Job Order Contracting Procurement Procedures

California’s Public Contract Code Division 2, Part 2, Chapter 1, Article 1.3 deals with job order contracting procurement procedures used by the Department of General Services.

Section 10113 provides definitions for the following terms: “adjustment factor,” “department,” “director,” “job order contract,” “technical specifications,” “unit price,” and “unit price catalog.”

Section 10113.1 allows the department to use an alternative procurement procedure for public works contracts as provided in this article. The availability of job order contracting as a public works delivery method does not preclude the use of other public works delivery methods. The department may solicit for job order contractors by region, by specific scopes of work, or both. Solicitations for job order contractors are required to progress following specifications.

Any architect, engineer, consultant, or contractor retained by the department to assist in the development of the job order contract solicitation documents is not eligible to bid or to participate in the preparation of a job order contract bid related to that solicitation.

Each job order executed under a job order contract must provide an itemized list of each unit description required to complete the work with the unit’s associated unit price and the applied contractor’s adjustment factor. Job order contracts may be executed for an initial contract term of no more than 24 months.

The maximum total dollar amount that may be awarded under a single job order contract shall not exceed $10,000,000 in the first term of the job order contract. The department may issue up to four one-year extensions to each job order contract, up to an additional $5,000,000 per year. And, no single job order may exceed $1,000,000, not including change orders necessary to complete the scope of the original project. Note that the maximum amounts specified for job order contract value and job order value are adjusted each January 1 to reflect the percentage change in the annual California Construction Index as used by the department. Also, it is unlawful to split or separate job orders for the purpose of evading the cost limitation provisions of this section.

A contractor is prohibited from being awarded a job order contract unless the contractor provides an enforceable commitment to the director that the contractor and its subcontractors at every tier will use a skilled and trained workforce to perform all work for each job order that falls within an apprenticeable occupation in the building and construction trades. However, this requirement does not apply if any of the three specified requirements are met.

The term “project labor agreement” is defined. A job order contract has to set forth in the general conditions of the job order contract the party or parties responsible for seeing that specified provisions of the Labor Code are complied with.

In addition, prevailing wages when required to be paid apply to all work ordered under the job order contract regardless of thresholds set forth in the Labor Code. The job order contractor is required to pay the prevailing wage in effect at the time the job order is issued by the department and all increases as published by the Department of Industrial Relations for the term of the job order contract, including all overtime, holiday, and shift provisions published by the Department of Industrial Relations.

Finally, it is the intent of this legislation to streamline the delivery of public works. However, it is not the intent of the Legislature for job order contracting to displace work presently performed by state employees, nor to expand the types of public works performed by contractors.