[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Lower Makefield 5-2-2007 by Ord. No. 369. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Building construction — See Ch. 87.
Uniform construction codes — See Ch. 97.
The purpose of this chapter is to establish clearly defined, minimum standards relating to contractor responsibility, including requirements and criteria concerning technical qualifications, competency, experience, adequacy of resources, including equipment, financial and personnel, and satisfactory records regarding past performance, safety, law compliance and business integrity, in selecting responsible contractors for public contracts, as hereinafter more specifically set forth.
A. 
All contractors and subcontractors of any tier that perform work valued at over $75,000 on any public facility or public works project, including construction, alteration, renovation, repair, service or maintenance work, shall meet the requirements of this chapter.
B. 
All firms engaged in contracts covered by this chapter shall be qualified, responsible contractors or subcontractors that have sufficient capabilities in all respects to successfully perform contracts on which they are engaged, including the necessary experience, equipment, technical skills and qualifications and organizational, financial and personnel resources. Qualified, responsible firms shall also have a satisfactory past performance record and a satisfactory record of law compliance, integrity and business ethics.
A. 
As a condition of performing work on a public works contract subject to this chapter, a general contractor, construction manager or other lead or prime contractor seeking award of a contract shall submit a contractor responsibility certification at the time it submits its bid for a contract.
B. 
The contractor responsibility certification shall be completed on a form provided by Lower Makefield Township, and the applicable departments within, and shall reference the project for which a bid is being submitted by name and contract or project number.
C. 
In the contractor responsibility certification the construction manager, general contractor or other lead or prime contractor shall confirm the following facts regarding its past performance and work history and its current qualifications and performance capabilities:
(1) 
The firm has all valid, effective licenses, registrations or certificates required by federal, state, county, or local law, including, but not limited to, licenses, registrations, or certificates required to do business in the designated locale; and perform the contract work it seeks to perform, including but not limited to licenses, registrations or certificates for any type of trade work or specialty work which the firm proposes to self-perform.
(2) 
The firm meets the bonding requirements for the contract, as required by applicable law or contract specifications, and any insurance requirements, as required by applicable law or contract specifications, including general liability insurance, workers' compensation insurance and unemployment insurance requirements.
(3) 
The firm has not been debarred or defaulted on any project by any federal, state or local government agency or authority in the past three years.
(4) 
The firm has not had any type of business, contracting or trade license, registration or other certification suspended or revoked in the past three years.
(5) 
The firm has not committed a willful violation of federal or state safety laws, as determined by a final decision of a court or government agency, in the past three years.
(6) 
The firm and its owners have not been convicted of any crime relating to the contracting business by a final decision of a court or government agency for the past 10 years.
(7) 
The firm has not within the past three years been found by a final decision of a court or government agency in violation of any law applicable to its contracting business, including, but not limited to, licensing laws, tax laws, prompt payment laws, wage and hour laws, prevailing wage laws, environment laws or others, where the result of such violation was the imposition of a fine, back pay, damages or any other type of penalty in the amount of $1,000 or more.
(8) 
The firm will pay all craft employees that it employs on the project the current wage rates and benefits as required under the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act for the duration of the referenced project.
(9) 
[1]The firm has all other technical qualifications and resources, including equipment, personnel and financial resources, to perform the referenced contract, or will obtain same through the use of qualified, responsible subcontractors.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Subsection C(9), regarding the firm's participation in a Class A apprenticeship program, was repealed 3-3-2010 by Ord. No. 382. This ordinance provided for the redesignation of former Subsection C(10) as Subsection C(9).
D. 
Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments may require any other additional information it deems necessary to evaluate a prospective contractor's technical qualifications, financial capacity or other resources and performance capabilities. Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments may require that such information be included in a separate statement of qualifications and experience or as an attachment to the contractor responsibility certification.
E. 
In the contractor responsibility certification, the submitting firm shall stipulate that if it receives a notice of intent to award contract it will provide a subcontractor list and required subcontractor information as specified in § 99-5 of this chapter.
F. 
If the submitting firm has ever operated under another name or controls or is controlled by another company or business entity or in the past five years controlled or was controlled by another company or business entity, whether as a parent company, subsidiary or in any other business relation, it shall attach a separate statement to its contractor responsibility certification that explains in detail the nature of any such relationship. Additional information may be required from such an entity if the relationship in question could potentially impact contract performance.
G. 
Contractor responsibility certifications shall be executed by a person who has sufficient knowledge to address all matters in the certification and shall include an attestation stating, under the penalty of perjury, that all information submitted is true, complete and accurate.
H. 
If a firm fails to provide a contractor responsibility certification required by this section, it shall be disqualified from bidding. No action of any nature shall lie against Lower Makefield Township and/or its designated departments because of its refusal to accept a bid for failing to provide information required by this section.
A. 
After it has received bids for a project, Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments shall issue a notice of intent to award contract to the firm offering the lowest responsive bid.
B. 
Such notice shall be issued immediately or as soon as practicable after bids are submitted and shall stipulate that the contract award will be conditioned on the issuance of a written contractor responsibility determination, as required by § 99-6 of this chapter and any other conditions determined appropriate by Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments.
A. 
Within seven days from the date of notice of intent to award contract, a prospective awardee shall submit to Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments a subcontractor list containing the name of subcontractors that will be used for the referenced project, their addresses and a description of the work each listed subcontractor will perform on the project.
B. 
