SECTIONS 20110-20118.4 - California Statutes

PUBLIC CONTRACT CODE

SECTION 20110-20118.4

20110. The provisions of this part shall apply to contracts awarded
by school districts subject to Part 21 (commencing with Section
35000) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Education Code.

20111. (a) The governing board of any school district, in
accordance with any requirement established by that governing board
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 2000, shall let any contracts
involving an expenditure of more than fifty thousand dollars
($50,000) for any of the following:
(1) The purchase of equipment, materials, or supplies to be
furnished, sold, or leased to the district.
(2) Services, except construction services.
(3) Repairs, including maintenance as defined in Section 20115,
that are not a public project as defined in subdivision (c) of
Section 22002.
The contract shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder who
shall give security as the board requires, or else reject all bids.
(b) The governing board shall let any contract for a public
project, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 22002, involving an
expenditure of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) or more, to the
lowest responsible bidder who shall give security as the board
requires, or else reject all bids. All bids for construction work
shall be presented under sealed cover and shall be accompanied by one
of the following forms of bidder's security:
(1) Cash.
(2) A cashier's check made payable to the school district.
(3) A certified check made payable to the school district.
(4) A bidder's bond executed by an admitted surety insurer, made
payable to the school district.
Upon an award to the lowest bidder, the security of an
unsuccessful bidder shall be returned in a reasonable period of time,
but in no event shall that security be held by the school district
beyond 60 days from the time the award is made.
(c) This section applies to all equipment, materials, or supplies,
whether patented or otherwise, and to contracts awarded pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 2000. This section shall not apply to
professional services or advice, insurance services, or any other
purchase or service otherwise exempt from this section, or to any
work done by day labor or by force account pursuant to Section 20114.
(d) Commencing January 1, 1997, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction shall annually adjust the dollar amounts specified in
subdivision (a) to reflect the percentage change in the annual
average value of the Implicit Price Deflator for State and Local
Government Purchases of Goods and Services for the United States, as
published by the United States Department of Commerce for the
12-month period ending in the prior fiscal year. The annual
adjustments shall be rounded to the nearest one hundred dollars
($100).

20111.5. (a) The governing board of the district may require that
each prospective bidder for a contract, as described under Section
20111, complete and submit to the district a standardized
questionnaire and financial statement in a form specified by the
district, including a complete statement of the prospective bidder's
financial ability and experience in performing public works. The
questionnaire and financial statement shall be verified under oath by
the bidder in the manner in which civil pleadings in civil actions
are verified. The questionnaires and financial statements shall not
be public records and shall not be open to public inspection.
(b) Any school district requiring prospective bidders to complete
and submit questionnaires and financial statements, as described in
subdivision (a), shall adopt and apply a uniform system of rating
bidders on the basis of the completed questionnaires and financial
statements, in order to determine the size of the contracts upon
which each bidder shall be deemed qualified to bid.
(c) Each prospective bidder on any contract described under
Section 20111 shall be furnished by the school district letting the
contract with a standardized proposal form that, when completed and
executed, shall be submitted as his or her bid. Bids not presented on
the forms so furnished shall be disregarded.
(d) A proposal form required pursuant to subdivision (c) shall not
be accepted from any person or other entity who is required to
submit a completed questionnaire and financial statement for
prequalification pursuant to subdivision (a), but has not done so at
least five days prior to the date fixed for the public opening of
sealed bids or has not been prequalified, pursuant to subdivision
(b), for at least one day prior to that date.
(e) Notwithstanding subdivision (d), any school district may
establish a process for prequalifying prospective bidders pursuant to
this section on a quarterly basis and may authorize that
prequalification to be considered valid for up to one calendar year
following the date of initial prequalification.

20112. For the purpose of securing bids the governing board of a
school district shall publish at least once a week for two weeks in
some newspaper of general circulation published in the district, or
if there is no such paper, then in some newspaper of general
circulation, circulated in the county, and may post on the district's
Web site or through an electronic portal, a notice calling for bids,
stating the work to be done or materials or supplies to be furnished
and the time when and the place and the Web site where bids will be
opened. Whether or not bids are opened exactly at the time fixed in
the public notice for opening bids, a bid shall not be received after
that time. The governing board of the district may accept a bid that
was submitted either electronically or on paper.

