SENATE BILL REPORT
SB 5017
As of January 15, 2021
Title: An act relating to clarifying school district procurement requirements for personal service contracts for construction management, value engineering, constructibility review, and building commissioning.
Brief Description: Clarifying school district procurement requirements for personal service contracts for construction management, value engineering, constructibility review, and building commissioning.
Sponsors: Senators Wellman, Honeyford, Mullet and Wilson, C..
Brief History:
Committee Activity: Early Learning & K-12 Education: 1/15/21.
Brief Summary of Bill
  • Modifies the list of school district purchases that require public notification and bidding to include construction work by a contractor who meets the public works responsible bidder criteria, rather than "other work" generally.
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EARLY LEARNING & K-12 EDUCATION
Staff: Alexandra Fairfortune (786-7416)
Background:

School District Bid Requirements.  When the estimated cost of furniture, supplies, equipment, building, improvements, repairs, or other work or purchase exceeds a certain threshold, a school district must follow a public notification and bidding process.  The contract for the work or purchase must be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder after considering the following:

  • the ability, capacity, and skill of the bidder to perform the contract;
  • the character, integrity, reputation, judgment, experience, and efficiency of the bidder;
  • whether the bidder can perform the contract within the timeframe required;
  • the quality of performance from previous contracts;
  • the bidder's past compliance with state law regarding contracts and with state wage payment laws; and
  • other relevant information.


Responsible Bidder Criteria.  A contractor bidding on a public works project must meet certain responsible bidder criteria, to be awarded a public works contract.  To be a responsible bidder, the bidder must:

  • be a registered contractor;
  • have a current Unified Business Identifier number;
  • have applicable industrial insurance coverage, an Employment Security Department number, and a state excise tax registration number;
  • not be disqualified from bidding due to previous non-compliance with registration or prevailing wage requirements; and
  • not have been found out of compliance with certain apprenticeship requirements, if the project is subject to apprenticeship utilization requirements.
Summary of Bill:

The list of school district purchases that require public notification and bidding is modified to include construction work by a contractor who meets the public works responsible bidder criteria, where previously it included "other work" generally.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Not requested.
Creates Committee/Commission/Task Force that includes Legislative members: No.
Effective Date: The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.
Staff Summary of Public Testimony:

PRO:  School districts go through a standard request for proposal process to hire professional services, however a recent attorney general opinion interpreted that these professional services must go through the public bidding process.  This is a cleanup to clarify the statute's intent and codify a historic practice that certain professional services are outside the bidding statute.  This allows districts to assess a firm's fit and retain the same firm for multiple projects at a lower cost.
Persons Testifying: PRO: Senator Lisa Wellman, Prime Sponsor; Marissa Rathbone, Washington State School Directors' Association; Shelly Henderson, Mukilteo School District.
Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: No one.