HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1351        FILED ON: 1/16/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2696

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Ann-Margaret Ferrante

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to the definition of fraud in public construction bid laws.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Ann-Margaret Ferrante

5th Essex

1/15/2019

Daniel J. Ryan

2nd Suffolk

1/16/2019

Steven Ultrino

33rd Middlesex

1/23/2019

Frank A. Moran

17th Essex

1/23/2019

Timothy R. Whelan

1st Barnstable

1/23/2019

Angelo J. Puppolo, Jr.

12th Hampden

1/23/2019

Brian W. Murray

10th Worcester

1/23/2019

Richard M. Haggerty

30th Middlesex

1/23/2019

Daniel Cahill

10th Essex

1/23/2019

José F. Tosado

9th Hampden

1/24/2019

Louis L. Kafka

8th Norfolk

1/24/2019

Ruth B. Balser

12th Middlesex

1/24/2019

David Paul Linsky

5th Middlesex

1/24/2019

Tram T. Nguyen

18th Essex

1/26/2019

Tommy Vitolo

15th Norfolk

1/26/2019

Joseph W. McGonagle, Jr.

28th Middlesex

1/28/2019

Tackey Chan

2nd Norfolk

1/28/2019

Mike Connolly

26th Middlesex

1/28/2019

Adrian C. Madaro

1st Suffolk

1/28/2019

James B. Eldridge

Middlesex and Worcester

1/28/2019

Stephan Hay

3rd Worcester

1/28/2019

Christina A. Minicucci

14th Essex

1/29/2019

Patricia A. Haddad

5th Bristol

1/29/2019

David M. Rogers

24th Middlesex

1/29/2019

Alice Hanlon Peisch

14th Norfolk

1/29/2019

Carole A. Fiola

6th Bristol

1/29/2019

Christopher Hendricks

11th Bristol

1/29/2019

John C. Velis

4th Hampden

1/29/2019

Smitty Pignatelli

4th Berkshire

1/29/2019

Thomas P. Walsh

12th Essex

1/30/2019

Daniel M. Donahue

16th Worcester

1/30/2019

Rady Mom

18th Middlesex

1/30/2019

Lori A. Ehrlich

8th Essex

1/30/2019

Mathew J. Muratore

1st Plymouth

1/30/2019

Carmine Lawrence Gentile

13th Middlesex

1/30/2019

Josh S. Cutler

6th Plymouth

1/30/2019

David F. DeCoste

5th Plymouth

1/30/2019

Bruce E. Tarr

First Essex and Middlesex

1/30/2019

Bud L. Williams

11th Hampden

1/31/2019

Mary S. Keefe

15th Worcester

1/31/2019

Joseph F. Wagner

8th Hampden

1/31/2019

Harold P. Naughton, Jr.

12th Worcester

1/31/2019

Denise C. Garlick

13th Norfolk

1/31/2019

Antonio F. D. Cabral

13th Bristol

1/31/2019

Kate Hogan

3rd Middlesex

1/31/2019

Marc R. Pacheco

First Plymouth and Bristol

1/31/2019

Brendan P. Crighton

Third Essex

1/31/2019

Patrick M. O'Connor

Plymouth and Norfolk

1/31/2019

Michael D. Brady

Second Plymouth and Bristol

1/31/2019

Jack Patrick Lewis

7th Middlesex

1/31/2019

Marjorie C. Decker

25th Middlesex

2/1/2019

Daniel R. Cullinane

12th Suffolk

2/1/2019

Diana DiZoglio

First Essex

2/1/2019

Natalie M. Higgins

4th Worcester

2/1/2019

Paul F. Tucker

7th Essex

2/1/2019

Julian Cyr

Cape and Islands

2/1/2019

David Henry Argosky LeBoeuf

17th Worcester

2/1/2019

Paul W. Mark

2nd Berkshire

2/1/2019

Peter Capano

11th Essex

2/1/2019

Bruce J. Ayers

1st Norfolk

2/1/2019

Colleen M. Garry

36th Middlesex

2/1/2019

David Biele

4th Suffolk

2/1/2019

Carlos González

10th Hampden

2/1/2019

Daniel J. Hunt

13th Suffolk

2/1/2019

Paul McMurtry

11th Norfolk

2/1/2019

William J. Driscoll, Jr.

7th Norfolk

2/1/2019


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1351        FILED ON: 1/16/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2696

By Ms. Ferrante of Gloucester, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2696) of Ann-Margaret Ferrante and others relative to the definition of fraud in public construction bid laws.  State Administration and Regulatory Oversight.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

_______________

 

An Act relative to the definition of fraud in public construction bid laws.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Subsection (a) of section 39M of chapter 30 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 21 to 23, the words “The undersigned certifies under penalties of perjury that this bid is in all respects bona fide, fair and made without collusion or fraud with any other person” and inserting in place thereof the following words:-

The undersigned certifies under penalties of perjury that this bid is in all respects bona fide, fair and made without collusion with any person and contains no intentional misrepresentations, omissions or false statements. As used in this paragraph the word “person” shall mean any natural person, joint venture, partnership, corporation or any other business or legal entity.

SECTION 2. Section 44A of chapter 149 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the definition of “ Eligible” the following definition:-

“Fraud”, a statement, act or omission relating to a material fact that (i) has the natural tendency to be relied upon by or to influence the average person, (ii) is knowingly false or misleading or is in reckless disregard of its truth or falsity and (iii) is intended to mislead, regardless of whether the statement, act or omission is actually relied upon;

And further, by striking the definition of “responsible" and inserting in place thereof the following new definition:-

““Responsible” means demonstrably possessing the skill, ability and integrity necessary to faithfully perform the work called for by a particular contract, based upon a determination of competent workmanship and financial soundness in accordance with the provisions of section forty-four D of this chapter and shall certify that his bid contains now misrepresentations, omissions, or false statements.”

SECTION 3. Section 2 of chapter 149A of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the definition of “Designer” the following definition:-

“Fraud”, a statement, act or omission relating to a material fact that (i) has the natural tendency to be relied upon by or to influence the average person, (ii) is knowingly false or misleading or is in reckless disregard of its truth or falsity and (iii) is intended to mislead, regardless of whether the statement, act or omission is actually relied upon.

SECTION 4. Section 19 of said chapter 149A of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the clause six in its entirety, and replacing it with the following:-

“(6) The RFP shall require that every response shall be accompanied by a bid deposit in the form of a bid bond, or cash, or a certified check on, or a treasurer’s or cashier’s check issued by a responsible bank or trust company, payable to the awarding authority. The amount of such bid deposit shall be 5 per cent of the value of the bid. Any person submitting a bid under this sections hall, on such a bid, certify as follows:

The undersigned certifies under penalty of perjury that this bid is in all respects bona fide, fair, made without collusion with any other person and contains no intentional material misrepresentations, omissions or false statements. As used in this paragraph the word “person” shall mean any natural person, joint venture, partnership, corporation or other business or legal entity.”

SECTION 5. Subsection (f) of section 8 of chapter 149A, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking the fourth sentence and replacing it with the following new language:-

“The decision of the prequalification committee shall be final and not subject to appeal except on the grounds that a submission contains intentional, material misrepresentations, omissions, or false statements, or of collusion.”