Public contracts: school and community college districts

School and community college districts can continue using job-order contracts for qualifying public-works projects for another decade. The law retains labor-agreement and skilled-workforce conditions while adding or preserving cost controls.

What the law does ​

• Extends job-order contracting authority for school districts and community college districts until January 1, 2037.
• Requires project labor agreements covering job-order work and other covered district public works.
• Bars school districts from using job-order contracting when their established review finds higher project costs lack sufficient documented justification.
• Requires community college districts to plan eligible modernization projects, select annual job-order projects, and determine that this method reduces total project costs.
• Requires school districts to prepare an independent estimate before receiving a contractor’s proposal and document adjustments to that estimate.
• Caps task-order procurement contracts and job-order contracts at five years, while preserving validly issued individual orders after a master contract expires.
• Requires contractors on job-order contracts above $25,000 to commit to using a skilled and trained construction workforce, unless a binding project labor agreement already does so.

Who it affects ​

• School districts and community college districts using job-order contracts for public works.
• Construction contractors and subcontractors bidding on or performing covered district work.
• Building-trades workers and apprentices working on covered projects.

Context ​

Job-order contracting lets districts issue individual work orders under a competitively awarded master contract.

Breakdown ​

Job Order Contracting Extension ​

The bill extends school and community college districts’ authority to use job order contracting from January 1, 2027, to January 1, 2037. For school districts, it adds a limit on using this method when the district finds it would raise total project costs without adequate documented justification. It also removes certain planning and price-comparison requirements for school district job order contracts.

Key takeaways

• School and community college districts may continue using job order contracting through January 1, 2037.
• The requirement that job order contractors submit sworn questionnaires remains in effect through January 1, 2037.
• For school districts, the requirement to have project labor agreements covering job order work and other qualifying public works is extended through January 1, 2037.
• A school district may not use job order contracting if it finds, under its own established criteria and methodology, that the method would increase the project’s total cost without sufficient documented justification.
• The bill removes the requirement that school districts prepare modernization-project execution plans, select a specified number of projects for job order contracts each year, and determine that job order contracting will lower each selected project’s total cost.
• School districts must still prepare an independent estimate before receiving a contractor’s proposal, but no longer must compare that estimate with the contractor’s proposed price before issuing a job order.

Limits on Task and Job Order Contracts ​

The bill limits task order procurement contracts and job order contracts used by school and community college districts to no more than five years. It also keeps individual task orders or job orders enforceable after the underlying contract expires, as long as they were validly issued before expiration. The bill states that the state does not have to reimburse local agencies or school districts for costs created by this change.

Key takeaways

• Task order procurement contracts and job order contracts cannot last longer than five years.
• A task order or job order properly issued before its underlying contract expires remains valid and enforceable after that contract ends.
• The change applies to contracts issued under specified Public Contract Code provisions.
• The bill provides that no state reimbursement is required for costs resulting from the act.