Florida Senate - 2024 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 320
Ì401062mÎ401062
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
01/24/2024 .
.
.
.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
The Committee on Transportation (Wright) recommended the
following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 337.14, Florida
6 Statutes, is amended to read:
7 337.14 Application for qualification; certificate of
8 qualification; restrictions; request for hearing.—
9 (1)(a) Any contractor desiring to bid for the performance
10 of any construction contract in excess of $250,000 which the
11 department proposes to let must first be certified by the
12 department as qualified pursuant to this section and rules of
13 the department. The rules of the department must address the
14 qualification of contractors to bid on construction contracts in
15 excess of $250,000 and must include requirements with respect to
16 the equipment, past record, experience, financial resources, and
17 organizational personnel of the applying contractor which are
18 necessary to perform the specific class of work for which the
19 contractor seeks certification. Any contractor who desires to
20 bid on contracts in excess of $50 million and who is not
21 qualified and in good standing with the department as of January
22 1, 2019, must first be certified by the department as qualified
23 and must have satisfactorily completed two projects, each in
24 excess of $15 million, for the department or for any other state
25 department of transportation. The department may limit the
26 dollar amount of any contract upon which a contractor is
27 qualified to bid or the aggregate total dollar volume of
28 contracts such contractor is allowed to have under contract at
29 any one time. Each applying contractor seeking qualification to
30 bid on construction contracts in excess of $250,000 shall
31 furnish the department a statement under oath, on such forms as
32 the department may prescribe, setting forth detailed information
33 as required on the application. Each application for
34 certification must be accompanied by audited, certified
35 financial statements prepared in accordance with generally
36 accepted accounting principles and auditing standards by a
37 certified public accountant licensed in this state or another
38 state. The audited, certified financial statements must be for
39 the applying contractor and must have been prepared within the
40 immediately preceding 12 months. The department may not consider
41 any financial information of the parent entity of the applying
42 contractor, if any. The department may not certify as qualified
43 any applying contractor who fails to submit the audited,
44 certified financial statements required by this paragraph
45 subsection. If the application or the annual financial statement
46 shows the financial condition of the applying contractor more
47 than 4 months before the date on which the application is
48 received by the department, the applicant must also submit
49 interim audited, certified financial statements prepared in
50 accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and
51 auditing standards by a certified public accountant licensed in
52 this state or another state. The interim financial statements
53 must cover the period from the end date of the annual statement
54 and must show the financial condition of the applying contractor
55 no more than 4 months before the date that the interim financial
56 statements are received by the department. However, upon the
57 request of the applying contractor, an application and
58 accompanying annual or interim financial statement received by
59 the department within 15 days after either 4-month period under
60 this paragraph subsection shall be considered timely. An
61 applying contractor desiring to bid exclusively for the
62 performance of construction contracts with proposed budget
63 estimates of less than $2 million may submit reviewed annual or
64 reviewed interim financial statements prepared by a certified
65 public accountant. The information required by this paragraph
66 subsection is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1). The
67 department shall act upon the application for qualification
68 within 30 days after the department determines that the
69 application is complete. The department may waive the
70 requirements of this subsection for projects having a contract
71 price of $500,000 or less if the department determines that the
72 project is of a noncritical nature and the waiver will not
73 endanger public health, safety, or property.
74 (b) In addition to the information required by paragraph
75 (a), any financial information required by the department for
76 prequalification purposes which would reveal the revenue,
77 profit, loss, expenses, gross receipts, taxes paid, or capital
78 investment of any applying contractor is confidential and exempt
79 from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State
80 Constitution. This paragraph is subject to the Open Government
81 Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand
82 repealed on October 2, 2029, unless reviewed and saved from
83 repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.
84 Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public
85 necessity that any financial information required by the
86 Department of Transportation for prequalification purposes,
87 including information that would reveal the revenue, profit,
88 loss, expenses, gross receipts, taxes paid, or capital
89 investment from any applying contractor, be made exempt from s.
90 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and s. 24(a), Article I of the
91 State Constitution. In the prequalification process, an applying
92 contractor will provide financial statements to the department,
93 and the department may request additional financial information
94 in order to verify the financial adequacy of the prospective
95 bidder. These records may contain sensitive information related
96 to an applying contractor’s financial condition. The risk of
97 potential disclosure of sensitive financial information defeats
98 the purpose of protections already afforded to financial
99 statements and may have a chilling effect on entities desiring
100 to prequalify or maintain prequalification. The chilling effect
101 may result in a limited pool of prequalified bidders, thus
102 negatively impacting the department’s ability to receive the
103 best value for projects. Additionally, protecting this financial
104 information from public disclosure will prevent such information
105 from being used by competitors to gain an unfair advantage
106 against other bidders on the project. Lastly, protecting this
107 information from disclosure promotes the free provision of such
108 information to the department by removing a prospective bidder’s
109 concern for attendant risks in doing so. As a result, this
110 exemption promotes the state’s interest in ensuring that
111 prospective bidders on transportation projects possess the
112 necessary financial resources to complete such projects, many of
113 which involve immense costs and may be complex and of long
114 duration.
115 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.
116
117 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
118 And the title is amended as follows:
119 Delete everything before the enacting clause
120 and insert:
121 A bill to be entitled
122 An act relating to public records; amending s. 337.14,
123 F.S.; providing an exemption from public records
124 requirements for certain financial information
125 provided by a prospective bidder to the Department of
126 Transportation for prequalification purposes;
127 providing for future legislative review and repeal of
128 the exemption; providing a statement of public
129 necessity; providing an effective date.