Amendment #355 to H4506

Transparency in Contracts

Representatives Chan of Quincy and DeCoste of Norwell move to amend the bill by striking out section 3 and inserting in place thereof the following section:

SECTION 3: Chapter 6C of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following section:-

Section 77. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, as used in this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:-

“Authority”, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority established by section 2 of chapter 161A.

“Adjustment Factor”, the job order contractor’s competitively bid numerical adjustment to the unit prices included in the contract specifications, which shall also include overhead and profit.

“Best value”, the highest overall value to the awarding authority, considering quality and cost.

“Department”, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation established by section 2 of chapter 6C of the General Laws.

"Task", an item of work for which a unit price is set forth in the contract specifications, or for which a unit price is developed in accordance with a specified formula presented in the contract.

“Job order”, an agreed upon fixed-price order issued by the department or by the MBTA to a contractor pursuant to a job order contract, for the contractor’s performance of a specific construction, reconstruction, alteration, remodeling or repair project of a public work consisting of tasks selected from those specified and priced in that job order contract.

“Job order contract”, a contract for the performance of construction, reconstruction, alteration, remodeling or repair of a public work, or a subset thereof: (1) that is limited to a specified term; (2) in which the contract specifications consist of technical descriptions of various tasks at stated unit prices determined by local, direct costs for labor, material, and equipment but do not specify the specific projects to be performed by the contractor; (3) which contains a fixed contractor’s adjustment factor applied to the unit prices stated in the contract specifications; and (4) in accordance with which, the department and the MBTA  may enter into fixed price job orders with the contractor for the performance of specific projects, consisting of tasks specified in the contract specification, at the unit prices specified therein multiplied by the contractor’s adjustment factor.

“Maintenance”, includes routine operation, routine maintenance, routine repair, rehabilitation, capital maintenance, maintenance replacement and any other categories of maintenance that may be designated by the department.

(a)(1) Notwithstanding section 44A of chapter 149, to the extent applicable, and section 39M of chapter 30 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the department and the authority may establish programs for the use of job order contracts.

(2) As part of the programs, the department and the authority may procure consulting contracts for services related to the creation and use of job order contracts including, without limitation, the creation of task descriptions, specifications and unit prices for use in job order contracts, and training and other services related to such contracts.

(3) Job orders shall cost not more than $500,000 each. The job order contract  shall be procured through a best value selection process except that: (i) the amount of the bid deposit shall be $5,000; (ii) contractors who are awarded job orders under any job order contract shall be eligible for the category of work specified in the contract; (iii) the amounts of surety bonds required by the contract may be satisfied with respect to each particular job order before the commencement of any work under that job order; and (iv) multiple job order contracts may be awarded under a single procurement.

(b) (1) The department and the authority may procure job order contracts for projects that: (i) improve access to places of public accommodation listed in section 92A of chapter 272; or (ii) remove barriers and create or improve accessible features for both physical and programmatic access necessary for compliance with the law, including title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the laws of the commonwealth.

(2) These contracts shall be limited to job orders estimated to cost not more than $1,000,000 each and shall be procured through the procedures specified in section 39M of chapter 30 except that: (i) the amount of the bid deposit shall be $5,000; (ii) contractors who are awarded job orders under any job order contract shall be certified by the division for the category of work specified in the contract; and (iii) the amounts of surety bonds required by the contract may be satisfied with respect to each particular job order before the commencement of any work under that job order. The department and the authority shall award a job order contract to the eligible and responsible bidder who offers the lowest mark-up over the base unit prices specified in the contract specifications.