

(Ord. No. 1025, § 4(Exh. A), 1-14-25)

The City Manager is delegated the power to declare a public emergency and take any directly related and immediate action required by the emergency, up to a total of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00), pursuant to Public Contract Code Section 22050. Emergency expenditures of more than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) must first be approved by the City Council. Work may be performed without the benefit of competitive purchasing, either formal or informal, only so long as necessary under Section 22050.

(Ord. No. 1025, § 4(Exh. A), 1-14-25)

A table summarizing the methods of approval and bidding requirement is provided below.

In the event that the monetary limits specified in Sections 22032 and 22034 of CUPCCAA are amended by the State Legislature or adjusted by the State Controller, such amendment in monetary limits shall prevail and apply.

(Ord. No. 1025, § 4(Exh. A), 1-14-25)

A change order is the written authorization that changes the awarded contract. The change order shall be for similar kinds of work to that awarded in the original contract and shall only arise in good faith from unforeseen items and/or events since the time of the award. Request for change order authorization to the City's purchasing authority shall be accompanied by a purchase order. Change orders shall comply with limits set forth in Section 3.24.130.

(Ord. No. 1025, § 4(Exh. A), 1-14-25)

The value of authorization thresholds for Public Works Director, City Manager, and City Council as presented within Section 3.28.050 shall be adjusted for inflation on July 1 of every year by the percent change in the Consumer Price Index. "Consumer Price Index" means the average of the percent change in Consumer Price Index for Urban Clerical and Wage Earners, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics or successor agency, from the December of the preceding calendar year over the preceding December, for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area. Increases or decreases shall be rounded off to the nearest dollar.

(Ord. No. 1025, § 4(Exh. A), 1-14-25)