(a) The department may determine that the contractor
or respondent failed to satisfy the requirements of this subchapter
or comply with the contract's SBE special provision requirements.
(b) If a responder does not furnish the required SBE
information within the period specified in the contract's SBE special
provision, the department may declare the responder to be in default
and retain the bid guaranty as liquidated damages in accordance with §9.18
of this chapter (relating to After Contract Award).
(c) The department will impose sanctions if the contractor:
(1) is found to have discriminated against an SBE firm;
(2) has failed to meet the contract SBE goal and has
failed to demonstrate a good faith effort to meet the goal; or
(3) has not kept SBE commitments for the contracts
assigned a goal and the department has not approved good faith efforts
or a substitution of the SBE firm.
(d) The department may impose any of the following
sanctions:
(1) written reprimand;
(2) liquidated damages;
(3) contract termination; or
(4) other remedies available by law.
(e) Factors to be considered in imposing sanctions
include:
(1) the magnitude and the type of noncompliance described
by subsection (a) of this section;
(2) the degree of the contractor's culpability;
(3) any steps taken to rectify the situation;
(4) the contractor's record of performance on other
projects including:
(A) the contractor's annual SBE participation above
SBE goals;
(B) the contractor's annual SBE participation on projects
without goals;
(C) number of complaints the department has received
from SBEs about the contractor; and
(D) the number of times the contractor has been previously
sanctioned by the department under this section; and
(5) whether a contractor falsified, misrepresented,
or withheld information.
(f) The department will notify the contractor or respondent
of its determination under this section. The notice will include the
reasons for that determination and specify the resulting sanctions,
if any.
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