State bill may free up work for contractors - Baltimore Business Journal:

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House Bill 611 — filed on Jan. 26 by Rep. Doroth y Hukill, R-Port Orange — would reduce the $500,000o project threshold at which public works projects must be competitivel bidto $300,000. That meanz government projects valued at morethan $300,00 0 would be bid out to a contractor rather than be done by governmenyt staff. Also new in the bill: Any contractor previouslyy found guilty of federal labor or employment tax law violationes would be ineligible to bid onthe work. Hukill said the bill also providews better transparency for the public andbusinesa community, as well as protection for contractora eligible to bid on projects.
That’s because it requires governmentr entities to detail in public notices the totakl estimated cost ofa project, including equipment, maintenance, materials and employee compensation and benefits, when decidinbg whether to do a project in-house or bid it out. The bill should help contractorsland work, said Mark president and CEO of the Associaterd Builders and Contractors (ABC) Inc.’e Central Florida chapter. “The private sector can deliver services more efficiently than the publicsector can, and we’d like to see more publid work out there.
” Local contractors need more work to countedr the slow economy, said Bob Burns, owner of , an Orlando-basedc general contracting company. For instance, Burns’ firm already had to reducee its staff from 20 to 11 workerz during the past year aftefr its revenue droppedby ­60 percent. Tanyw Sims, owner of , an Orlando-basedr electrical contractor, also reduced staff this year, from 175 employeed to about 35. The layoffs came after the firm completeda $16 millioh renovation of Airside 3 at the in June. Now the firm wantzs more work, no mattere how small the job.
“We go for any size job we can get, so somethingy like this wouldbe helpful,” said “The goal is to try to keep our loca community bidding and working.” Crist has until June 24 to act on the