N.Y. State Finance Law § 135: Separate specifications for contract work for the state

§ 135. Separate specifications for contract work for the state. Except

as otherwise provided in section two hundred twenty-two of the labor

law, every officer, board, department, commission or commissions,

charged with the duty of preparing specifications or awarding or

entering into contracts for the erection, construction or alteration of

buildings, for the state, when the entire cost of such work shall exceed

three million dollars in the counties of the Bronx, Kings, New York,

Queens, and Richmond; one million five hundred thousand dollars in the

counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester; and five hundred thousand

dollars in all other counties within the state, must have prepared

separate specifications for each of the following three subdivisions of

the work to be performed:

1. Plumbing and gas fitting.

2. Steam heating, hot water heating, ventilating and air conditioning

apparatus.

3. Electric wiring and standard illuminating fixtures.

Such specifications must be so drawn as to permit separate and

independent bidding upon each of the above three subdivisions of work.

All contracts hereafter awarded by the state or a department, board,

commissioner or officer thereof, for the erection, construction or

alteration of buildings, or any part thereof, shall award the three

subdivisions of the above specified work separately to responsible and

reliable persons, firms or corporations engaged in these classes of

work. A contract for one or more buildings in any project shall be

awarded to the lowest responsible bidder for all the buildings included

in the specifications.

Each bidder on a public work contract, where the preparation of

separate specifications is not required, shall submit with its bid a

separate sealed list that names each subcontractor that the bidder will

use to perform work on the contract, and the agreed-upon amount to be

paid to each, for: (a) plumbing and gas fitting, (b) steam heating, hot

water heating, ventilating and air conditioning apparatus and (c)

electric wiring and standard illuminating fixtures. After the low bid is

announced, the sealed list of subcontractors submitted with such low bid

shall be opened and the names of such subcontractors shall be announced,

and thereafter any change of subcontractor or agreed-upon amount to be

paid to each shall require the approval of the public owner, upon a

showing presented to the public owner of legitimate construction need

for such change, which shall be open to public inspection. Legitimate

construction need shall include, but not be limited to, a change in

project specifications, a change in construction material costs, a

change to subcontractor status as determined pursuant to paragraph (e)

of subdivision two of section two hundred twenty-two of the labor law,

or the subcontractor has become otherwise unwilling, unable or

unavailable to perform the subcontract. The sealed lists of

subcontractors submitted by all other bidders shall be returned to them

unopened after the contract award.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the authorities

in charge of any state building, from performing any such branches of

work by or through their regular employees, or in the case of public

institutions, by the incarcerated individuals thereof.