The university shall proceed in accordance with the following when awarding best value contracts under this article.

(a) The university shall prepare a solicitation for bids and give notice pursuant to Section 10502.

(b) The university shall establish a procedure to prequalify bidders. The information required pursuant to this section shall be verified under oath by the bidder in the manner in which civil pleadings in civil actions are verified. Information submitted by the bidder as part of the evaluation process shall not be open to public inspection to the extent that information is exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code).

(c) (1) A best value contractor shall not be prequalified or shortlisted unless the entity provides an enforceable commitment to the Regents of the University of California that the best value contractor and its subcontractors at every tier will use a skilled and trained workforce to perform all work on the project or contract that falls within an apprenticeable occupation in the building and construction trades, in accordance with Sections 10506.8 and 10506.9.

(2) This subdivision shall not apply if any of the following requirements are met:

(A) The Regents of the University of California have entered into a project labor agreement that will bind all contractors and subcontractors performing work on the project or contract to use a skilled and trained workforce, and the entity agrees to be bound by that project labor agreement.

(B) The project or contract is being performed under the extension or renewal of a project labor agreement that was entered into by the Regents of the University of California prior to January 1, 2018.

(C) The best value contractor has entered into a project labor agreement that will bind the entity and all its subcontractors at every tier performing the project or contract to use a skilled and trained workforce.

(3) For purposes of this subdivision, “project labor agreement” has the same meaning as in subdivision (g) of Section 10506.5.

(d) Each solicitation for bids shall do all of the following:

(1) Invite prequalified bidders to submit sealed bids in the manner prescribed by this article.

(2) Include a section identifying and describing the following:

(A) Criteria that the university will consider in evaluating the qualifications of the bidders.

(B) The methodology and rating or weighting system that will be used by the university in evaluating bids.

(C) The relative importance or weight assigned to the criteria for evaluating the qualifications of bidders identified in the request for bids.

(e) Final evaluation of the best value contractor shall be done in a manner that prevents cost or price information from being revealed to the committee evaluating the qualifications of the bidders prior to completion and announcement of that committee’s decision.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 850, Sec. 4. (AB 1424) Effective January 1, 2018.)