Florida Senate - 2015                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. PCS (511078) for CS for SB 1554
       
       
       
       
       
       
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                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
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       The Committee on Appropriations (Hays) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Between lines 1786 and 1787
    4  insert:
    5         Section 32. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section
    6  337.18, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
    7         337.18 Surety bonds for construction or maintenance
    8  contracts; requirement with respect to contract award; bond
    9  requirements; defaults; damage assessments.—
   10         (1)(a) A surety bond shall be required of the successful
   11  bidder in an amount equal to the awarded contract price.
   12  However, the department may choose, in its discretion and
   13  applicable only to multiyear maintenance contracts, to allow for
   14  incremental annual contract bonds that cumulatively total the
   15  full, awarded, multiyear contract price.
   16         1. The department may waive the requirement for all or a
   17  portion of a surety bond if:
   18         a. For a project for which The contract price is $250,000
   19  or less and the department, the department may waive the
   20  requirement for all or a portion of a surety bond if it
   21  determines the project is of a noncritical nature and
   22  nonperformance will not endanger public health, safety, or
   23  property;
   24         b. The prime contractor is a qualified nonprofit agency for
   25  the blind or for the other severely handicapped under s.
   26  413.036(2); or
   27         c. The prime contractor is using a subcontractor that is a
   28  qualified nonprofit agency for the blind or for the other
   29  severely handicapped under s. 413.036(2); however, the
   30  department may not waive more than the amount of the
   31  subcontract.
   32         2. If the Secretary of Transportation or the secretary’s
   33  designee determines that it is in the best interests of the
   34  department to reduce the bonding requirement for a project and
   35  that to do so will not endanger public health, safety, or
   36  property, the department may waive the requirement of a surety
   37  bond in an amount equal to the awarded contract price for a
   38  project having a contract price of $250 million or more and, in
   39  its place, may set a surety bond amount that is a portion of the
   40  total contract price and provide an alternate means of security
   41  for the balance of the contract amount that is not covered by
   42  the surety bond or provide for incremental surety bonding and
   43  provide an alternate means of security for the balance of the
   44  contract amount that is not covered by the surety bond. Such
   45  alternative means of security may include letters of credit,
   46  United States bonds and notes, parent company guarantees, and
   47  cash collateral. The department may require alternate means of
   48  security if a surety bond is waived. The surety on such bond
   49  shall be a surety company authorized to do business in the
   50  state. All bonds shall be payable to the department and
   51  conditioned for the prompt, faithful, and efficient performance
   52  of the contract according to plans and specifications and within
   53  the time period specified, and for the prompt payment of all
   54  persons defined in s. 713.01 furnishing labor, material,
   55  equipment, and supplies for work provided in the contract;
   56  however, whenever an improvement, demolition, or removal
   57  contract price is $25,000 or less, the security may, in the
   58  discretion of the bidder, be in the form of a cashier’s check,
   59  bank money order of any state or national bank, certified check,
   60  or postal money order. The department shall adopt rules to
   61  implement this subsection. Such rules shall include provisions
   62  under which the department shall refuse to accept bonds on
   63  contracts when a surety wrongfully fails or refuses to settle or
   64  provide a defense for claims or actions arising under a contract
   65  for which the surety previously furnished a bond.
   66  
   67  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   68  And the title is amended as follows:
   69         Delete line 197
   70  and insert:
   71         trails; amending s. 337.18, F.S.; authorizing the
   72         department to waive a surety bond on certain contracts
   73         with specified contractors; amending s. 338.165, F.S.;
   74         removing an option