20113. (a) In an emergency when any repairs, alterations, work, or
improvement is necessary to any facility of public schools to permit
the continuance of existing school classes, or to avoid danger to
life or property, the board may, by unanimous vote, with the approval
of the county superintendent of schools, do either of the following:
(1) Make a contract in writing or otherwise on behalf of the
district for the performance of labor and furnishing of materials or
supplies for the purpose without advertising for or inviting bids.
(2) Notwithstanding Section 20114, authorize the use of day labor
or force account for the purpose.
(b) Nothing in this section shall eliminate the need for any bonds
or security otherwise required by law.

20114. (a) In each school district, the governing board may make
repairs, alterations, additions, or painting, repainting, or
decorating upon school buildings, repair or build apparatus or
equipment, make improvements on the school grounds, erect new
buildings, and perform maintenance as defined in Section 20115 by day
labor, or by force account, whenever the total number of hours on
the job does not exceed 350 hours. Moreover, in any school district
having an average daily attendance of 35,000 or greater, the
governing board may, in addition, make repairs to school buildings,
grounds, apparatus, or equipment, including painting or repainting,
and perform maintenance, as defined in Section 20115, by day labor or
by force account whenever the total number of hours on the job does
not exceed 750 hours, or when the cost of material does not exceed
twenty-one thousand dollars ($21,000).
(b) For purposes of this section, day labor shall include the use
of maintenance personnel employed on a permanent or temporary basis.

20115. For purposes of Section 20114, "maintenance" means routine,
recurring, and usual work for the preservation, protection, and
keeping of any publicly owned or publicly operated facility for its
intended purposes in a safe and continually usable condition for
which it was designed, improved, constructed, altered, or repaired.
"Facility" means any plant, building, structure, ground facility,
utility system, or real property.
This definition of "maintenance" expressly includes, but is not
limited to: carpentry, electrical, plumbing, glazing, and other
craftwork designed consistent with the definition set forth above to
preserve the facility in a safe, efficient, and continually usable
condition for which it was intended, including repairs, cleaning, and
other operations on machinery and other equipment permanently
attached to the building or realty as fixtures.
This definition does not include, among other types of work,
janitorial or custodial services and protection of the sort provided
by guards or other security forces.
It is the intent of the Legislature that this definition does not
include painting, repainting, or decorating other than touchup, but
instead it is the intent of the Legislature that such activities be
controlled directly by the provisions of Section 20114.

20116. It shall be unlawful to split or separate into smaller work
orders or projects any work, project, service, or purchase for the
purpose of evading the provisions of this article requiring
contracting after competitive bidding.
The district shall maintain job orders or similar records
indicating the total cost expended on each project in accordance with
the procedures established in the most recent edition of the
California School Accounting Manual for a period of not less than
three years after completion of the project.
Informal bidding may be used on work, projects, services, or
purchases that cost up to the limits set forth in this article. For
the purpose of securing informal bids, the board shall publish
annually in a newspaper of general circulation published in the
district, or if there is no such newspaper, then in some newspaper in
general circulation in the county, a notice inviting contractors to
register to be notified of future informal bidding projects. All
contractors included on the informal bidding list shall be given
notice of all informal bid projects in any manner as the district
deems appropriate.

20117. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event
there are two or more identical lowest or highest bids, as the case
may be, submitted to a school district for the purchase, sale, or
lease of real property, supplies, materials, equipment, services,
bonds, or the awarding of any contract, pursuant to a provision
requiring competitive bidding, the governing board of any school
district may determine by lot which bid shall be accepted.

20118. Notwithstanding Sections 20111 and 20112, the governing
board of any school district, without advertising for bids, if the
board has determined it to be in the best interests of the district,
may authorize by contract, lease, requisition, or purchase order, any
public corporation or agency, including any county, city, town, or
district, to lease data-processing equipment, purchase materials,
supplies, equipment, automotive vehicles, tractors, and other
personal property for the district in the manner in which the public
corporation or agency is authorized by law to make the leases or
purchases from a vendor. Upon receipt of the personal property, if
the property complies with the specifications set forth in the
contract, lease, requisition, or purchase order, the school district
may draw a warrant in favor of the public corporation or agency for
the amount of the approved invoice, including the reasonable costs to
the public corporation or agency for furnishing the services
incidental to the lease or purchase of the personal property, or the
school district may make payment directly to the vendor.
Alternatively, if there is an existing contract between a public
corporation or agency and a vendor for the lease or purchase of the
personal property, a school district may authorize the lease or
purchase of personal property directly from the vendor by contract,
lease, requisition, or purchase order and make payment to the vendor
under the same terms that are available to the public corporation or
agency under the contract.

