AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 22, 2026
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 4, 2026
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 20, 2026
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
96
Introduced by Assembly Member Papan
February 17, 2026
An act to add and repeal Article 4.1 (commencing with Section 20176) of Chapter 1 of Part 3 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code, relating to public contracts.
Vote: majority Appropriation: no Fiscal committee: no Local program: no
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST
Existing law, the Local Agency Public Construction Act, sets forth procedures that a local agency is required to follow when procuring certain services or work. Existing law authorizes certain local agencies to engage in job order contracting, as prescribed.
This bill would establish a pilot program to authorize a city to use job order contracting as a procurement method. The bill would impose a $3,000,000 cap on awards under a single job order contract and a $750,000 cap on any single job order. The bill would limit the term of an initial contract to a maximum of 12 months, with extensions as prescribed. The bill would establish various additional procedures and requirements for the use of job order contracting under this authorization. The bill would require the authority,
city, on or before January 1, 2030, to submit to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature a report on the use of job order contracting under the bill. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2032.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Article 4.1 (commencing with Section 20176) is added to Chapter 1 of Part 3 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code, to read:
Article 4.1. Job Order Contracting for Cities
(a) A city may award job order contracts using the procurement method outlined in this article.
(b) Job order contracts shall be competitively bid and awarded to bidders providing qualified responsive bids.
(c) Job order contracts shall be for repair, remodeling, or other repetitive work to be done according to unit prices.
(d) Annual contracts shall not be awarded for any new construction.
(a) Solicitations for job order contracts shall progress as follows:
(1) (A) The city shall prepare a set of solicitation documents for job order contracts.
(B) The documents shall include a unit price catalog or other established unit prices, job order contract terms, job order contract technical specifications, and any other information the city deems necessary to adequately describe the city’s needs.
(2) An architect, engineer, consultant, or contractor retained by the city to assist in the development of the job order contract solicitation documents shall not be eligible to bid or to participate in the preparation of a job order contract bid.
(3) The city may award multiple job order contracts in response to a single job order contract solicitation.
(4) The city shall develop a system for evaluating job order contract bids for awarding job order contracts.
(b) The award of a job order contract shall progress as follows:
(1) The city shall prepare a request for bids for job order contracts based on the solicitation documents prepared pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) that invites job order contractors to submit sealed bids in the manner prescribed by the city.
(2) Each bidding job order contractor shall include in its bid one or more adjustment factors to the established unit prices provided in the request for bids based on the contract’s technical specifications.
(3) Each bidding job order contractor shall agree to identify any subcontractors to be used for the job orders performed pursuant to the job order contract.
(4) The award of job order contracts, if any, shall be made to a job order contractor or to job order contractors that the city determines to be qualified and responsive based upon preestablished criteria to be determined by the city.
(a) (1) The maximum total dollar amount that may be awarded under a single job order contract shall not exceed three million dollars ($3,000,000) in the initial contract term of the job order contract.
(2) A single job order shall not exceed seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($750,000).
(b) Job order contracts may be executed for an initial contract term of no more than 12 months and may be extended or renewed for two subsequent annual terms and a maximum of six million dollars ($6,000,000) over the subsequent two terms of the contract.
(c) Work shall not be split or separated into smaller job orders for the purpose of evading the cost limits of this article.
(d) Dollar amounts specified in this section may be adjusted annually to reflect the percentage change in the California Consumer Price Index.
(a) Work shall not be performed under a job order contract except by order of the city council.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the city council may, by ordinance, authorize the city manager, public works director, or other city official, as is deemed appropriate, to take or perform any or all acts permitted or required of the city council by this article, including the authority to adopt and advertise plans and specifications, award job order contracts, or order the change or alteration of job order contracts, with respect to either of the following:
(A) Individual job orders that do not exceed one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000).
(B) Changes or alterations to job orders previously authorized by the city council where the changes or alterations do not exceed 10 percent of the amount of the original job order or one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000), whichever is less.
(2) The aggregate total amount of those changes or alterations to an original job order shall not exceed 25 percent of the amount of the original job order.
