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Committee backs creation of San Francisco self-insurance surety bond fund to help small contractors
Summary
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee forwarded an ordinance to create a San Francisco self-insurance surety bond fund to the full Board, citing benefits for local small and LBE-certified contractors and some departments’ need to identify budget contributions.
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee on Dec. 8 advanced an ordinance to establish a San Francisco self-insurance surety bond fund designed to help small and locally based contractors obtain bonding required for city public works contracts.
Vice Chair Supervisor Sophie Maxwell introduced the measure and asked Chris Iglesias of the Human Rights Commission to describe modest changes to the program. Iglesias said the fund would operate as a guarantee pool for surety bonds and stressed the program’s urgency, saying, “in the past 2 weeks, we have not been able to serve about 4 contractors who requested assistance just because we don't have the guarantee in place.”
Budget analyst Ken Bruce told the committee that the airport has indicated it can make $160,000 available for the program, while the Port and the Municipal Transit Agency (MTA) reported they did not believe they could fund their respective amounts in the coming fiscal year ($80,000 for the Port and $530,000 for the MTA, as recorded in the budget analyst report). Douglas Legg of the Department of Public Works said the department will prepare a capital budget request and that the legal question of using general obligation bond funds for the program is under review by the City Attorney’s Office.
Contractors and program administrators urged passage. Brian Rodriguez of R & W Concrete Contractors, Clifton Birch of Empire Engineering Construction and Jim Troop of Monterey Mechanical described the program’s track record helping small firms win and perform city contracts; HRC administrator Ingrid Meriwether and others noted the program’s long administration in San Francisco and its potential to increase LBE participation.
Supervisor David Campos asked to be added as a co-sponsor. Chair Supervisor Aaron Peskin said, without objection, the committee would forward the ordinance to the full Board of Supervisors with a committee recommendation for a hearing on Dec. 9.
Next steps: The ordinance will appear at the full Board’s hearing; departments must identify the necessary budget appropriations and the City Attorney will advise whether certain bond funds can legally be used for the guarantee pool.