20118.1. The governing board of any school district may contract
with an acceptable party who is one of the three lowest responsible
bidders for the procurement or maintenance, or both, of electronic
data-processing systems and supporting software in any manner the
board deems appropriate.

20118.2. (a) Due to the highly specialized and unique nature of
technology, telecommunications, related equipment, software, and
services, because products and materials of that nature are
undergoing rapid technological changes, and in order to allow for the
introduction of new technological changes into the operations of the
school district, it is in the public's best interest to allow a
school district to consider, in addition to price, factors such as
vendor financing, performance reliability, standardization,
life-cycle costs, delivery timetables, support logistics, the
broadest possible range of competing products and materials
available, fitness of purchase, manufacturer's warranties, and
similar factors in the award of contracts for technology,
telecommunications, related equipment, software, and services.
(b) This section applies only to a school district's procurement
of computers, software, telecommunications equipment, microwave
equipment, and other related electronic equipment and apparatus. This
section does not apply to contracts for construction or for the
procurement of any product that is available in substantial
quantities to the general public.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 20118.1, a school district may, after
a finding is made by the governing board that a particular
procurement qualifies under subdivision (b), authorize the
procurement of the product through competitive negotiation as
described in subdivision (d).
(d) For purposes of this section, competitive negotiation
includes, but is not limited to, all of the following requirements:
(1) A request for proposals shall be prepared and submitted to an
adequate number of qualified sources, as determined by the school
district, to permit reasonable competition consistent with the nature
and requirement of the procurement.
(2) Notice of the request for proposals shall be published at
least twice in a newspaper of general circulation, at least 10 days
before the date for receipt of the proposals.
(3) The school district shall make every effort to generate the
maximum feasible number of proposals from qualified sources and shall
make a finding to that effect before proceeding to negotiate if only
a single response to the request for proposals is received.
(4) The request for proposals shall identify all significant
evaluation factors, including price, and their relative importance.
(5) The school district shall provide reasonable procedures for
the technical evaluation of the proposals received, the
identification of qualified sources, and the selection for the award
of the contract.
(6) Award shall be made to the qualified bidder whose proposal
meets the evaluation standards and will be most advantageous to the
school district with price and all other factors considered.
(7) If award is not made to the bidder whose proposal contains the
lowest price, the school district shall make a finding setting forth
the basis for the award.
(e) The school district, at its discretion, may reject all
proposals and request new proposals.
(f) Provisions in any contract concerning utilization of small
business enterprises, that are in accordance with the request for
proposals, shall not be subject to negotiation with the successful
proposer.

20118.3. The governing board of any school district may purchase
supplementary textbooks, library books, educational films,
audiovisual materials, test materials, workbooks, instructional
computer software packages, or periodicals in any amount needed for
the operation of the schools of the district without taking estimates
or advertising for bids.
This section shall become operative January 1, 1989, and is
declaratory of existing law and practice.

20118.4. (a) If any change or alteration of a contract governed by
Article 3 (commencing with Section 17595) of Chapter 5 of Part 10.5
of the Education Code is ordered by the governing board of the
district, the change or alteration shall be specified in writing and
the cost agreed upon between the governing board and the contractor.
The board may authorize the contractor to proceed with performance of
the change or alteration, without the formality of securing bids, if
the cost so agreed upon does not exceed the greater of the
following:
(1) The amount specified in Section 20111 or 20114, whichever is
applicable to the original contract.
(2) Ten percent of the original contract price.
(b) The governing board of any school district, or of two or more
school districts governed by governing boards of identical personnel,
having an average daily attendance of 400,000 or more as shown by
the annual report of the county superintendent of schools for the
preceding year, may also authorize any change or alteration of a
contract for reconstruction or rehabilitation work, other than for
the construction of new buildings or other new structures, if the
cost of the change or alteration is in excess of the limitations in
paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a) but does not exceed 25
percent of the original contract price, without the formality of
securing bids, and the change or alteration is a necessary and
integral part of the work under the contract and the taking of bids
would delay the completion of the contract. Changes exceeding 15
percent of the original contract price shall be approved by an
affirmative vote of not less than 75 percent of the members of the
governing board.