Ditchmen • NUCA of Florida Ditchmen - July 2020 | Page 18

To:
From:
County and City Local Government Officials
National Utility Contractors Association of Florida
Date: June 3, 2020
Re:
New Local Government Public Construction Law
The purpose of this Memorandum is to make you aware of recently enacted legislation that affects
local governments, who self-perform public construction projects. CS/CS/HB 279 relating to Local
Government Public Construction Works by Representative David Smith passed during the 2020
Florida Regular Session and was subsequently approved by Governor DeSantis as LAW,
becoming effective July 1, 2020. The new law fosters greater local government transparency and
evens the playing field between private contractors and local governments in the performance of
public construction projects by:
• Amending Florida Statutes 255.20 and 336.41 to require local governments, who selfperform
public construction projects to consider a full accounting of their estimated costs
that include “employee compensation and benefits, equipment costs and maintenance,
insurance costs, and the cost of direct materials to be used in the construction of the
project, including materials purchased by the local government, and other indirect costs,
plus a factor of 20 percent for management, overhead, and other indirect costs” when
deciding if they can in fact self-perform based on previously statutorily set thresholds.
• Amending F.S. 218.80 to require local governments to disclose in bidding documents or
other requests for proposal for bids, “a listing of all other governmental entities that may
have additional permits or fees generated by the project.”
• Further amending F.S. 255.20 to require local governments to submit an annual report
“that shall be publicly reviewed each year by the governing body of the local government.
The report shall detail the estimated costs and the actual costs of the projects constructed
by the local government pursuant to this subsection. The report shall be made available
for review by the public. The Auditor General shall review the report as part of his or her
audits of local governments.”
Our members look forward to further working with local governments to help their communities
address infrastructure needs.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to our government consultants, Scott
Jenkins (850.661.0829) or Kari Hebrank (850.566.7824).
16 DITCHMEN • JULY 2020