Florida Senate - 2022 SB 1784 By Senator Burgess 20-01512B-22 20221784__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to road construction; creating the 3 Rural Roads Initiative Pilot Program within the 4 Department of Transportation; providing the purpose of 5 the pilot program; defining the term East Pasco 6 County; providing application and funding 7 requirements; specifying the role of the department in 8 distributing funds; specifying project standards; 9 authorizing the Governor to reallocate funds under 10 certain circumstances; providing an exception; 11 requiring the department to submit an annual report to 12 the Legislature; requiring the Legislature to 13 designate a pilot program review committee; providing 14 an appropriation; amending s. 337.14, F.S.; revising 15 the amount of a construction contract for which a 16 contractor must first be certified by the department 17 in order to bid on such contract; amending s. 337.11, 18 F.S.; conforming provisions to changes made by the 19 act; providing an effective date. 20 21 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 22 23 Section 1.Rural Roads Initiative Pilot Program. 24 (1)The Rural Roads Initiative Pilot Program is created 25 within the Department of Transportation for the purpose of 26 paving state, county, or municipal roads within East Pasco 27 County that are currently unpaved. As used in this section, the 28 term East Pasco County means that portion of Pasco County that 29 is located east of U.S. 41. 30 (2)Under the pilot program, the Pasco County Board of 31 County Commissioners or the governing board of a municipality 32 within East Pasco County may apply to the Department of 33 Transportation for funding to pave roads within an area under 34 such boards jurisdiction which are currently unpaved and the 35 cost of which cannot be met by the residents of such area. In 36 determining whether an applicant receives funding, the 37 department shall consider the number of dwellings located along 38 each applicable road, as well as connectivity and the impact 39 each newly paved road will have on moving residents, goods, and 40 services within such area. The departments role in distributing 41 funds under the pilot program shall be strictly fiduciary in 42 nature. The department may not rank projects according to 43 importance and may not reject an application based on a 44 determination of feasibility. A road paving project funded under 45 the pilot program is subject only to construction standards 46 established by the county or the municipality in which the road 47 is located and is not subject to department standards. 48 (3)Each applicant that receives funding from the 49 department under the pilot program shall be awarded 50 percent 50 of the cost of paving roads within an area under its 51 jurisdiction which are unpaved. The remaining 50 percent shall 52 be borne by the applicant. 53 (4)Funding awarded to an applicant under the pilot program 54 may be reallocated by the Governor for other uses if the 55 Governor has declared a state of emergency and determined such 56 reallocation is necessary as a result of such emergency, except 57 that funding that has been allocated to a road paving project 58 may not be reallocated for other uses once construction for the 59 project has commenced. 60 (5)The Department of Transportation shall submit an annual 61 report to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the 62 House of Representatives which includes the number of roads in 63 each area for which paving has been completed, the amount of 64 pilot program funds expended for each road paving project, and 65 the number of residents in each area who were impacted by the 66 paving of each road. The President of the Senate and the Speaker 67 of the House of Representatives shall designate a committee to 68 review the report and determine the efficacy of the pilot 69 program. 70 (6)The sum of $20 million is appropriated from the General 71 Revenue Fund to the Department of Transportation for 72 distribution under the Rural Roads Initiative Pilot Program. 73 Section 2.Subsections (1) and (2) and paragraph (a) of 74 subsection (9) of section 337.14, Florida Statutes, are amended 75 to read: 76 337.14Application for qualification; certificate of 77 qualification; restrictions; request for hearing. 78 (1)Any contractor desiring to bid for the performance of 79 any construction contract in excess of $5 million $250,000 which 80 the department proposes to let must first be certified by the 81 department as qualified pursuant to this section and rules of 82 the department. The rules of the department must address the 83 qualification of contractors to bid on construction contracts in 84 excess of $5 million $250,000 and must include requirements with 85 respect to the equipment, past record, experience, financial 86 resources, and organizational personnel of the applying 87 contractor which are necessary to perform the specific class of 88 work for which the contractor seeks certification. Any 89 contractor who desires to bid on contracts in excess of $50 90 million and who is not qualified and in good standing with the 91 department as of January 1, 2019, must first be certified by the 92 department as qualified and must have satisfactorily completed 93 two projects, each in excess of $15 million, for the department 94 or for any other state department of transportation. The 95 department may limit the dollar amount of any contract upon 96 which a contractor is qualified to bid or the aggregate total 97 dollar volume of contracts such contractor is allowed to have 98 under contract at any one time. Each applying contractor seeking 99 qualification to bid on construction contracts in excess of $5 100 million $250,000 shall furnish the department a statement under 101 oath, on such forms as the department may prescribe, setting 102 forth detailed information as required on the application. Each 103 application for certification must be accompanied by audited, 104 certified financial statements prepared in accordance with 105 generally accepted accounting principles and auditing standards 106 by a certified public accountant licensed in this state or 107 another state. The audited, certified financial statements must 108 be for the applying contractor and