Section 17250.25.

Design-build projects shall progress as follows:

(a) (1) The school district governing board shall prepare a request for proposal setting forth the scope of the project that may include, but is not limited to, the size, type, and desired design character of the buildings and site, performance specifications covering the quality of materials, equipment, and workmanship, preliminary plans or building layouts, or any other information deemed necessary to describe adequately the school district's needs. The performance specifications and any plans shall be prepared by a design professional duly licensed or registered in this state. The request for proposal shall not include a design-build-operate contract for educational facilities pursuant to this chapter.

(2) Each request for proposal shall do all of the following:

(A) Identify the basic scope and needs of the project or contract, the expected cost range, and other information deemed necessary by the school district to inform interested parties of the contracting opportunity.

(B) Invite interested parties to submit competitive sealed proposals in the manner prescribed by the school district.

(C) Include a section identifying and describing the following:

(i) All significant factors and subfactors that the school district reasonably expects to consider in evaluating proposals, including cost or price and all nonprice related factors and subfactors.

(ii) The methodology and rating or weighting scheme that will be used by the school district governing board in evaluating competitive proposals and specifically whether proposals will be rated according to numeric or qualitative values.

(iii) The relative importance or weight assigned to each of the factors identified in the request for proposal.

(iv) As an alternative to clause (iii), the governing board of a school district shall specifically disclose whether all evaluation factors other than cost or price, when combined, are any of the following:

(I) Significantly more important than cost or price.

(II) Approximately equal in importance to cost or price.

(III) Significantly less important than cost or price.

(v) If the school district governing board wishes to reserve the right to hold discussions or negotiations with responsive bidders, it shall so specify in the request for proposal and shall publish separately or incorporate into the request for proposal applicable rules and procedures to be observed by the school district to ensure that any discussions or negotiations are conducted in a fair and impartial manner.

(3) Notwithstanding Section 4-315 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, an architect or structural engineer who is party to a design-build entity may perform the services set forth in Section 17302.

(b) (1) The school district shall establish a procedure to prequalify design-build entities using a standard questionnaire developed by the Director of the Department of Industrial Relations. In preparing the questionnaire, the director shall consult with the construction industry, including representatives of the building trades, surety industry, school districts, and other affected parties. This questionnaire shall require information including, but not limited to, all of the following:

(A) If the design-build entity is a partnership, limited partnership, or other association, a listing of all of the partners, general partners, or association members who will participate as subcontractors in the design-build contract, including, but not limited to, electrical and mechanical subcontractors.

(B) Evidence that the members of the design-build entity have completed, or demonstrated, the experience, competency, capability, and capacity to complete projects of similar size, scope, or complexity, and that proposed key personnel have sufficient experience and training to competently manage and complete the design and construction of the project.

(C) The licenses, registration, and credentials required to design and construct the project, including information on the revocation or suspension of any license, credential, or registration.

(D) Evidence that establishes that the design-build entity has the capacity to obtain all required payment and performance bonding, liability insurance, and errors and omissions insurance, as well as a financial statement that ensures the school district that the design-build entity has the capacity to complete the project.

(E) Any prior serious or willful violation of the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 (Part 1 (commencing with Section 6300) of Division 5 of the Labor Code) or the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-596), settled against any member of the design-build entity, and information concerning a contractor member's workers' compensation experience history and worker safety program.

(F) Information concerning any debarment, disqualification, or removal from a federal, state, or local government public works project.

(G) Any instance where an entity, its owners, officers, or managing employees, submitted a bid on a public works project and were found by an awarding body not to be a responsible bidder.

(H) Any instance where the entity, its owners, officers, or managing employees defaulted on a construction contract.

(I) Any prior violations of the Contractors' State License Law (Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 7000) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code), excluding alleged violations of federal or state law including the payment of wages, benefits, apprenticeship requirements, or personal income tax withholding, or of Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) withholding requirements, settled against any member of the design-build entity.

(J) Information concerning the bankruptcy or receivership of a member of the entity, including information concerning any work completed by a surety.

(K) Information concerning all settled adverse claims, disputes, or lawsuits between the owner of a public works project and a member of the design-build entity during the five-year period preceding submission of the bid pursuant to this section, in which the claim, settlement, or judgment exceeds fifty thousand dollars ($50,000). Information shall also be provided concerning any work completed by a surety during this period.

(L) In the case of a partnership or other association that is not a legal entity, a copy of the agreement creating the partnership or association.

(2) The information required pursuant to this subdivision shall be verified under oath by the design-build entity and its members in the manner in which civil pleadings in civil actions are verified. Information that is not a public record pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code) shall not be open to public inspection.

(c) The school district shall establish a procedure for final selection of the design-build entity. Selection shall be based on either of the following criteria:

(1) A competitive bidding process resulting in lump-sum bids by the prequalified design-build entities. Award shall be made on the basis of the lowest responsible bid.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code or of Section 20110 of the Public Contract Code, a school district may use a design-build competition based upon performance and other criteria set forth by the governing board of the school district in the solicitation of proposals. Criteria used in this evaluation of proposals may include, but need not be limited to, the proposed design approach, life cycle costs, project features, and project functions. However, competitive proposals shall be evaluated by using the criteria and source selection procedures specifically identified in the request for proposal. Once the evaluation is complete, all responsive bidders shall be ranked from the most advantageous to least advantageous to the school district.

(A) An architectural or engineering firm or individual retained by the governing board of the school district to assist in the development criteria or preparation of the request for proposal shall not be eligible to participate in the competition with the design-build entity.

(B) The award of the contract shall be made to the responsible bidder whose proposal is determined, in writing by the school district, to be the best value to the school district.

(C) Proposals shall be evaluated and scored solely on the basis of the factors and source selection procedures identified in the request for proposal. However, the following minimum factors shall collectively represent at least 50 percent of the total weight or consideration given to all criteria factors: price, technical expertise, life cycle costs over 15 years or more, skilled labor force availability, and acceptable safety record.

(D) The school district governing board shall issue a written decision supporting its contract award and stating in detail the basis of the award. The decision and the contract file must be sufficient to satisfy an external audit.

(E) Notwithstanding any provision of the Public Contract Code, upon issuance of a contract award, the school district governing board shall publicly announce its awards identifying the contractor to whom the award is made, the winning contractor's price proposal and its overall combined rating on the request for proposal evaluation factors. The notice of award shall also include the agency's ranking in relation to all other responsive bidders and their respective price proposals and a summary of the school district's rationale for the contract award.

(F) For the purposes of this chapter, "skilled labor force availability" means that an agreement exists with a registered apprenticeship program, approved by the California Apprenticeship Council, which has graduated apprentices in the preceding five years. This graduation requirement shall not apply to programs providing apprenticeship training for any craft that has not been deemed by the Department of Labor and the Department of Industrial Relations to be an apprenticable craft in the two years before enactment of this act.

(G) For purposes of this chapter, a bidder's "safety record" shall be deemed "acceptable" if its experience modification rate for the most recent three-year period is an average of 1.00 or less, and its average total recordable injury or illness rate and average lost work rate for the most recent three-year period does not exceed the applicable statistical standards for its business category, or if the bidder is a party to an alternative dispute resolution system as provided for in Section 3201.5 of the Labor Code.

(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 736, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2013. Repealed as of January 1, 2020, pursuant to Stats. 2012, Ch. 736, Sec. 5.)