Sunday, February 26, 2012

Revised Bidder Responsibility Guidelines Adopted

On February 9, 2012, Washington's Capital Projects Advisory Review Board (CPARB) voted to approve revisions to its Suggested Guidelines for Bidder Responsibility that apply to public works projects. 

Background:  The Guidelines were originally developed in 2007 after the approval of bidder responsibility legislation by the state legislature.  State law addresses mandatory, supplemental, and subcontractor responsibility requirements in RCW 39.04.350 and RCW 39.06.020.

Summary of Changes:  The following are some of the changes in the revised Guidelines:
  • Requests for Change in Criteria:  Adds suggested language for public agencies to use in Invitations to Bid notifying bidders of their right to request modifications to Supplemental Bidder Responsibility Criteria that a public agency may have included in the bidding documents.
  • New Mandatory Criteria:  Adds new mandatory bidder responsibility criteria adopted by the legislature relating to apprenticeship utilization compliance and reporting requirements for off-site prefabricated materials.
  • Generic vs. Project-Specific Criteria:  Clarifies that Supplemental Bidder Responsibility Criteria may be either generic and applicable to all projects (samples are provided in the Guidelines) or project specific (examples from specific projects are included).
  • Examples of Criteria:  Examples of inappropriate Supplemental Bidder Responsibility Criteria from actual projects are included along with a critique of why the criteria should not be used.  There are also examples of criteria originally proposed, showing how it was improved upon before publication in the bidding documents.
  • Meeting All or Substantially Meeting Criteria:  Clarifies that public agencies may require that bidders meet all of the Supplemental Bidder Responsibility Criteria to be deemed responsible, or a public agency may exercise discretion and determine that a bidder is responsible if they substantially meet the criteria.
  • Checklist for Supplemental Bidder Responsibility Criteria:  A checklist to help public agencies in developing and implementing Supplemental Bidder Responsibility Criteria is included in the Guidelines, along with a website address for an electronic version of the checklist.
  • Miscellaneous Changes:  A number of technical and organizational changes were implemented to make the Guidelines more clear and readable.
View Guidelines Online:  Click here to go to CPARB's website where you will find a link to the revised Suggested Guidelines for Bidder Responsibility. 
Mike Purdy's Public Contracting Blog 
© 2012 by Michael E. Purdy Associates, LLC 
http://PublicContracting.blogspot.com

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