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.