Public contracts: small business liaisons and advocates and disabled veteran business enterprises: preferences.

The Small Business Procurement and Contract Act requires the Director of General Services and the heads of other state agencies that enter into contracts for the provision of goods, services, and information technology and for the construction of state facilities to establish goals for the participation of small businesses in these contracts, to provide for small business preferences in the award of these contracts, to give special consideration and special assistance to small businesses, and, whenever possible, to make awards to small businesses, as specified. Existing law requires each state agency to consolidate its existing staff functions that relate to contract opportunities for small businesses into a single point of contact for small businesses, and to designate a small business advocate as a liaison to small business suppliers. Existing law requires each state agency that significantly regulates small business or significantly impacts small business to designate at least one individual who shall serve as a small business liaison for the agency. Existing law requires the Director of the Office of Small Business Advocate to, among other duties, seek the assistance and cooperation of all state agencies and departments providing services to, or affecting, small business, including the small business liaison, and maintain, publicize, and distribute an annual list of persons serving as small business ombudspersons throughout state government. Existing law also requires the small business advocate to identify potential certified small business and certified disabled veteran business enterprise (DVBE) subcontractors and potential subcontracting opportunities, as well as establish a California multiple award schedule program, as provided. Under existing law, the administering agency for the California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program is the Department of General Services, except in the case of contracts for professional bond services. Existing law requires the Director of General Services to adopt written policies and guidelines establishing a uniform process for state contracting to provide a DVBE participation incentive to bidders, which all state agencies are required to use when awarding contracts. That law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to carry out specified duties relating to the program, including by maintaining complete records of its promotional efforts. That law requires the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs to appoint the California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program Advocate and for that advocate to carry out certain duties. That law requires each awarding department, as defined, to appoint an agency Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program Advocate to carry out certain duties, including by meeting regularly with the California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program Advocate and contract and procurement staffs of their departments to disseminate information about the California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program. This bill would enact the Leveraging State Procurement for an Inclusive Economic Recovery Act of 2021, which would require the Director of the Office of Small Business Advocate to maintain, publicize, and distribute an annual list of persons serving as small business liaisons throughout state government. The bill would require the Director of the Office of Small Business Advocate to collaborate with the California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program Advocate regarding the implementation of the California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program, as provided. The bill would also require the small business advocate to identify potential certified small business and certified DVBE subcontracting opportunities, as well as assist certified small businesses and certified DVBEs to participate in the California multiple award schedule program. The bill would require the directors of General Services and the heads of other state agencies to make continuous efforts to expand the pool of small businesses and microbusinesses that participate in the department's and other state agencies' contracts by regularly seeking out and identifying small businesses and microbusinesses and including them in their solicitations, as specified. The bill would change the duties the California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program Advocate is required to carry out, including by requiring that advocate to establish and promote a system to track the effectiveness of promotional activities undertaken by state agencies. The bill would remove the requirement that an agency Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Advocate meet regularly with the California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program Advocate and would impose additional duties on an agency Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Advocate when that advocate meets with the contract and procurement staffs of their departments. The bill would make conforming changes to that effect. Existing law makes it a crime to fraudulently represent that a commercially useful function is being performed by a DVBE, certified small business, or microbusiness in order to obtain or retain a bid preference or state contract. Under existing law, a violation of this provision, in addition to other penalties, may result in any existing contract between the contractor and the awarding department being terminated and payment set off by penalties and costs to the state, as specified. Existing law requires that a person making a bid or offer to perform a contract provide specified information in the bid or offer, including the name and the location of the place of business of each subcontractor certified as a DVBE. This bill would authorize any city attorney, county attorney or county counsel, district attorney, or Attorney General to bring a civil action for a violation involving a knowing fraudulent representation that a commercially useful function is being performed by a DVBE, certified small business, or microbusiness in order to obtain or retain a bid preference for a state contract. The bill would prohibit a city attorney, county attorney or county counsel, or district attorney from bringing a civil action for that violation if the Department of General Services has concluded an administrative action for the violation. The bill would prohibit a monetary penalty from being imposed through both an administrative action and a civil action for the same violation. The bill would require a city attorney, county attorney or county counsel, district attorney, and the Attorney General to notify the Department of General Services before commencing an action under these provisions. The bill would require the bid or offer to include the DVBE certification number, contact information of the subcontractors certified as DVBEs, and a certification, under penalty of perjury, that the work to be done by each subcontractor serves a commercially useful function, as specified. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, the Target Area Contract Preference Act establishes a workplace preference of 5% for contracts for goods or services that are in excess of $100,000 for bidders that certify that a specified percentage of the hours worked on a contract will be performed on a worksite in a distressed area, as defined. The act requires the state to award between a 1- and 5-percent preference if the bidder certifies under penalty of perjury to hire persons with high risk of unemployment, as defined, equal to a specified percent of its workforce during the period of contract performance. This bill would clarify that the state is required to award both a workforce and a workplace preferences for a contract for goods or services that is in excess of $100,000 if the bidder makes both of the required certifications described above. This bill would expand the definition of "person with a high risk of unemployment" for purposes of the act to include specified individuals with employment barriers, including among others, displaced homeworkers, low-income individuals, individuals with disabilities, single parents, individuals who are English language learners, and transgender and gender nonconforming individuals. The act specifies that the maximum preference and incentive a bidder may be awarded under the act is 15%, not to exceed $50,000, and the maximum combined cost of preferences and incentives granted under the act may not exceed $100,000. This bill would clarify that the maximum preference and incentive cost of 15% or $50,000 applies to a single preference. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.