At the time a prospective awardee submits the subcontractor list it shall also submit subcontractor responsibility certifications for all listed subcontractors to Lower Makefield Township or its designated departments. Subcontract responsibility certifications shall be executed by the respective subcontractors and contain the same information and representations required in the contractor responsibility certifications.
C. 
Subcontract responsibility certifications shall be executed by persons having sufficient knowledge to address all matters in the certification and shall include an attestation stating, under the penalty of perjury, that all information submitted is true, complete and accurate.
A. 
After a notice of intent to award contract has been issued, Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments shall undertake a review process for a period no longer than 30 days to determine whether the prospective awardee is a qualified, responsible contractor in accordance with the requirements of this chapter and other applicable law and regulations and has the resources and capabilities to successfully perform the contract.
[Amended 5-6-2020 by Ord. No. 422]
B. 
As part of this review process, Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments shall ensure that the contractor responsibility certification, the subcontractor list and subcontractor responsibility certifications, as required by this chapter, have been submitted and properly executed.
C. 
Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments may conduct any additional inquiries to verify the prospective awardee and its subcontractors have the technical qualification and performance capabilities necessary to successfully perform the contract and that the firms have a sufficient record of law compliance and business integrity to justify the award of a public contract. In conducting such inquiries, Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments may seek relevant information from the firm, its prior clients or customers, its subcontractors or any other relevant source.
D. 
If, at the conclusion of its review process, Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments determine that all responsibility certifications have been properly completed and executed and if it concludes that the qualifications, background and responsibility of the prospective awardee and the firms on its subcontractor list are satisfactory, it shall issue a written contractor responsibility determination verifying that the prospective awardee is a qualified, responsible contractor. In the event a firm is determined to be nonresponsible, Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments shall advise the firm of its finding in writing and proceed to conduct a responsibility review of the next lowest, responsive bidder or, if necessary, re-bid the project.
E. 
The contractor responsibility determination shall be issued no later than 30 days after the date of the notice of intent to award contract. The responsibility determination may be revoked or revised in any manner at any time during the project in the event Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments obtains relevant information warranting any such revocation or revisions.
[Amended 5-6-2020 by Ord. No. 422]
A. 
A construction manager, general contractor or other lead or prime contractor shall not be permitted to use a subcontractor for any work performed for Lower Makefield Township unless it has identified the subcontractor on its subcontractor list and provided a subcontractor responsibility certification in accordance with the requirements of § 99-5 of this chapter.
B. 
A subcontractor listed on a firm's subcontractor list shall not be substituted unless written authorization is obtained from Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments and a subcontractor responsibility certification is provided for the substitute subcontractor.
C. 
In the event that Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments determines that a prospective subcontractor listed by the apparent low bidder does not meet the responsibility standards of this section, it may, after informing the prospective awardee, exercise one of the following options:
(1) 
Permit the awardee to substitute a qualified, responsible, subcontractor in accordance with the requirements of this section;
(2) 
Require the awardee to self-perform the work in question if the firm has the required experience, licenses and other qualifications to perform the work in question; or
(3) 
Disqualify the prospective awardee.
D. 
In the event that a subcontractor is disqualified under this chapter, the general contractor, construction manager or other lead or prime contractor shall not be permitted to make any type of contractual claim against Lower Makefield Township on the basis of a subcontractor disqualification.
A. 
The contractor responsibility certification for a firm identified in a notice of intent to award contract, subcontractor list and subcontractor responsibility certification shall be made immediately available to the public for inspection through a publicly accessible website or other comparable means.
B. 
During the public review period, any person or organization may protest a contractor or subcontractor for failing to meet applicable requirements of this chapter or on any other relevant grounds by submitting a letter with supporting evidence to Lower Makefield Township and its designated departments.
C. 
If Lower Makefield Township determines that a contractor's or subcontractor's responsibility certification contains false or misleading material information that was provided knowingly or with reckless disregard for the truth or omits material information that was omitted knowingly or with reckless disregard of the truth, the firm for which the certification was submitted shall be prohibited from performing work for Lower Makefield Township for a period of three years and subject to any other penalties and sanctions, including termination, available to Lower Makefield Township under law. A contract terminated under these circumstances shall further entitle Lower Makefield Township to withhold payment of any monies due to the firm as damages.
D. 
A procurement contract subject to this chapter shall not be executed until all requirements of this chapter have been fulfilled and until contractor and subcontractor responsibility certifications and subcontractor lists have been made available for public inspection for at least 21 days.
(1) 
The review period prescribed in this section shall be reduced to a period of no more than 14 days for public inspection for those contracts that are recurring, i.e., occur on a regular basis, such as annually. Such recurrent contracts include, for reference purposes only and are not limited to, annual street and road resurfacing contracts, and municipal pool repainting contracts.
[Added 4-7-2021 by Ord. No. 425]
(2) 
The initial determination as to whether a contract is recurrent will be made by .the Township Manager, upon the recommendation of one of the following individuals, as applicable, under the particular contract:
[Added 4-7-2021 by Ord. No. 425]
(a) 
Director of Zoning, Inspections and Planning;
(b) 
Township Engineer;
(c) 
Township Sewer Engineer; or
(d) 
Township Traffic Engineer.
A. 
If any provision of this chapter shall be held to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, any such holding shall not invalidate any other provision of this chapter and all remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.
B. 
This chapter shall become effective five days after enactment, but Lower Makefield Township shall take such anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this chapter.
C. 
The requirements of this chapter shall not apply to contracts executed prior to the effective date of this chapter, except that the exercise of an option on a contract covered by this chapter shall be deemed to create a new contract for purposes of this chapter.