N.J. Admin. Code § 6A:26-4.7 - Oversight of ROD constructed school facilities projects

(a) Every district board of education shall be subject to the following for every approved school facilities project receiving State support under this chapter:

1. To provide the Commissioner assurance that the contracting process for design and construction contracts for school facilities projects conforms to all requirements of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes and all other applicable laws and rules, the school district shall, in a separate certification for each contract awarded for a school facilities project pursuant to (a)3 below, certify that the school district has followed the provisions of law related to:

i. Authorization to prepare plans and specifications;

ii. Preparation and contents of bid specifications;

iii. Approval of plans and specifications;

iv. Advertising for bids;

v. Review and evaluation of proposals; and

vi. Award and execution of contracts.

2. The design and construction contracting process, contract administration and the payment of claims, and change orders for school facilities projects shall be subject to audit by the Commissioner.

3. Upon the award of each design or construction contract, the school district shall submit a Commissioner-provided form certifying that the procurement process conformed to all requirements of statute and rules, including, but not limited to, the matters covered in (a) above, and that all contracts procured for the school facilities project conformed to Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes and all other applicable laws. The form shall be certified by the school business administrator and approved by resolution of the district board of education.

4. The school district shall maintain a project file that shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

i. All documents related to the project-approval process, including project siting; land acquisition; real estate (deeds, leases, title report including searches for easements, mortgages, judgments, liens, unpaid taxes, water and sewer, property description by metes and bounds); surveys; district board of education resolutions; referendum ballot questions or municipal debt ordinances; and all public notices pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act;

ii. All documents related to the financing of the project including:

(1) Selection and payment of professionals, such as bond counsel and other attorneys; underwriters; financial and investment advisors; trustees; official printers; and bond insurers;

(2) Structuring of the financing, such as the method(s) of borrowing considered, complete financing estimates and cash flows, all number runs, including escrow sufficiency, if applicable, and yield calculations; the rationale for the plan of financing (resulting in the issuance of obligations under terms most advantageous to the school district) long-range plans or models, computerized models, private uses, and costs of issuance; and

(3) Issues of debt, such as general, series, and supplemental bond resolutions; trust indentures; trust agreement; preliminary official statement; all disclosure materials; Official Notice of Sale or Purchase Contract; arbitrage certificate; tax regulatory agreement; IRS Form 8083, as appropriate; Disclosure Agreement; and TEFRA Notice, if applicable;

iii. All documents related to the bidding process, evaluation of bids, award and execution of contracts, the specifications, request for proposal or other invitations to bidders; advertisements or public notices of the bid opportunity; logs of the bids received and the bids opened; bid evaluation worksheets; notices of contract award; and the executed construction contract documents;

iv. All documents related to the construction of school facilities, including documents required by the construction contract documents to be kept; specifications; change orders; alternate submissions; approvals or rejections; unit prices; product data; time of performance schedules; construction photographs; qualify control management reports; value engineering information; up-to-date project accounting system; intermediate and final audits; "as builts" or other drawings documenting the actual facilities built and fixtures installed; close-out documentation on forms provided by the Department; related correspondence; vouchers; and certifications;

v. All payroll certifications filed with the school district by all contractors and subcontractors; and

vi. All documents a school district is legally required to make, maintain, or keep on file as part of a construction project.

(b) The documents in (a) above shall be maintained in a readily accessible place for review and inspection by the Department, the Development Authority, the Department of Community Affairs, and the Office of Government Integrity for the duration of the school facilities project and three years thereafter, or until completion of all litigation concerning any aspect of the school facilities project, if any. Destruction of the documents shall be consistent with the record retention schedule adopted pursuant to 47:3-15 et seq.

1. A standardized voucher form, where provided to school districts by the Department, shall be fully executed by contractors, delivered to the school district prior to a school district providing any payment to a contractor and maintained by the school district in the project file. Prior to the school district providing any payment, the voucher form shall be countersigned, where indicated, by the school district.

2. School district shall include standardized contract provisions, where provided by the Department, in all contracts for the design and construction of a school facilities project.

3. All contractors, and subcontractors in the four areas listed in 18A:18A-18, utilized by school districts to construct school facilities projects shall be pre-qualified pursuant to the Development Authority pre-qualification process.

4. Upon completion of a school facilities project that received State share in the form of a grant pursuant to 18A:7G-15 or 18A:7G-13(a), the school district shall submit to the Division a copy of the documents required for the final completion disbursement: the certification by the school business administrator and the design consultant certification upon final completion. Upon completion of a school facilities project for which State support is in the form of debt-service aid pursuant to 18A:7G-9 or 10, the school district shall submit, on a form to be provided by the Commissioner, a certification of the school business administrator, which shall be approved by resolution of the district board of education, certifying that the school facilities project was constructed consistent with the approved plans and specifications for the school facilities project and all approvals provided by the Commissioner pursuant to EFCFA.

(c) School districts are encouraged to report to the Division of Wage and Hour Compliance, Department of Labor, on the failure to receive from contractors and subcontractors certified payroll records, required pursuant to the New Jersey Prevailing Wage Act, 34:11-56.2 5 et seq. School districts receiving certified payroll records with suspected inaccuracies or receiving other indications of noncompliance with the New Jersey Prevailing Wage Act are also encouraged to report to the Division of Wage and Hour Compliance, Department of Labor, and, as well, to take other steps such as verifying the accuracy of these certified payroll records by comparing them against other payroll-related records and gathering site inspection information from construction managers on a spot check basis.

Notes

N.J. Admin. Code § 6A:26-4.7

Amended by R.2004 d.214, effective 6/7/2004.
See: 36 N.J.R. 243(a), 36 N.J.R. 2733(b).
In (a), substituted "state support" for "funding" in the introductory paragraph; in (b), substituted "Government Integrity" for "the Inspector General" following "the office of" in the introductory paragraph, amended the N.J.A.C. reference in 2, and rewrote 5.
Amended by R.2007 d.81, effective 3/19/2007.
See: 38 N.J.R. 4533(a), 39 N.J.R. 899(a).
Inserted "school" preceding "district" throughout; in (b)1 and (b)4, inserted "school" preceding "districts"; and in (b)3 and (c), substituted "School districts" for "Districts" throughout.
Amended by R.2013 d.145, effective 12/16/2013.
See: 45 N.J.R. 1026(a), 45 N.J.R. 2557(a).
Section was "Oversight of non-Authority constructed school facilities projects". In the introductory paragraph of (a)1, deleted ", for each contract awarded for a school facilities project"; and rewrote (a)3 through (b).