Bill Text: PA SB331 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Further providing for awards of contracts, completion bond, additional bond for protection of materialmen and others.

Sponsorship: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 23-6)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-03-30 - Re-referred to APPROPRIATIONS [SB331 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2009-SB331-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 329
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 331 Session of2009
INTRODUCED BY WAUGH, EICHELBERGER, PILEGGI, MUSTO, ROBBINS, STOUT, FOLMER, ORIE, BAKER, SMUCKER, BROWNE, PICCOLA, BRUBAKER, CORMAN, KASUNIC, SCARNATI, EARLL, GORDNER, RAFFERTY, ERICKSON, WONDERLING, M. WHITE, GREENLEAF, PIPPY, BOSCOLA, ALLOWAY, O'PAKE AND FERLO, FEBRUARY 20, 2009
REFERRED TO URBAN AFFAIRS AND HOUSING, FEBRUARY 20, 2009
AN ACT
Amending the act of May 28, 1937 (P.L.955, No.265), entitled, as
amended, "An act to promote public health, safety, morals,
and welfare by declaring the necessity of creating public
bodies, corporate and politic, to be known as housing
authorities to engage in slum clearance, and to undertake
projects, to provide dwelling accommodations for persons of
low income; providing for the organization of such housing
authorities; defining their powers and duties; providing for
the exercise of such powers, including the acquisition of
property by purchase, gift or eminent domain, the renting and
selling of property, and including borrowing money, issuing
bonds, and other obligations, and giving security therefor;
prescribing the remedies of obligees of housing authorities;
authorizing housing authorities to enter into agreements,
including agreements with the United States, the
Commonwealth, and political subdivisions and municipalities
thereof; defining the application of zoning, sanitary, and
building laws and regulations to projects built or maintained
by such housing authorities; exempting the property and
securities of such housing authorities from taxation; and
imposing duties and conferring powers upon the State Planning
Board, and certain other State officers and departments,"
further providing for awards of contracts, completion bond,
additional bond for protection of materialmen and others.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 11 of the act of May 28, 1937 (P.L.955,
No.265), known as the Housing Authorities Law, amended May 20,
1949 (P.L.1614, No.486), February 16, 1990 (P.L.67, No.13) and
November 21, 1990 (P.L.569, No.143), is amended to read:
Section 11. Awards of Contracts; Completion Bond; Additional
Bond for Protection of Materialmen and Others.--
(a) Whenever the estimated cost of any construction,
erection, installation, completion, alteration, repair of, or
addition to, any project subject to the control of any Authority
shall exceed [ten thousand ($10,000) dollars] twenty-five
thousand ($25,000) dollars subject to annual adjustment under
subsection (b.3), it shall be the duty of said Authority to have
such work performed pursuant to a contract awarded to the lowest
responsible bidder, after advertisement for bids. Every such
contract shall contain a provision obligating the contractor to
the prompt payment of all material furnished, labor supplied or
performed, rental for equipment employed, and services rendered
by public utilities in or in connection with the prosecution of
the work, whether or not the said material, labor, equipment or
service enter into and become component parts of the work or
improvement contemplated. Such provision shall be deemed to be
included for the benefit of every person, copartnership,
association or corporation who, as subcontractor or otherwise,
has furnished material, supplied or performed labor, rented
equipment or services in or in connection with the prosecution
of the work as aforesaid, and the inclusion thereof in any
contract shall preclude the filing by any such person,
copartnership, association or corporation of any mechanics' lien
claim for such material, labor or rental of equipment.
(b) Whenever the estimated cost of any purchase of supplies,
materials or equipment or the rental of any equipment, whether
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or not the same is to be used in connection with the
construction, erection, installation, completion, alteration,
repair of, or addition to, any project subject to the control of
any Authority, shall exceed [ten thousand ($10,000) dollars]
twenty-five thousand ($25,000) dollars subject to annual
adjustment under subsection (b.3), it shall be the duty of such
Authority to have such purchase or rental made pursuant to a
contract awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, after
advertisement for bids, such advertisement to be inserted in a
newspaper of general circulation within the county in which the
Authority operates.
(b.1) An authority shall not evade the provisions of
subsection (a) or (b) as to advertising for bids by purchasing
materials or contracting for services piecemeal for the purpose
of obtaining prices under [ten thousand ($10,000) dollars]
twenty-five thousand ($25,000) dollars subject to annual
adjustment under subsection (b.3) upon transactions which
should, in the exercise of reasonable discretion and prudence,
be conducted as one transaction amounting to more than [ten
thousand ($10,000) dollars] twenty-five thousand ($25,000)
dollars subject to annual adjustment under subsection (b.3).
