To promote the award of City contracts to SLBEs or Emerging SLBEs, each GSC may, subject to § 28-97(b), authorize the use of any or all of the SLBE affirmative procurement initiatives in this Part IV for contracts in its industry category. Ord. 16-595

Subject to applicable federal and state law, as well as <cite data-doc="City of Baltimore, Md., Charter">the City Charter</cite>, and applicable regulations, policies, and procedures, the Board of Estimates, on the recommendation of the contracting agency, may waive or reduce the bonding or insurance requirements for public works contracts, depending on the type of contract and whether the contracting agency determines that the bonding or insurance requirements would deny an SLBE, or Emerging SLBE, an opportunity to perform a contract that the SLBE or Emerging SLBE has shown itself otherwise capable of performing. From time to time the Chief shall make written suggestions to a contracting agency relating to concerns about bidding restrictions caused by bonding or insurance requirements on solicitations issued by that agency. Subject to applicable federal and state law, as well as <cite data-doc="City of Baltimore, Md., Charter">the City Charter</cite>, and applicable regulations, policies, and procedures, the Board of Estimates, on the recommendation of the Department of Finance, may waive or reduce the bonding or insurance requirements, depending on the type of contract and whether the Department determines that the bonding or insurance requirements would deny an SLBE or Emerging SLBE an opportunity to perform a contract that the SLBE or Emerging SLBE has shown itself otherwise capable of performing. From time to time the Chief shall make written suggestions to the Director of Finance relating to concerns about bidding restrictions caused by bonding or insurance requirements on solicitations issued by the Department of Finance. Ord. 16-595 Ord. 17-068

Subject to § 28-97(b), the Board of Estimates may award a contract to a certified SLBE or certified Emerging SLBE that submits a bid within 10% of a low bid by a non-SLBE. A price preference may not be applied if:the award to the SLBE would result in a total contract cost that is, on an annual basis, more than $25,000 higher than the low bid; if the total contract cost would exceed the City’s budgeted funding for the contract; or the total contract cost is determined by the contracting agency, with concurrence from the agency receiving the primary benefit of the contract, to be so high in price as to be not reasonable. Ord. 16-595

The City may reserve up to 10% of the total points available for RFP evaluation purposes for firms that are certified as SLBE or Emerging SLBE firms, or to joint ventures that have certified SLBE or certified Emerging SLBE partners. For joint ventures, available evaluation preference points must be allocated on a pro rata basis, based on the percentage of SLBE or Emerging SLBE participation in the overall ownership, performance, and management of the joint venture. An evaluation preference may not be applied if the resulting total contract cost:would exceed the City’s budgeted funding for the contract; or is determined by the contracting agency, with concurrence from the agency receiving the primary benefit of the contract, to be so high in price as to be not reasonable. Ord. 16-595

