Prop O and California Competitive Bidding Law

Our ANTI friends have made a great deal of ruckus about the ordinary and usual glitches that go hand in hand with a large public works project like building the large number of new schools that the Prop O money provided for.

Our friends should be reminded that California State Law requires VUSD to chose the lowest bidder or reject all bids and start over. Often this means that contractors with a history of under performing in the construction parts of the job and over achieving in tricks of the trade to increase costs after the bid must be given the job even when the government entity does not want to.

Here is what the law requires:
Competitive bidding law and policy require the award of a publicly advertised contract to the lowest responsible bidder submitting a responsive bid unless it is in the best interest of the (government entity) to reject all bids.
http://ucop.edu/facil/fmc/facilman/volume1/rpcb.html

What this means is a contractor under bids what he knows it will cost. Then he under performs, when he is called to fix the problems, he claims the district has changed the contract. he reports the fixes as "change orders" and adds the charge to the cost.

I saw this happen time and time again when Lincoln Middle School was 'upgraded' with new paint, new gas heaters to replace radiators, ceiling and wall insulation, AC, electrical and phone lines.

One case I recall very well was the 'peeling paint' in the class rooms and office. The contractor had painted water based latex over oil without sanding. It looked real nice for a day or two until something or someone rubbed against it. Then whole sections would peel off many inches wide and long. Our principal called the contractor's representative and showed him. He said no problem and sent in a crew to repaint.

We thought he was being very good about making up for his shoddy original work until we got a call from the district office (then called the ASC) a few weeks later. The district folks were fuming mad at us. Why? Because all the repairs had been listed as "change orders' by the contractor representative that had been so courteous and helpful. It was too late to get our money back according to the district folks. Apparently we had been "approving change orders" when we were showing the representative the problems with the paint and other construction glitches like windows that did not open or curtains that did not close. He never told us that we were authorizing the expenditure of more money for more profit for him.

I am told that 'change order' tricks are VERY common place in public works projects because the government agency generally has no one who fully understands the whole process from bidding, to construction standards, to how unethical contractors operate.

To see the change order trick in state law read:
http://law.justia.com/california/codes/pcc/5100-5110.html specifically 5110 (4)(b)(1)
(b) In no event shall payment to the contractor pursuant to this section exceed either of the following: (1) The contractor's costs as included in its bid plus the cost of any approved change orders. (bold added for emphasis)

Do those word in red above seem scary to you especially the ones I put in bold face? Do they seem like words that can had 10 to 20 %or more to the cost of a public project? If not, then you do not think like a contractor or contractor's lawyer.

VUSD tried very hard to get around that problem with Prop O money by hiring one of the very best school construction experts in the state, Mike Vail. He did a great job. Here is the url and a short excert from the article in nctimes announcing his retirement.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/06/12/news/coastal/22_42_036_11_05.txt

VUSD building on success

By: ROB O'DELL - Staff Writer Saturday, June 11, 2005 10:51 PM PDT
VISTA ---- Who exactly is Mike Vail, the man behind the Vista Unified School District's school-building spree over the past three years?

By many accounts, he is a man seriously committed to building new schools and who has the knowledge and determination to make it happen. In a long career that has included an 11-year stint as the assistant superintendent of facilities for the Santa Ana Unified School District, Vail has earned the respect of state legislators and county officials and the admiration of his colleagues.


Many of the problems we had at Lincoln with modernization did not happen with the construction of our new schools thanks to Mike Vail, but inevitably state approved state licensed contractors can screw up at times. When they do they either fix the problem or get sued. Suing is exactly what VUSD has been forced to do in one case. See:

Over all VUSD has gotten our money's worth. No more year round schedule. Instead of 163 days all students now get 180 days of instruction. Eight new schools constructed others renovated. I am well satisfied with the bond money I am paying for our property in VUSD. Any fair minded person who looked objectively at all that was accomplished would have to agree.