Labor Policies and Small Business Enterprise Programs

Prevailing Wage Law

Public works projects are subject to state and federal prevailing wage requirements, depending on funding sources. The State of California Department of Industrial Relations determines prevailing wage rates for locally funded projects. The U.S. Department of Labor determines prevailing wage rates for projects that include federal funding. Valley Water establishes the prevailing wage rates that will apply to an awarded project during the solicitation stage and will monitor compliance using LCPtracker. 

Living Wage

The Valley Water Living Wage Policy establishes wage rates for janitorial and security contracts. Visit the Living Wage Policy page for more information:

https://www.valleywater.org/livingwage

The Valley Water Small Business Enterprise Outreach Program Policy provides bid and proposal evaluation preference points to bidders and proposers certified by the California Department of General Services (DGS) as a Small Business. Non-small business bidders and proposers may also receive preference if they fulfill the 30% DGS-certified Small Business subcontractor/subconsultant participation goal. If the goal is not met, good faith efforts to subcontract with Small Businesses are required to be considered responsive. 

Additional resources:

SBE Outreach Program – Bidder/Proposer FAQ

SBE Outreach Program Policy

Ordinance No. 23-03 - Directing Establishment Procedures SBE for Contracting Construction

Ordinance No. 23-04 -  Rescinding and Replacing Ord 04-01 Directing Establishment for Contracting Professional Consultant Services

Valley Water and the Santa Clara and San Benito Counties Building and Construction Trades Council entered into a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) on January 11, 2022. The PLA applies to Valley Water public works projects with an engineer’s estimate, or a cumulative awarded bid amount, that exceeds two million dollars ($2,000,000).

Visit the Project Labor Agreement (PLA) page.