Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 1:30 p.m. (Denver time), City & County Building, room 391
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee took up action item 26-1540, an ordinance creating a competitive selection / best-value contracting process for city-funded construction contracts, sponsored by Council Members Hinds and Watson. Sponsors presented changes made through a year of stakeholder negotiations (threshold raised to $1 million, apprenticeship requirements removed, health-insurance and retirement requirements softened to 'offering'), and ten members of the public spoke, split between labor supporters and contractor-association opponents who asked for more time and clearer language. Several council members said they were not prepared to vote, citing an 11pm email from city staff and unresolved issues around health-insurance definitions, thresholds, and implementation timing; a motion to postpone two weeks failed on a 3-3 vote, so the item's path forward remained under discussion. The committee also heard a presentation on a proclamation opposing state Amendment 82 (natural gas constitutional protection), sponsored by Council Member Kashmann with Council Member Gilmore, to go to the full council. Seventeen consent items were noted to go forward without objection.
0:06 a Denver. It's time for this
0:16 biweekly meeting of the
0:16 Transportation and
0:16 Infrastructure Committee of
0:16 Denver City Council. Join us
0:16 for the Transportation and
0:16 Infrastructure Committee.
0:19 Starting now.
0:39 Good afternoon, everyone. And
0:40 welcome to the Denver City
0:42 Council's Transportation
0:43 Infrastructure Committee
0:47 meeting OCTOBER. 21st 2026. My
0:48 name is coming on the vice
0:48 chair of the committee.
0:49 Sharing this because our
0:51 chair, one of the sponsors of
0:54 first action item for the only
0:55 action We have one action
0:58 item. We have one briefing
1:00 afterward and we haven't 17
1:02 consent items that will go
1:03 forward at the end of the
1:08 meeting of most original a So
1:14 we'll start with Russians. Let
1:14 me start on my left The
1:14 council wants Good afternoon.
1:16 Watson. Fine District 9. They
1:16 have 2 menace n double
1:20 temperatures better. The
1:24 District Denver's pretend
1:27 chandeliers district good
1:28 afternoon. Diana Romero,
1:29 Campbell, Southeast Denver
1:32 district secure about the
1:35 action item 26 Dash 15, 40 an
1:36 ordinance regarding
1:37 competitive selection for
1:40 process for certain contracts.
1:43 Coming his best We to council
1:44 sponsor. Sure. I want to that
1:49 the council chambers for I
1:51 don't know if everybody who
1:53 was signed to speak is in the
1:55 room right now. So do is call
1:58 out the order of speakers in
1:59 the event any of them are
2:00 upstairs in the chamber so
2:02 that they can be called down
2:06 So a call out like the first 5
2:10 in an average personal and one
2:14 after that. And come to our
2:16 times innovators? We're going
2:17 right in your presentation.
2:18 Thank Great. Thank you.
2:20 Committee members of the
2:24 committee and of counsel to
2:25 the many faces in committee
2:28 room overflow. I think you a
2:30 Chris, I'm diversity council
2:31 representing District 10.
2:34 Today we're talking about that
2:39 started just give a framing
2:40 because really just go through
2:45 the 5 slides and then do talk
2:50 to them myself? Do we want
2:51 that's really a contracting
2:58 here in the We have we have.
3:00 Different agencies, and to
3:02 construction contracts. And I
3:04 just first I should the city
3:05 entered enters into a lot of
3:09 contracts 3 big buckets there,
3:10 construction contracts are
3:14 service contracts to search in
3:17 contracts, the there are a lot
3:18 of city-funded contracts that
3:19 Bill, both for us all and
3:20 vertical construction here.
3:22 The department just petition
3:25 infrastructure manages those
3:26 contracts that not at the
3:28 airport. And then manages to
3:32 their contracts as well.
3:33 Services contracts are more
3:36 like contract for housing,
3:37 stability, or security
3:39 contracts. Those are a
3:41 different set of stakeholders.
3:44 Think construction contracts.
3:47 Yeah. Yet they have I also
3:47 they touch different agencies
3:50 and and then goods buy f one
3:54 50 from this place or that
3:55 place there. But it's still
3:56 half and yen. So I said
3:58 there's 3 different groups we
4:01 MAY never go I consider
4:04 best-value contracting for
4:06 because communities engage in
4:09 services, part different and
4:11 the agencies are different. We
4:12 decided buy for Kate consider
4:13 that separately. So today
4:14 we're just thinking about
4:17 construction city funding,
4:19 construction projects. We want
4:22 to make sure that the city has
4:24 not its values stamped on
4:26 every project every city
4:29 funding construction project
4:31 that we enter Sometimes Dottie
4:35 presents certain set of
4:36 Sometimes they present in
4:38 different ways. Sometimes it's
4:40 just the cost base to bit. And
4:45 so whoever gets the lowest I
4:47 went sometimes has different
4:48 sets of values. And so the
4:50 goal here is to make sure that
4:53 we have same set of values for
4:55 every construction contracts.
