As a result of the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 854, significant changes were made to Cal. Labor Code §1771.1 and §1725.5. All licensed contracts who work on or intend to work on public works projects must be registered with the California Department of Industrial Relations. Beginning March 1, 2015, all contractors were required to register with Department of Industrial Relations in order to bid on public works projects or be listed in a bid proposal. As of April 1, 2015, only contractors who have registered with the Department of Industrial Relations will be eligible to be awarded a public works contract, even if the project did not go out to bid.
If you are bidding on public works projects be sure that you are registered and that all of the subcontractors you intend to list on your bid are registered. Failure to use only registered subcontractors will make you ineligible to be awarded a public works contract. In order to assist Contractors, the Department of Industrial Relations is maintaining a listing of registered contractors and subcontractors on its website. It is suggested that you use this listing to confirm the registration of your subcontractors prior to submitting bids.
Registration is through the Department of Industrial Relations website (http://www.dir.ca.gov/Public-Works/PublicWorksContractorsAndSubcontractors.html) and detailed registration instructions are listed thereon. Registration requires that all contractors be in good standing with the Contractors State License Board, that their license is current, and the payment of an annual registration fee of $300.00. This annual fee of $300.00 will be used to fund the Department of Industrial Relations compliance monitoring and enforcement, prevailing wage determinations, and enforcement appeal hearings. The fee is good for one fiscal year, July 1 through June 30.
In addition to registration, Contractors are now also required to submit certified payroll records (CPRs) to the Labor Commissioner’s office for all new projects awarded on or after April 1, 2015. For all ongoing projects not already requiring CPRs, Contractors will need to provide CPRs if projects are still on-going after January 1, 2016. The only exceptions to this requirement will be projects awarded by Caltrans, the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District, Sacramento County, or projects that utilize a project labor agreement.