Due to the City of Springfield's high level of unemployment, diversified workforce demographics, and large minority population, the residents of Springfield should be part of and benefit from public construction projects in the City of Springfield. Therefore, it is appropriate for the City of Springfield to require that each public construction project, as defined herein, include employment opportunities for Springfield residents, minorities, women, and veterans through compliance with the ordinance codified in this article. Further, as the City finds and determines that taxpayer money is most efficiently and productively spent by awarding construction contracts to firms that include and enforce provisions requiring compliance with state laws governing the payment of prevailing wages, the City Council hereby finds and determines that it is appropriate for it to exercise entrepreneurial discretion by requiring firms that are awarded such contracts to comply with this article because a failure to comply is injurious to the life, health and happiness of individuals employed by such firms and is deleterious to the quality of life in the City where most of such individuals reside. (As enacted on 07/27/2009)
A. On February 2, 2019 the City of Springfield passed Ordinance Chapter
82, Article
V for the purpose of setting forth certain compliance standards for public works construction contracts; and
B. Since the enactment of said ordinance, the City of Springfield has engaged in further review and consideration of the contracting, which has highlighted the need to reexamine and further revise these contracting guidelines to better ensure they serve their intended purpose, comport with applicable federal and state law, and serve the best interests of Springfield; and
C. The City of Springfield, like many states and localities across the United States, faces critical infrastructure needs that are substantial in scope and that must be addressed, which will require the City of Springfield to plan, manage and oversee major capital investments in both the short and long term; and
D. Securing successful delivery of public works projects is extremely difficult due to the unique, complex, unpredictable and inherently dangerous nature of the construction industry, wherein errors in project planning or execution can result in serious health and safety risks to project workers and/or the general public, unnecessary cost overruns, flawed or inferior projects, and disruptions in schedules that delay the use of critical government facilities; and
E. The City of Springfield recognizes that the planning and execution of such public works projects involves the exercise of essential police powers to protect and promote public health, safety and welfare, and constitutes one of the most important obligations Springfield has to its citizens because such projects require substantial taxpayer investments and are necessary to the effective performance of vital government functions; and
F. The City of Springfield has commissioned and is in receipt of findings from an updated disparity study, which illustrates a level of disparity in the City of Springfield, and now wishes to revise its procurement standards for public works construction contracts to address these findings and considerations, and increase employment opportunities for Springfield residents, minorities, veterans, and women now based on that study.
For the purpose of this article the words set out in this section shall have the following meanings:
BID
Any bid submission, proposal, or quote rendered by a contractor to the City, or by any other tiered subcontractor for the performance of work on a public construction project. (As enacted on 07/27/2009)
BIDDING AUTHORITY
The City department or agency assigned or directly responsible for the bidding of projects.
COMPLIANCE PROJECT FILE
The collection of documents maintained by the Compliance Unit and made available to the Monitoring Committee for inspection including, but not limited to; the employee certification form, the initial employee reporting form, supplied by the contractor, monthly compliance reports, including recommendations made by the Monitoring Committee and remedial actions taken by the contractor, contractor's submitted compliance efforts, and final Monitoring Committee Decision on project compliance with this article.
COMPLIANCE UNIT
The City department assigned to monitor projects for compliance with this article, and other vital project compliance data and information, and to gather, coordinate, and supply project compliance information to the Monitoring Committee.
CONTRACTOR
All persons, corporations, agencies, firms, businesses, developers, bidders, proposers, trade contractors, installers, general contractors, or other named entity that has been awarded a "project" as defined in this article and is the named signatory with the City and has direct privity of contract with the City, except so-called designer or engineering services pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 7C, Section 44. The contractor is solely responsible for the overall compliance of any project and for organizing, planning, hiring, appointing, contracting, retaining, and subcontracting with appropriate individuals and firms to ensure compliance with this article. The contractor is responsible for gathering, tracking and submitting all required compliance data and forms from all tiered subcontractors that have been hired or otherwise retained to perform work on the project, including the employee reporting form, the employee certification form and the compliance log and is responsible for ensuring that all contractors supplement or amend the forms as needed during the duration of the project.
MINORITY
A.
AFRICAN-AMERICANAll persons having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa, including, but not limited to, African-Americans, and all persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the Cape Verdean Islands.
B.
HISPANICAll persons having their origins in any of the Spanish-speaking peoples of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central or South America, or the Caribbean Islands.
C.
ASIAN-AMERICANAll persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian sub-continent, or the Pacific Islands, including, but not limited to China, Japan, Korea, Samoa, India, and the Philippine Islands;
D.
AMERICAN INDIAN or NATIVE AMERICANAll persons having origins in any of the original peoples of North America and who are recognized as an Indian by a tribe or tribal organization; or
E.
ESKIMO or ALEUTAll persons having origins in the peoples of Northern Canada, Greenland, Alaska, and Eastern Siberia.
MONITORING COMMITTEE DECISION ON PROJECT COMPLIANCE WITH THIS ARTICLE
The means and methods utilized by the Monitoring Committee to render decisions on all contractor submittals, including but not limited to the initial Springfield public construction employee reporting form and supplements thereto, the Springfield public construction compliance log, and all other related documents demonstrating compliance efforts made by the contractor. Upon completion of any public construction project under this article and a review of all contractor submittals, the Monitoring Committee shall make one of the following compliance findings:
A.
Contractor has met all compliance requirements under the ordinance for the project.
B.