A GSC may, on a contract-by-contract basis, at its discretion, require that a predetermined percentage of a specific contract, up to 40%, be subcontracted to certified SLBEs or to certified Emerging SLBEs. If the contractor is a certified SLBE or certified Emerging SLBE, then the contractor is entitled to count the dollar value of the work performed by its own forces towards satisfaction of the mandatory subcontracting goal for that contract. An SLBE or Emerging SLBE contractor may not subcontract more than 49% of the contract value. An SLBE or Emerging SLBE subcontractor may not further subcontract more than 10% of its portion of the contract value to a vendor who is not an SLBE or Emerging SLBE. For a contract bid out under this section, a prospective bidder must submit, at the time of bidding, a form providing the name of the SLBE or Emerging SLBE subcontractor or subcontractors and describing both the percentage of subcontracting by the SLBE or Emerging SLBE and the work to be performed by the SLBE or Emerging SLBE. At the time of bidding, a bidder may request a full or partial waiver of this mandatory subcontracting requirement from the Chief for good cause, by submitting an SLBE unavailability certification to the Chief along with adequate documentation of good faith efforts to obtain SLBE participation, in the form required by the Office. The Chief must base his or her determination on a waiver request on the following criteria:whether the requestor of the waiver has made good faith efforts to subcontract with qualified and available SLBEs or Emerging SLBEs; whether subcontracting would be inappropriate or not provide a commercially useful function under the circumstances of the contract; and whether there are no certified SLBE or certified Emerging SLBE firms that are qualified and available to provide the goods or services required. In the absence of a waiver, failure of a contractor’s bid or proposal to satisfy the mandatory SLBE subcontracting goal renders its bid or proposal non-responsive. In the absence of a waiver, failure of a contractor, in the performance of the contract, to attain a mandatory subcontracting goal for SLBE participation is grounds for termination of existing contracts with the City, debarment from performing future City contracts, or any other remedies available under the terms of its contract with the City or under the law. A Contractor commits a material breach of contract if it fails to notify and obtain written approval from the Chief in advance of any negative change in usage of a designated SLBE or Emerging SLBE subcontractor, including any:reduction in subcontract scope; termination of a subcontract; or substitution of a new SLBE or Emerging SLBE subcontractor for a designated SLBE or Emerging SLBE. Sole source and emergency contracts are exempt from subcontracting goal requirements under this section. Ord. 16-595 Ord. 17-068

The Chief and a contracting agency may select certain contracts that have a contract value of $250,000 or less for award to a certified SLBE, or a joint venture with a certified SLBE, through the Sheltered Market Program. The Chief and a contracting agency may select certain contracts that have a value of $50,000 or less for award to a certified Emerging SLBE firm through the Sheltered Market Program. In determining whether a particular contract should be bid through the Sheltered Market Program, the contracting agency and Chief must consider:whether there are at least 3 certified SLBEs or certified Emerging SLBEs that are available and capable to participate in the Sheltered Market Program for that contract; the degree of underutilization of the SLBE and Emerging SLBE contractors in the specific industry categories; and the extent to which the City’s SLBE and Emerging SLBE contractor utilization goals are being achieved. A contract may be removed from the Sheltered Market Program for purposes of rebidding if:a responsive and responsible bid or response is not received for the contract; or the apparent low bid is determined by the contracting agency, with concurrence from the agency receiving the primary benefit of the contract, to be so high in price as to be not reasonable or not within the City’s budgeted funding for the contract. A finding made regarding the number of available certified SLBE’s or Emerging SLBE’s in determining whether a contract should be bid through the Sheltered Market Program for purposes of subsection (b) of this section does not create a presumption that any bidder is a responsible bidder for purposes of subsection (c) of this section. The determination of a contracting agency, or the City’s prequalification process, that a bidder is not a responsible bidder for purposes of subsection (c) of this section is final and conclusive. Ord. 16-595 Ord. 17-068

If an industry category routinely has too few sources of bidders to provide meaningful or sufficient competition for City contracts, the Chief, with the concurrence of the impacted contracting agency, may reserve certain contracts within that industry category for placement into a competitive business development demonstration project to encourage the development of new capacity within the industry to competitively bid on the future supply of specialized goods or services to the City. Contracts reserved for Competitive Business Development Demonstration Projects are subject to a Request for Proposals process open only to joint ventures between an established firm, or experts in the relevant industry, and a certified SLBE firm. The scope of work for the selected joint venture must include teaching a hands-on curriculum to SLBE firms that have expressed an interest in diversifying into the relevant industry, in addition to performing the customary functions of the contract. The curriculum required by paragraph (2) of this subsection must teach skills required to qualify for future City contracts and to successfully compete in the industry, including both:technical skills taught through hands-on demonstrations of how to perform necessary tasks in the field; and administrative skills such as cost estimating, bidding, staffing, or project management. The Chief must select certified SLBE candidate firms for participation in competitive business development demonstration projects on the basis of an assessment of their current capabilities and their likely success in diversifying into the new relevant industry once given technical assistance, training, and an opportunity to develop a performance track record in the industry. Ord. 16-595