School facilities: approval of plans: preliminary build contract.

(1) Existing law, the Field Act, requires the Department of General Services to supervise the design and construction of any school building, as defined to include buildings used for elementary, secondary, and community college purposes, or the reconstruction or alteration of or addition to any school building if not exempted, to ensure that plans and specifications comply with adopted rules and regulations and specified building standards and to ensure that the work of construction has been performed in accordance with the approved plans and specifications, for the protection of life and property. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district, community college district, or other school authority, before adopting any plans for a school building, to submit the plans to the department for approval. Existing law requires a school district, before letting any contract for any construction or alteration of any school building, to first obtain written departmental approval of the plans as to safety of design and construction. Existing law provides that no contract for the construction or alteration of any school building is valid, and no public money shall be paid for any work done under such a contract, unless the plans, specifications, and estimates comply in every particular with specified provisions of the Field Act and the requirements prescribed by the department and unless written departmental approval of the plans, specifications, and estimates has been obtained. With respect to facilities for community colleges for projects where the estimated cost of reconstruction or alteration of, or addition to, a school building exceeds $100,000, but does not exceed $225,000, under existing law if a licensed structural engineer submits a report to the department stating that the plans or activities for those projects do not involve structural elements, then certain conditions apply. Those conditions include both (A) that before letting any contract for any construction or alteration of any school building, written departmental approval of the plans, as to safety of design and construction, is required, and (B) that no contract for the construction or alteration of any school building is valid, and no public money shall be paid for any work done under such a contract, unless the plans, specifications, and estimates comply in every particular with specified provisions of the Field Act and the requirements prescribed by the department and unless written departmental approval of the plans, specifications, and estimates has been obtained. Until January 1, 2025, this bill would authorize the department to authorize a school district or community college district on a first-come, first-served basis to procure a construction contract in excess of $1,000,000 subject to different conditions. Specifically, the bill would authorize departmental approval after the letting, making, or execution of the contract, as long as that approval is obtained before the commencement of any alteration or construction. The bill would limit the department to authorizing only a total of 20 construction contracts per year pursuant to these provisions. If the governing board of a school district or a community college district bases its award of a construction contract pursuant to these provisions on plans that do not yet have the approval of the department, the bill would require the school district or community college district to specify in its bidding instructions and construction contracts that the cost of changes to the plans and specifications required by the department shall be treated according to the changes clause of the construction contract. The bill would prohibit the waiver of these provisions by contract, or amendments to the contract, between a school district or a community college district and a design professional or contractor for the design, construction, or alteration of a school building. The bill would require a school district or community college district authorized to procure a construction contract pursuant to these provisions to follow all other applicable statutes and regulations pertaining to the construction of any school building or the reconstruction or alteration of, or addition to, any school building, including, but not limited to, the Field Act.