4:58 That's that the city enters
5:00 into a with that just general
5:01 context like to hand it over
5:05 to my co-sponsors you want to
5:07 go to the first item just
5:09 reading it. Excited to be here
5:13 in front of you again for the
5:14 3rd time that we have working
5:15 on this for over a year. Right
5:17 now. We were at budget and
5:20 policy and SEPTEMBER of 2025.
5:21 With all of you. And then
5:24 again in JUNE both times we
5:26 got some really great
5:27 questions and we check back
5:29 got answers. I just think
5:31 you'll see reflected here and
5:33 we've briefed most of you on
5:35 this policy. We've met
5:36 regularly with city
5:39 departments and mayor's office
5:40 to try and get answers. We
5:42 also went to have personal
5:43 phone calls, personal
5:44 meetings, public, meeting a
5:48 lot of individuals with labor
5:49 industry. Community members
5:51 taking a lot of phone calls
5:52 and we've had stakeholders
5:55 sessions in conjunction with
5:56 City Department and agency had
5:58 said in AUGUST and SEPTEMBER
5:59 and we were actually supposed
6:02 to be in committee last month.
6:04 We postponed a week to iron
6:05 out some more of the issues
6:09 that have been raised to us.
6:12 So you'll see that reflected
6:15 today. The next is a problem.
6:18 I COUNCILMAN Chaim spoke to
6:22 that. There's no uniform
6:23 best-value contracting
6:26 standard in this executive
6:27 moves us towards value-based
6:28 abating and we appreciate
6:30 that. But the executive order
6:32 can be changed at any time and
6:34 actually of change trends in
6:37 the last year. And departments
6:38 are still defaulting to lower
6:41 bed, which actually remains an
6:41 option no matter what, because
6:44 that's in the city charter
6:46 competitive selection
6:47 different things to different
6:51 agencies. The current code
6:52 language is actually written
6:55 around. Are these process
6:56 specifically that result that
6:56 all use of Denver's that we
6:58 care about like equity, local,
6:59 hiring protecting workers,
7:03 making sure their state from
7:05 job site is what this is
7:06 around. Finally, there is no
7:07 friend check. No formal pretty
7:11 costly and are no
7:13 responsibilities certification
7:15 to we find the problem after
7:17 the contractor has signed and
7:17 then they're really expensive
7:21 to fix the issues. Recap of
7:25 best value contracting at its
7:27 core. It certain
7:28 responsibilities,
7:28 certification currently with
7:30 little bit. You can see here
7:31 that he goes to the qualified
7:33 bidder under that contracting
7:35 price and requirements on the
7:38 quality safety labor
7:39 contractor, responsibility,
7:41 certification and then applies
7:41 across all construction
7:46 projects. Not just starting.
7:47 Why this matters now. I think
7:54 that up over here. So what has
7:56 changed? Because this has been
7:58 under consideration for more
8:01 than a year where on of of the
8:03 draft, basically trying to
8:06 support 3 groups, 3 major
8:10 agencies, small business and
8:14 prime so the way we could we
8:16 supported city agencies with
8:18 implementation help and
8:21 streamlining implementation.
8:22 We supported small businesses
8:24 by significantly reducing
8:26 administrative burden
8:29 supporting the primes. Also
8:30 with eliminating additional
8:33 burden. So let's go back the
8:37 city agencies. We pared back
8:40 this quite a lot. So one of I
8:41 think the case that I wanted
8:44 out of contract that has been
8:46 removed as a weighted formula.
8:48 We had part of the idea values
8:49 and then the agencies could
8:49 put different weights to you
8:55 to those values for for good.
8:57 And then that's it. So that
8:59 agencies could could link
9:00 those bodies, however, made
9:03 sense for the agency. And for
9:07 that particular we remove that
9:08 instead of having the weighted
9:11 formula now we have
9:16 responsibility certification
9:16 another way we help to port
9:18 city agencies this is a 2
9:21 tiered system. The of one are
9:23 below a certain dollar That's
9:24 right. A contracting just
9:28 doesn't apply. Yeah. And only
9:30 applies for contracts over
9:32 certain amount. Dollar amount
9:35 originally was $500,000
9:37 response to agency request and
9:40 college and community request.
9:40 We moved out to a million
9:41 dollars that's in line with
9:42 state of Colorado to the line
9:46 line with Adams And it's it's
9:50 a we've seen other counties
9:53 that are smaller than the
9:57 state obviously is larger than
9:58 and we we also taught that
9:59 city of San Francisco is a far
10:00 more complex organization.
10:03 Their threshold is a million
10:05 and half dollars. So we we
10:09 chose a million dollars as
10:11 threshold. We've moved away
10:13 from pre certification for
10:14 subcontractors. And so we had
10:18 proposed in response to
10:19 concerns from from the
10:23 industry's and community that
10:27 we would when we considering
10:28 again pre certification
10:30 process where business go
10:31 through an application and
10:35 then once they are certified,
10:36 that's down dollar for time
10:41 we're taking 2 years, maybe 3
10:42 agency's a city agency said
10:43 that I was too much of a
10:44 burden to come up with that
10:47 new process. So we moved that
10:52 we We moved back from preserve
10:53 tradition for subcontractors.