(3) Any authorization pursuant to this subdivision shall include detailed procedures governing the city official in the exercise of this authority.
(4) If a person with authority delegated pursuant to this subdivision undertakes any action authorized by this subdivision, that person shall report actions taken pursuant to this subdivision to the city council, during a regular meeting, at least once every 90 days, or more frequently at the discretion of the city council.
(a) An entity awarded an annual job order contract pursuant to this article shall provide an enforceable commitment to the city that the entity and its subcontractors at every tier will use a skilled and trained workforce to perform all work on the job order contract that falls within an apprenticeable occupation in the building and construction trades, in accordance with Chapter 2.9 (commencing with Section 2600) of Part 1.
(b) Subdivision (a) shall not apply if the job order contract is subject to a project labor agreement that will bind all contractors and subcontractors performing work on the job order contract to use a skilled and trained workforce to perform the job order contract.
(a) All work bid under job order contracts shall comply with Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 4100) of Part 1 and is subject to all of the penalties and provisions set forth in that chapter.
(b) For purposes of this article, if a job order contractor chooses to use a subcontractor, the job order contractor shall verify that the subcontractor possesses and maintains the appropriate licenses and credentials required.
(c) If the city, after conducting an administrative due process review, determines that there has been a violation of Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 4100) of Part 1, including, but not limited to, bid shopping by the job order contractor, the city may do any of the following:
(1) Terminate the job order contract.
(2) Declare the contractor ineligible for future job order contracts for a period of time to be determined by the city.
(3) Withdraw authorization for the contractor to proceed with awarded work.
(a) A job order contract shall set forth in the general conditions of the job order contract the party or parties responsible for seeing that Article 2 (commencing with Section 1770) of Chapter 1 of Part 7 of Division 2 of the Labor Code is complied with.
(b) For purposes of job order contracting, prevailing wages shall apply to all work ordered under the job order contract regardless of thresholds set forth in Section 1771.5 of the Labor Code.
(c) The job order contractor shall pay the prevailing wage in effect at the time the job order contract is issued by the city and all increases as published by the Department of Industrial Relations for the term of the job order contract, including all overtime, holiday, and shift provisions published by the Department of Industrial Relations.
(d) The city shall designate one individual to act as a monitor to inspect job sites for labor compliance violations at the request of the designated labor representative in its project labor agreement, if applicable.
(a) In order to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse, the city shall compare the contractor’s estimate for each job order with the unit price or prices for that work before issuance of any job order.
(b) If the city finds that the job order contractor’s estimate to perform work for a given job order is inconsistent with the unit price or prices for that work, the city may elect not to issue the job order to the job order contractor, and may, instead, use any other available procurement procedures or choose not to move forward with the work.
This article shall not be construed to remove a city’s requirement to follow the applicable provisions of this code as it relates to the advertising of public works projects and the award of public works contracts.
An annual job order contract awarded pursuant to this article shall not be used to lay off, reduce the hours of, or involuntarily transfer any permanent city employee. for any of the following purposes:
(a) To lay off, reduce the hours of, or involuntarily transfer any permanent employee, as defined in the city’s applicable memorandum of understanding or civil service rules.
(b) To perform work that, at the time the job order is issued, is the subject of an active, written work order assigned to city employees in the city’s work management system.
(c) As a substitute for a position classification that is both currently funded in the city’s adopted budget and occupied by a permanent employee, as defined in the city’s applicable memorandum of understanding or civil service rules, at the time the job order contract is awarded.
Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 22030, a city that has elected to be subject to the alternative public project procedures in Article 3 (commencing with Section 22030) of Chapter 2 may award job order contracts as provided in this article.
(a) A city shall submit to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2030, a report on the use of job order contracting under this article. The report shall include, but shall not be limited to, all of the following information:
(1) A description of the city’s system for evaluating job order contract bids for award of job order contracts, including, but not limited to, the criteria used by the city to determine a qualified and responsive job order contractor.
(2) A description of each job order contract awarded and the contractor awarded the contract.
(3) An assessment of the use of job order contracting under this article.
(b) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2032, and as of that date is repealed.