Disabled veteran business enterprises.

(1) The Small Business Procurement and Contract Act requires state agencies to provide for small business preference in the award of contracts for goods, information technology, services, and construction, with a 5% bid preference on applicable bid specifications. The act also authorizes a state agency to award a contract for the acquisition of goods, services, or information technology that has an estimated value of greater than $5,000, but less than $250,000, to a certified small business, including a microbusiness, or to a disabled veteran business enterprise (DVBE) , as long as the agency obtains price quotations from 2 or more certified small businesses, including a microbusiness, or from a DVBE, without complying with specified competitive bidding requirements. This bill, commencing March 1, 2023, and until March 1, 2027, would authorize a state agency to award a contract for services or information technology that has an estimated value of between $5,000 and $500,000 to a certified small business, including a microbusiness, or to a DVBE, as long as the agency obtains price quotations from 2 or more certified small businesses or 2 or more DVBEs. The bill would specify that a certified small business or DVBE that utilizes this process as an alternative to the competitive bidding requirements may not also receive the small business preference or the DVBE participation incentive, as specified. (2) Under existing law, the administering agency for the California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program is the Department of General Services, except in the case of contracts for professional bond services. Existing law requires the Director of General Services to adopt written policies and guidelines establishing a uniform process for state contracting to provide a DVBE participation incentive to bidders, which all state agencies are required to use when awarding contracts. Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to maintain complete records of its promotional efforts regarding the program and requires the department to perform regular, periodic surveys of newly certified DVBEs. Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to appoint a California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program Advocate. This bill would require the department to establish a method an awarding department would be required to use to track and report adherence to specified goals and to provide guidance to awarding departments on how to process complaints regarding abuse of the DVBE program. The bill would also require the California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program Advocate to promote and facilitate efforts to implement the program and to establish a system to track the effectiveness of the program, as specified. The bill would additionally repeal the requirement that the department perform regular, periodic surveys of newly certified DVBEs. (3) Existing law requires a department, after completing an awarded contract for which a commitment to achieve a DVBE goal was made, to require the prime contractor that entered into a subcontract with a DVBE to certify to the awarding department that all payments under the contract have been made to the DVBE. This bill would require the awarding department to post a list of its state contracts for which certification has been received on its internet website for no less than 3 years.