AN ACT Relating to contractor qualifications; and amending RCW 39.04.350.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1.  RCW 39.04.350 and 2010 c 276 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Before award of a public works contract, a bidder must meet the following responsibility criteria to be considered a responsible bidder and qualified to be awarded a public works project. The bidder must:

(a) At the time of bid submittal, have a certificate of registration in compliance with chapter 18.27 RCW;

(b) Have a current state unified business identifier number;

(c) If applicable, have industrial insurance coverage for the bidder's employees working in Washington as required in Title 51 RCW; an employment security department number as required in Title 50 RCW; and a state excise tax registration number as required in Title 82 RCW;

(d) Not be disqualified from bidding on any public works contract under RCW 39.06.010 or 39.12.065(3);

(e) If bidding on a public works project subject to the apprenticeship utilization requirements in RCW 39.04.320, not have been found out of compliance by the Washington state apprenticeship and training council for working apprentices out of ratio, without appropriate supervision, or outside their approved work processes as outlined in their standards of apprenticeship under chapter 49.04 RCW for the one-year period immediately preceding the date of the bid solicitation; and

(f) Until December 31, 2013, not have violated RCW 39.04.370 more than one time as determined by the department of labor and industries.

(2) In addition to the bidder responsibility criteria in subsection (1) of this section, the state or municipality may adopt relevant supplemental criteria for determining bidder responsibility applicable to a particular project which the bidder must meet. Supplemental criteria may include requirements that the bidder is qualified and how much experience with the type of project being bid on.

(a) Supplemental criteria for determining bidder responsibility, including the basis for evaluation and the deadline for appealing a determination that a bidder is not responsible, must be provided in the invitation to bid or bidding documents.

(b) In a timely manner before the bid submittal deadline, a potential bidder may request that the state or municipality modify the supplemental criteria. The state or municipality must evaluate the information submitted by the potential bidder and respond before the bid submittal deadline. If the evaluation results in a change of the criteria, the state or municipality must issue an addendum to the bidding documents identifying the new criteria.

(c) If the bidder fails to supply information requested concerning responsibility within the time and manner specified in the bid documents, the state or municipality may base its determination of responsibility upon any available information related to the supplemental criteria or may find the bidder not responsible.

(d) If the state or municipality determines a bidder to be not responsible, the state or municipality must provide, in writing, the reasons for the determination. The bidder may appeal the determination within the time period specified in the bidding documents by presenting additional information to the state or municipality. The state or municipality must consider the additional information before issuing its final determination. If the final determination affirms that the bidder is not responsible, the state or municipality may not execute a contract with any other bidder until two business days after the bidder determined to be not responsible has received the final determination.

(3) The capital projects advisory review board created in RCW 39.10.220 shall develop suggested guidelines to assist the state and municipalities in developing supplemental bidder responsibility criteria. The guidelines must be posted on the board's web site.

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