Florida Senate - 2024 CS for SB 320
By the Committee on Transportation; and Senator Wright
596-02417-24 2024320c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to public records; amending s. 337.14,
3 F.S.; providing an exemption from public records
4 requirements for certain financial information
5 provided by a prospective bidder to the Department of
6 Transportation for prequalification purposes;
7 providing for future legislative review and repeal of
8 the exemption; providing a statement of public
9 necessity; providing an effective date.
10
11 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
12
13 Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 337.14, Florida
14 Statutes, is amended to read:
15 337.14 Application for qualification; certificate of
16 qualification; restrictions; request for hearing.—
17 (1)(a) Any contractor desiring to bid for the performance
18 of any construction contract in excess of $250,000 which the
19 department proposes to let must first be certified by the
20 department as qualified pursuant to this section and rules of
21 the department. The rules of the department must address the
22 qualification of contractors to bid on construction contracts in
23 excess of $250,000 and must include requirements with respect to
24 the equipment, past record, experience, financial resources, and
25 organizational personnel of the applying contractor which are
26 necessary to perform the specific class of work for which the
27 contractor seeks certification. Any contractor who desires to
28 bid on contracts in excess of $50 million and who is not
29 qualified and in good standing with the department as of January
30 1, 2019, must first be certified by the department as qualified
31 and must have satisfactorily completed two projects, each in
32 excess of $15 million, for the department or for any other state
33 department of transportation. The department may limit the
34 dollar amount of any contract upon which a contractor is
35 qualified to bid or the aggregate total dollar volume of
36 contracts such contractor is allowed to have under contract at
37 any one time. Each applying contractor seeking qualification to
38 bid on construction contracts in excess of $250,000 shall
39 furnish the department a statement under oath, on such forms as
40 the department may prescribe, setting forth detailed information
41 as required on the application. Each application for
42 certification must be accompanied by audited, certified
43 financial statements prepared in accordance with generally
44 accepted accounting principles and auditing standards by a
45 certified public accountant licensed in this state or another
46 state. The audited, certified financial statements must be for
47 the applying contractor and must have been prepared within the
48 immediately preceding 12 months. The department may not consider
49 any financial information of the parent entity of the applying
50 contractor, if any. The department may not certify as qualified
51 any applying contractor who fails to submit the audited,
52 certified financial statements required by this paragraph
53 subsection. If the application or the annual financial statement
54 shows the financial condition of the applying contractor more
55 than 4 months before the date on which the application is
56 received by the department, the applicant must also submit
57 interim audited, certified financial statements prepared in
58 accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and
59 auditing standards by a certified public accountant licensed in
60 this state or another state. The interim financial statements
61 must cover the period from the end date of the annual statement
62 and must show the financial condition of the applying contractor
63 no more than 4 months before the date that the interim financial
64 statements are received by the department. However, upon the
65 request of the applying contractor, an application and
66 accompanying annual or interim financial statement received by
67 the department within 15 days after either 4-month period under
68 this paragraph subsection shall be considered timely. An
69 applying contractor desiring to bid exclusively for the
70 performance of construction contracts with proposed budget
71 estimates of less than $2 million may submit reviewed annual or
72 reviewed interim financial statements prepared by a certified
73 public accountant. The information required by this paragraph
74 subsection is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1). The
75 department shall act upon the application for qualification
76 within 30 days after the department determines that the
77 application is complete. The department may waive the
78 requirements of this subsection for projects having a contract
79 price of $500,000 or less if the department determines that the
80 project is of a noncritical nature and the waiver will not
81 endanger public health, safety, or property.
82 (b) In addition to the information required by paragraph
83 (a), any financial information required by the department for
84 prequalification purposes which would reveal the revenue,
85 profit, loss, expenses, gross receipts, taxes paid, or capital
86 investment of any applying contractor is confidential and exempt
87 from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State
88 Constitution. This paragraph is subject to the Open Government
89 Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand
90 repealed on October 2, 2029, unless reviewed and saved from
91 repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.
92 Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public
93 necessity that any financial information required by the
94 Department of Transportation for prequalification purposes,
95 including information that would reveal the revenue, profit,
96 loss, expenses, gross receipts, taxes paid, or capital
97 investment from any applying contractor, be made exempt from s.
98 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and s. 24(a), Article I of the
99 State Constitution. In the prequalification process, an applying
100 contractor will provide financial statements to the department,
101 and the department may request additional financial information
102 in order to verify the financial adequacy of the prospective
103 bidder. These records may contain sensitive information related
104 to an applying contractor’s financial condition. The risk of
105 potential disclosure of sensitive financial information defeats
106 the purpose of protections already afforded to financial
107 statements and may have a chilling effect on entities desiring
108 to prequalify or maintain prequalification. The chilling effect
109 may result in a limited pool of prequalified bidders, thus
110 negatively impacting the department’s ability to receive the
111 best value for projects. Additionally, protecting this financial
112 information from public disclosure will prevent such information
113 from being used by competitors to gain an unfair advantage
114 against other bidders on the project. Lastly, protecting this
115 information from disclosure promotes the free provision of such
116 information to the department by removing a prospective bidder’s
117 concern for attendant risks in doing so. As a result, this
118 exemption promotes the state’s interest in ensuring that
119 prospective bidders on transportation projects possess the
120 necessary financial resources to complete such projects, many of
121 which involve immense costs and may be complex and of long
122 duration.
123 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.