must have been prepared 109 within the immediately preceding 12 months. The department may 110 not consider any financial information of the parent entity of 111 the applying contractor, if any. The department may not certify 112 as qualified any applying contractor who fails to submit the 113 audited, certified financial statements required by this 114 subsection. If the application or the annual financial statement 115 shows the financial condition of the applying contractor more 116 than 4 months before the date on which the application is 117 received by the department, the applicant must also submit 118 interim audited, certified financial statements prepared in 119 accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and 120 auditing standards by a certified public accountant licensed in 121 this state or another state. The interim financial statements 122 must cover the period from the end date of the annual statement 123 and must show the financial condition of the applying contractor 124 no more than 4 months before the date that the interim financial 125 statements are received by the department. However, upon the 126 request of the applying contractor, an application and 127 accompanying annual or interim financial statement received by 128 the department within 15 days after either 4-month period under 129 this subsection shall be considered timely. An applying 130 contractor desiring to bid exclusively for the performance of 131 construction contracts with proposed budget estimates of less 132 than $1 million may submit reviewed annual or reviewed interim 133 financial statements prepared by a certified public accountant. 134 The information required by this subsection is confidential and 135 exempt from s. 119.07(1). The department shall act upon the 136 application for qualification within 30 days after the 137 department determines that the application is complete. The 138 department may waive the requirements of this subsection for 139 projects having a contract price of $500,000 or less if the 140 department determines that the project is of a noncritical 141 nature and the waiver will not endanger public health, safety, 142 or property. 143 (2)Certification shall be necessary in order to bid on a 144 road, bridge, or public transportation construction contract of 145 more than $5 million $250,000. However, the successful bidder on 146 any construction contract must furnish a contract bond prior to 147 the award of the contract. The department may waive the 148 requirement for all or a portion of a contract bond for 149 contracts of $150,000 or less under s. 337.18(1). 150 (9)(a)Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, for 151 contracts in excess of $5 million $250,000, an authority created 152 pursuant to chapter 348 or chapter 349 may require that persons 153 interested in performing work under contract first be certified 154 or qualified to do the work. Any contractor may be considered 155 ineligible to bid by the governmental entity or authority if the 156 contractor is behind an approved progress schedule for the 157 governmental entity or authority by 10 percent or more at the 158 time of advertisement of the work. Any contractor prequalified 159 and considered eligible by the department to bid to perform the 160 type of work described under the contract shall be presumed to 161 be qualified to perform the work so described. The governmental 162 entity or authority may provide an appeal process to overcome 163 that presumption with de novo review based on the record below 164 to the circuit court. 165 Section 3.Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (3) and 166 paragraph (c) of subsection (6) of section 337.11, Florida 167 Statutes, are amended to read: 168 337.11Contracting authority of department; bids; emergency 169 repairs, supplemental agreements, and change orders; combined 170 design and construction contracts; progress payments; records; 171 requirements of vehicle registration. 172 (3)(a)On all construction contracts of $5 million $250,000 173 or less, and any construction contract of less than $500,000 for 174 which the department has waived prequalification under s. 175 337.14, the department shall advertise for bids in a newspaper 176 having general circulation in the county where the proposed work 177 is located. Publication shall be at least once a week for no 178 less than 2 consecutive weeks, and the first publication shall 179 be no less than 14 days before prior to the date on which bids 180 are to be received. 181 (b)On all construction contracts greater than $5 million 182 $250,000, the department shall provide a bid solicitation notice 183 to all prequalified contractors at least 2 weeks before the date 184 bids are scheduled to be received. 185 (6) 186 (c)When the department determines that it is in the best 187 interest of the public for reasons of public concern, economy, 188 improved operations, or safety, and only when circumstances 189 dictate rapid completion of the work, the department may, up to 190 the amount of $5 million $250,000, enter into contracts for 191 construction and maintenance without advertising and receiving 192 competitive bids. The department may enter into such contracts 193 only upon a determination that the work is necessary for one of 194 the following reasons: 195 1.To ensure timely completion of projects or avoidance of 196 undue delay for other projects; 197 2.To accomplish minor repairs or construction and 198 maintenance activities for which time is of the essence and for 199 which significant cost savings would occur; or 200 3.To accomplish nonemergency work necessary to ensure 201 avoidance of adverse conditions that affect the safe and 202 efficient flow of traffic. 203 204 The department shall make a good faith effort to obtain two or 205 more quotes, if available, from qualified contractors before 206 entering into any contract. The department shall give 207 consideration to disadvantaged business enterprise 208 participation. However, when the work exists within the limits 209 of an existing contract, the department shall make a good faith 210 effort to negotiate and enter into a contract with the prime 211 contractor on the existing contract. 212 Section 4.This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.