NUCA of Florida’s
Government Relations
Team Achieves Results
for Membership
We have good news to share! As you may recall, last
month your NUCA government relations team, Kari
Hebrank and Scott Jenkins, met with Department
of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR)
Secretary Halsey Beshears to discuss an issue that
has been brought to our attention by our members
regarding unusual actions by local governments.
Currently, Tallahassee has a climate of reigning in
local government actions that fall outside the scope
of statutes or create unintended consequences on
Florida’s business climate. Secretary Beshears was
an avid listener to the issues our members are facing.
A key issue of concern that has been brought to our
attention is local governments requiring a General
Contractors license on underground utility RFPs that
a licensed Underground Utility Contractor could
perform. As you may know, Florida Statute 255.0992
(2)(b) states, “The state or any political subdivision
that contracts for a public works project may not
prohibit any contractor, subcontractor, or material
supplier or carrier able to perform such work who
is qualified, licensed, or certified as required by
state law to perform such work from submitting a
bid on the public works project.” By limiting RFPs to
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General Contractors, this disqualifies our licensed
Utility Contractors from bidding on the jobs unless
they also have a GC license or are subcontracted
by a General Contractor.
Through our member’s experiences, we know
some of these are caused by simple cutting and
pasting errors from old RFPs, but some local
governments are pushing back and want to set
their own requirements. The motives for local
governments to limit their population of possible
applicants is unclear but can lead people to believe
that what might hurt us might be helping another.
At our meeting, Secretary Beshears was concerned
and agreed to research what step the Department
could take to help local governments understand
they are in violation of the law and should comply.
As a result of the meeting, DBPR has placed
on their “Hot Topics” website at http://www.
myfloridalicense.com/DBPR/construction-
industry/hot-topics .
Please direct local governments to this site. You
can use this information to show them when
they are out of compliance with state law. This is