PROPOSED STATEMENT OF BASIS, SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORITY, AND PURPOSE FOR THE AUGUST 8, 2006 REVISIONS OF THE COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION’S RULES FOR PREQUALIFICATION, DEBARMENT, BIDDING AND WORK ON COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ROAD, HIGHWAY AND BRIDGE PUBLIC PROJECTS
2CCR601-10

The Colorado Department of Transportation (“The Department”) proposed changes to the existing Rules regarding Prequalification, Debarment, Bidding and work on Colorado Department of Transportation Road, Highway and Bridge Public Projects (“The Rules”).

Specific Statutory Authority for this rulemaking to consider changes to the Rules are vested in The Department by Section 24-92-110 C.R.S., (1995).  The Executive Director and the Chief Engineer have delegated their authority to conduct the rulemaking hearing under Section 43-1-110(2), C.R.S. (1995) to the Departments Audit Director, but the executive Director and Chief Engineer remain responsible to adopt the changes to the Rules based upon their review of the complete record of the hearing.

The Department complied with the Section 24-4-103(3) (a) C.R.S. by
	a)  Submitting notice of Proposed Rulemaking Hearing to the Secretary of State;
	b)  Having the Notice published in the Colorado Register on July 10, 2006

The Department complied with Section 24-4-103(3)(b) C.R.S. by announcing the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the Department’s Construction Bids and Information web site,  arranged for the Colorado Contractors Association to post the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on weekly news letter, submitted the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to the Daily Business Journal to post along with the Departments construction project advertisements, and supplied contractors with the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at the Departments project bid openings.

The Department began to consider changes to the Rules in order to allow contractors the option to submit bids electronically.  A committee of Department personnel met periodically to modify the Rules, beginning in 2001.	  Committee members involved with modification to “The Rules” included Gary Self, Jeff Wassenaar, Gus Bieber, Bernie Rasmussen, Richard Ott, and Ben Acimovic from the Contracts and Market Analysis Branch.  Many others within The Department were solicited for their expert advice and input on various issues.  

The committee met with members of the Colorado Contractor’s Association to solicit input from the association and keep them informed of changes made to “The Rules”.  The committee also met on different occasions with members of the Secretary of States Uniform Electronic Transaction Act group (UETA) to assist with language related to electronic bidding.  

Major modifications to The Rules include the following:

1.	Prequalification Requirements – The rules set forth standards and procedures to be followed by CDOT for prequalifying a contractor who wishes to submit bids for public projects.  

2.	Bonding Capacity – The rules have allowed for consideration of bonding capacity to be used in the determination of a contractor’s prequalification level.  

3.	Corrective Action, Suspension and Debarment – The rules set forth standards and procedures to be followed by CDOT regarding corrective action, suspension and debarment.  Major changes have been identified on the Chapter Three attachment.

4.	Electronic Bidding – The rules will set forth procedures for competitive sealed bidding and award of contracts for public projects which will allow consideration of bid proposals submitted by electronic means.  

5.	Update to Current Organizational Structure – The rules have been updated to reflect the current organizational structure of The Department.  Misc. grammatical errors have been corrected also.  These minor changes were made throughout the rules.

CDOT states that the record of this proceeding demonstrates the need for the revisions.  The record also indicates that that the proper statutory authority exists in 24-92-101 C.R.S. (1981).  To the extent practicable the revisions are clearly and simply stated.