CHESTERFIELD COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Page 1 of 2 AGENDA

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1 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Page 1 of 2 AGENDA Meeting Date: May 27, 2009 Item Number: 7.B. Subject: Adopt a County Procedure for the Debarment of Vendors and Contractors County Administrator's Comments: County Administrator: Board Action Requested: Adopt the attached County Administrative Procedure Number relating to the debarment of vendors and contractors. Summary of Information: On occasion, vendors or contractors seeking to contract with the County have performed so poorly on other government contracts (County and non-county) in the past that they should not be permitted to submit bids to the County until they have resolved the problems causing such prior poor performance. The process of temporarily barring a vendor/contractor from bidding on government contracts due to past performance is known as debarment. The procurement of all goods and services by the County is governed by the Virginia Public Procurement Act ( VPPA )Code of Virginia et seq. Section of the VPPA states that localities may establish procedures to debar vendors/contractors, however, any debarment procedure must be established in writing and must be adopted by the governing body of the locality. Staff has drafted for the Board s approval the attached Administrative Procedure Number relating to debarment. The procedure will protect the integrity of the County s procurement process by preventing contractors or vendors who have engaged in improper conduct from participating in the County purchasing process for specific periods of time. Preparer: Michael J. Bacile Title: Director of Purchasing 0425: Attachments: Yes No #

2 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Page 2 of 2 AGENDA Summary of Information (continued) The procedure also allows for a debarred vendor/contractor to be reinstated by the County during the term of debarment if he can demonstrate that his performance has consistently improved. Staff requests that the Board adopt the attached procedure. The Purchasing Department staff benchmarked with several other localities to see what procedures they had in place. Prince William, Hanover, and Henrico Counties, as well as the City of Richmond, all have debarment policies. Hanover s has been in effect for about 25 years, Prince William s since at least 1997, Henrico s since 1980, and the City of Richmond s since Several changes have been made to the procedure based on citizen comments received at the Board meeting April 29, 2009.

3 ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Department: Purchasing Policy Number: Subject: Debarment Date Issued: I. INTRODUCTION This policy sets forth the procedures to be followed by the County when a debarment action becomes necessary. Debarment is an additional action the County may take should a contractor be placed in default. Debarment is applicable to actual and prospective bidders, offerors and contractors. The debarred person or firm shall be removed from the County's Mailing List(s) for the term of the debarment. II. DEFINITIONS Debarment: To exclude a person or firm, or any part of a firm, from contracting with the County for particular types of goods and/or services for a specified period of time. III. POLICY In case of default by a contractor for failure to deliver or perform in accordance with the contract specifications or terms and conditions, the County may procure the goods or services from other sources and hold the defaulting contractor responsible for any resulting additional purchase and administrative costs. This may lead to debarment action being taken by the County. Section of the Code of Virginia states that prospective contractors may be debarred from contracting for particular types of supplies, services, insurance or construction, for specified periods of time. Debarment does not relieve a contractor from its responsibilities for existing obligations to the County. A debarred contractor may be reinstated by the County during the term of debarment at any time it is in the best interest of the County. IV. PROCEDURE A. Debarment: 1. The Purchasing Director may debar an actual or prospective bidder, offeror, or contractor for any of the causes listed below. The existence of a cause for debarment; however, does not necessarily require that the contractor be debarred. The seriousness of the contractor's acts or omissions and any mitigating factors should be considered in any debarment decision. Debarment may be instituted for: a. Conviction of or civil judgment for (1) commission of fraud or a criminal offense in connection with (i) obtaining, (ii) attempting to obtain, or (iii) performing a public contract or subcontract; (2) violation of federal or state antitrust statutes relating to the submission of offers; (3) commission of embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery,

4 falsification or destruction of records, making false statement, or receiving stolen property; or (4) commission of any other offense indicating a lack of business integrity or business honesty that seriously and directly affects the present responsibility of a government contractor or subcontractor. b. Conferring or offering to confer any gift, gratuity, favor, or advantage, present or future, upon any employee of the County or School Board who exercises any official responsibility for a procurement transaction as those terms are defined in the Code of Virginia, It is not necessary that the offer be accepted by the employee, or that the offer is made with intent to influence the employee in an official act. Extending to any County or School Board employee exercising official responsibility for a procurement transaction any discount or privilege not available to all County and School Board employees is considered to be offering an advantage. c. Failing to disclose a condition constituting a conflict of interest by any officer, director, owner, or partner of the vendor in a contract or purchase order awarded by Chesterfield County (Code of Virginia, ). d. Violation of the terms of a government contract or subcontract, including but not limited to (1) willful failure to perform in accordance with the terms of one or more contracts; or (2) a history of failure to perform, or of unsatisfactory performance of one or more contracts. e. Sale or attempted sale to the County of items or services which are required to be purchased under an existing County contract with another vendor, when the offending vendor knew or had reason to know that the items or services are required to be purchased under that contract. f. Sale of goods or services to the County when such sale is prohibited by any debarment then in effect. g. Unwillingness or inability to honor a binding quote, bid or proposal. h. Falsifying or misrepresenting product specifications. i. Any other cause of so serious or compelling in nature that it affects the present responsibility of the contractor. j. A determination by the Purchasing Director that a vendor has used abusive or obscene language or a threatening manner toward any County/School personnel during the performance of their duties or as a result of the performance of their duties. 2. Debarment shall be initiated by a notice from the Purchasing Director advising the contractor, by certified mail, return receipt requested, that debarment is to become effective ten days from the date of notice. Such notice shall include the reasons for the proposed debarment in terms sufficient to place the contractor on notice of the conduct or transaction upon which the debarment is based. 3. The contractor may, during the ten day notice period mentioned above, present a written request for reconsideration, including additional specific information relating to the reasons given for debarment. The Purchasing Director shall consider such additional

5 information in reaching a decision as to whether the decision to debar should be delayed or revised. Should it be decided that the original decision to debar is proper and justified based upon the information contained in the notice to the contractor, the contractor shall be debarred and the only remedy of appeal available to the contractor shall be that contained in the Virginia Public Procurement Act. 4. A debarred contractor may not apply to the County for rescission of debarment earlier than one year from the final debarment date. The term of debarment shall last until the contractor is reinstated by the County, and during the debarment term the contractor shall not be permitted to competitively quote, bid or propose on goods or services solicited by the County. Should the debarment action involve funds the contractor owes the County, then the debarred contractor may apply for rescission of the debarment upon payment in full of the debt owed to the County. 5. If a contractor is reinstated, the contractor shall be placed on the County's Mailing List(s). To be reinstated, the contractor shall be required to submit with his application a list of at least three references with whom the contractor has satisfactorily conducted business in the past year. The contractor's application shall not be processed until the required references have been supplied, and the contractor shall be barred from doing business with the County during such time. B. Internal County Procedures 1. Once a vendor has been debarred, Purchasing will be responsible for notifying Accounts Payable to have the term DEBARRED placed in front of the vendor s name in IFAS. 2. The Purchasing Department will maintain a list of debarred vendors on the Purchasing Department s website and all documentation supporting the debarment action in its files. 3. Prior to creating a new vendor in IFAS, using departments/schools shall check the debarment list on the Purchasing Department s website. 4. Accounts Payable will periodically check the new vendor report and will inform Purchasing if any debarred vendor appears on the report. Purchasing will follow-up with the using departments/schools and take appropriate action.