Small Business Procurement and Contract Act: federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding.

Existing law requires the directors of the Department of General Services and other state agencies that enter into contracts concerning the provision of goods, information technology, services, and construction of state facilities, to establish goals for the extent of participation of small businesses, including microbusinesses, for those contracts, to provide for small business preference, as specified, in the award of those contracts, and to give certain special considerations, assistance, and awards, whenever feasible, to small businesses and microbusinesses, among other requirements. This bill would require each state agency, in order to encourage small business participation in new contracts over $500,000 for the construction, alternation, demolition, repair or improvement of the state's infrastructure that is funded with proceeds from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Act) , to establish a 25% small business participation goal in all contracts that the agency finances with these proceeds. The bill would prescribe federal enactments that are deemed to be federal revenues from the Act for purposes of these provisions. The bill would require a state agency to notify the agency's small business liaison beginning April 1, 2023, of any anticipated contracting opportunities that will be paid with funding from the Act during the 12 months following that date and require its small business liaison to provide information to small businesses regarding available training and technical assistance that could assist the business in identifying, understanding, and bidding on contracts for projects funded through the agency with funding from the Act, as specified. This bill would exempt a state agency from these requirements with regard to funding from the Act if the head of the state agency or their designee determines that federal requirements preclude small business procurement participation, as specified in these provisions, the bid issued by the state agency is required to include a disadvantaged business enterprise procurement participation requirement, or if compliance with these provisions would make the state's application for a competitive federal program less competitive than other eligible applicants, as provided. The bill would require the state agency to report these determinations to the Director of General Services in a manner to be determined by the department, in each instance when a determination is made. The bill would require each state agency that has awarded any contract financed with funding from the act to report to the Director of General Services statistics comparing the small business and microbusiness participation dollars for contracts funded by the Act to the total contract dollars funded by the Act, as provided.