Contractor has demonstrated satisfactory attempts to comply with the compliance thresholds, and the contractor's substantial efforts have been documented in the compliance project file.
C.
Contractor has failed to comply with the compliance thresholds, and the contractor has failed to show or document satisfactory efforts to the Monitoring Committee.
PROJECT
Construction project of the City of Springfield that is subject to M.G.L. c. 149, § 44A(2), or M.G.L. c. 149A that have an associated labor/construction cost of more than $500,000. On-call service contracts, emergency contracts, all projects undertaken by any regional commission or board to which the City of Springfield is not the sole signatory to the contract, and/or all projects where the City is not the only funding source and/or have specific compliance standards dictated by that funding source, that are inconsistent with the requirements of this article, are hereby exempt from this article.
SPRINGFIELD PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION COMPLIANCE LOG
A physical or electronic system (other than a handwritten sign-in sheet) maintained by the contractor keeping track on a monthly basis, as well as a project-to-date basis, of the employees and all tiered subcontractors that are working on the project for the entire duration of their work on the project. The records from this log shall be submitted to Compliance Unit, in a form provided by the Compliance Unit, and shall be made available for inspection by the Monitoring Committee upon a scheduled project basis, as determined by the Monitoring Committee. The Monitoring Committee shall develop the standards for the tracking system to be utilized on a project which, at minimum, shall require tracking of the following information: total number of hours worked by the contractor's employees and any tiered subcontractors employees by craft/trade category during the designated reporting period and under the project timeline as a whole. The log shall include, for each contractor and subcontractor, the total number of hours worked by Springfield residents, minorities, females, and veterans for the project during the designated reporting period and for the project to date. The contractor, as the contract signatory and entity with which the City has privity of contract, is responsible for gathering, tracking, and submitting all required compliance data from all subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, and installers that have been hired to perform work in furtherance of any project to the Compliance Unit, and shall include minority status, veteran status, and gender of each employee, craft/trade category of each employee; hours worked on each employee on a monthly and project-to-date basis; company for which each employee is employed.
SPRINGFIELD PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYEE REPORTING FORM
The form which must be submitted by the contractor awarded a project to the Compliance Unit no more than 14 days after award of contract or receipt of a notice to proceed, whichever is sooner, and before commencement of work under the contract begins. Such form shall list Springfield residents, minorities, women, and veterans that have been contacted and confirmed to be employed by the contractor, as well as any subcontractors or any other tiered subcontractors upon which the contractor has retained to assist in the completion of the project. Such form shall be submitted by the contractor to the Compliance Unit, which will then make it available for inspection by the Monitoring Committee and made a part of the compliance project file. Such form may be from time to time amended by the Compliance Unit and/or Office of Procurement to suit the purpose and intent of this article. The contractor, as the contract signatory and entity with which the City has privity of contract, is responsible for gathering, tracking, and submitting all required compliance data from all subcontractors, any other tiered subcontractors, and installers that have been hired or otherwise retained to perform work in furtherance of any public construction project to the Compliance Unit, and is responsible for supplementing or amending the form as needed during the duration of the project. All contractors are responsible for providing this form to all tiered subcontractors retained throughout the duration of the project.
SPRINGFIELD PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATION FORM
The form which must be submitted by the contractor with any and all bids for public construction requiring that, as a condition for bidding, the contractor agrees to comply with the requirements contained in this article if awarded the contract. Such form may be from time to time amended by the Compliance Department and/or Office of Procurement to suit the purpose and intent of this article.
SPRINGFIELD RESIDENT
Any person for whom the principal place of residence is within the City of Springfield during the entirety of time the person works on a project within the City of Springfield. Proof of such residence may include, but is not limited to, the following: a valid Massachusetts Driver's License or Massachusetts Identification Card, indicating a Springfield residence, utility bills in the purported resident's name, or proof of voter registration within the city of Springfield or such other proof acceptable to the monitoring committee.
SPRINGFIELD RESPONSIBLE EMPLOYER ORDINANCE MONITORING COMMITTEE
Herein known as "Monitoring Committee." This article, its enforcement, and compliance with its requirements shall be monitored by the Monitoring Committee. The Monitoring Committee shall be comprised of five individuals including the following and each shall serve at the discretion of his or her appointing authority:
A.
Two appointees of the City Council;
B.
Three appointees of the Mayor. Initially, one appointment by the Mayor and one appointment by the City Council shall serve for one year. Except as noted herein all appointments made in accordance with this article shall serve for two-year terms. Such terms may be sooner terminated, with or without cause, by the appointing authority named herein. All action by the monitoring committee shall be by majority vote of a quorum of the then-appointed members. A quorum shall be no less than three members.
SUBCONTRACTOR
Those persons, corporations, agencies, firms, businesses, developers, bidders, proposers, trade contractors, and/or installers, that have contracted or been retained by the contractor or other subcontractor for the provision of services and materials related to and a part of the project.
VETERAN
A person who has served in any branch of the United States Armed Forces, and was not dishonorably discharged.
Where this law or any selection of employees thereto conflicts with other laws relating to affirmative action hiring requirements as set forth by federal, state or local laws and/or their respective funding sources, those laws shall supersede this article. (As enacted on 07/27/2009)
In the event any section of this article is deemed illegal, unenforceable or unconstitutional, then the remaining sections shall remain in full force and effect. (As enacted on 07/27/2009)
This article shall be effective upon the City Council's formal adoption of a comprehensive disparity study commissioned by the City and this Amendment.