10:53 So really what we're trying to
10:56 do, support city agencies and
10:58 their they look implement best
11:00 value contracting. The second
11:04 group we wanted to support
11:05 changes a divestment country
11:07 where small businesses. So we
11:08 reduced Burton vice unit might
11:12 bring back the requirements
11:13 for Best contracting so small
11:14 businesses could meet Was that
11:18 mean that reducing the
11:23 sentence Pesa specificity for
11:23 project site? The city plans
11:25 bring back insurance and
11:29 retirement benefits.
11:31 Requirements too half so the
11:32 requirement for health
11:33 insurance retirement benefits
11:35 start employer show for that.
11:36 You have to pay for it. They
11:37 don't have to ensure that
11:41 their employees are are part
11:42 retirement plan. You know, i
11:42 of a health insurance
11:50 have to offer. Also remove the
11:52 responsibility of forest does
11:53 all right, to directly submit
11:57 certifications to the city. We
11:59 said that that the private and
12:01 the responsibility, the small
12:03 businesses there, they're
12:04 doing what they can to win
12:05 business and maybe don't have
12:08 the infrastructure to to
12:10 actually do that themselves.
12:12 The last thing that I think he
12:15 urges that I would we heard
12:16 some concern about for
12:18 apprenticeships that's not
12:22 invest contracting anymore. We
12:24 hope to revisit that
12:24 conversation with the Denver
12:28 construction careers program.
12:31 Because that is also working
12:32 on a pretty ships. It seems a
12:33 little weird that we're a
12:35 touch of friendships and then
12:36 general services would follow
12:39 maybe a few weeks or a couple
12:42 talking about a pretty ships
12:44 again with the ccp ordinance,
12:48 timber construction careers
12:50 important And it was reported
12:51 crimes by removing so less of
12:52 the requirements for
12:56 submission of additional
12:57 materials. Then really the
12:59 idea was to these concessions
13:00 with to ensure prime still bid
13:08 on construction projects. So
13:11 road map here just get out of
13:12 contractors doing construction
13:14 work in Denver. 3 things.
13:15 According a complaint to
13:17 current law. Can you do the
13:23 protect workers? So set about
13:26 legal compliance that
13:27 basically is talking about. Do
13:28 you have valid licenses
13:30 registrations? Have obtained
13:32 your Have you had any willful
13:33 violations or judgments in
13:37 past 5 years for and people
13:39 ages? But it's revealing wages
13:43 employee discount
13:44 classification. Workplace
13:47 noticed willful violations
13:49 time. Someone made a mistake,
13:51 provide explicit language in
13:54 the ordinance if you that
13:57 symptoms. But this is about
13:58 willful violations. And then
14:00 also the 3rd thing about legal
14:01 compliance is if you're not
14:02 currently under a court order
14:05 for labor employment
14:06 violations, basically our our
14:07 folks in Denver, labor do a
14:08 lot of work on the back. And
14:09 like once the contracts
14:15 already been issued, they
14:17 their catching people's
14:22 stealing money from This is
14:23 also about that's that's after
14:24 the contracts been issued.
14:25 This is an affront and making
14:27 sure that different levers
14:28 stealing money from employees.
14:29 You don't then turn around and
14:30 get right back down to that
14:34 same contract. Which has
14:37 happened. The second thing in
14:38 legal compliance is the
14:42 capacity to do that can
14:43 contractors to the They have
14:45 the financial capacity so I
14:47 couldn't talk, says insurance
14:49 and binding obligations. Have
14:50 you been depart are suspended
14:51 or defaulting on a precious
14:54 the last 5 do have experience
14:55 completing similar work on
14:57 time and within budget. The
15:00 3rd is about protecting
15:00 workers. And this is from
15:04 employer and employee. You
15:07 perspective. So do do the
15:08 contractors protect workers
15:11 today have minimal osha
15:13 training for it for the get
15:15 safety program. Get the
15:18 written safety plan. You have
15:19 safety canned and it require
15:21 workers to have osha, 10
15:23 training, which ten-day
15:25 training. All right. 10 hour
15:29 training. Huge difference. 10
15:31 hour training that if you go
15:32 through osha and you complete
15:32 the program, you get a certain
15:36 station. The wall. He's got
15:37 that certification. You could
15:38 say I'd been through osha You
15:42 could happen even 30 years ago
15:43 that certification of the wall
15:45 still So it's just talking
15:50 about work or having ocean
15:52 certification we also want to
15:56 make sure that pot for health
15:57 insurance for businesses of 2
15:58 or more years with 5 or more
16:01 employees. So. Does the
16:08 research say? The research
16:10 shows that best contracting
16:11 actually kids to be more
16:12 honest up front. So people are
16:18 worried about change actors,
16:19 don't submit more change
16:21 orders that there lot they're
16:23 because I because the bidding
16:23 actually more bids on project
16:26 process has more on its face
16:29 as opposed to having to try to
16:30 game the system for your bed
16:35 low and try to make up
16:36 underwater bid by change
16:41 orders are wage theft. Let's
16:44 look at some of the evidence