This provision is intended to make unlawful the practice of
evading advertising requirements by making a series of purchases
or contracts, each for less than the advertising requirement
price, or by making several simultaneous purchases or contracts,
each below said price, when, in either case, the transactions
involved should have been made as one transaction for one price.
(b.2) Written or telephonic price quotations from at least
three qualified and responsible contractors shall be requested
for all contracts that exceed [four thousand ($4,000) dollars]
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seven thousand ($7,000) dollars subject to annual adjustment
under subsection (b.3) but are less than the amount requiring
advertisement and competitive bidding or, in lieu of price
quotations, a memorandum shall be kept on file showing that
fewer than three qualified contractors exist in the market area
within which it is practicable to obtain quotations. A written
record of telephonic price quotations shall be made and shall
contain at least the date of the quotation, the name of the
contractor and the contractor's representative, the
construction, reconstruction, repair, maintenance or work which
was the subject of the quotation and the price. Written price
quotations, written records of telephonic price quotations and
memoranda shall be retained for a period of three years.
(b.3) (1) Annually, beginning with the year in which this
subsection becomes applicable to contracts and purchases, the
Department of Labor and Industry shall calculate the percentage
change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-
U) for the United States city average for all items as published
by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics, for the twelve-month average ending in September of
the prior year.
(2) The amount at which competitive bidding is required
under subsection (a) and the amount at which written or
telephonic price quotations are required under subsection (b.2)
shall be adjusted annually as follows:
(i) In the case of competitive bidding, the positive
percentage change, as determined in accordance with clause (1),
shall be multiplied by the amount applicable under subsection
(a) for the current year and the product thereof shall be added
to the amount applicable under subsection (a) for the current
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year, with the result rounded to the nearest multiple of ten
($10) dollars.
(ii) In the case of written or telephonic price quotations,
the positive percentage change, as determined in accordance with
clause (1), shall be multiplied by the amount applicable under
subsection (b.2) for the current year and the product thereof
shall be added to the amount applicable under subsection (b.2)
for the current year, with the result rounded to the nearest
multiple of ten ($10) dollars.
(3) The annual determination required under clause (1) and
the calculation of the adjustments required under clause (2)
shall be made in the period between October 1 and November 15 of
the year following the effective date of this subsection, and
annually between October 1 and November 15 of each successive
year.
(4) The adjusted amounts obtained in accordance with clause
(2) shall become effective January 1 for the calendar year
following the year in which the determination required under
clause (1) is made.
(5) The Department of Labor and Industry shall give notice
in the Pennsylvania Bulletin prior to January 1 of each calendar
year of the annual percentage change determined in accordance
with clause (1) and the amounts, whether adjusted or unadjusted
in accordance with clause (2), at which competitive bidding is
required under subsection (a) and written or telephonic price
quotations are required under subsection (b.2) for the calendar
year beginning the first day of January after publication of the
notice.
(c) A housing authority shall require as a condition of the
award of any contract, pursuant to subsection (a) or (b) of this
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section, that the contractor give to the Authority any bond
(including bonds for the performance of the contract, and for
the prompt payment by the contractor for material, supplies,
labor, services and equipment) which are prescribed by law for
contracts awarded by cities or counties, as the case may be, of
the same class as the city or county for which such Authority
has been created.
(d) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in
this act or in any other provision of law, a housing authority
may include, in any contract let in connection with a project,
stipulations requiring that the contractor and any
subcontractors comply with requirements as to minimum wages and
maximum hours of labor, and comply with any conditions which the
Federal or State Government may have attached to its financial
aid of the project.
(e) Every Authority awarding contracts or requiring the
delivery of bonds pursuant to this section shall keep an exact
copy of every contract awarded or bond delivered upon file at
its principal office. Subject to regulations to be prescribed by
the State Planning Board for their safe keeping such copies
shall be opened to public inspection.
(f) Any authority member who votes to unlawfully evade the
provisions of this section and who knows that the transaction
upon which he so votes is or ought to be a part of a larger
transaction and that it is being divided in order to evade the
requirements as to advertising for bids commits a misdemeanor of
the third degree for each contract entered into as a direct
result of that vote.
Section 2. This act shall apply to contracts and purchases
advertised on or after January 1 of the year following the
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effective date of this section.
Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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