Legislative and Regulatory Reforms | MOCS

Mayor's Office of Contract Services


Legislative and Regulatory Reforms

Prevailing & Living Wages
Project Labor Agreements
Apprenticeship Requirements
Food Policy Standards
Legislative and Regulatory Reforms
Executive Order 42 of 2019
PPB
EPP

Prevailing & Living Wages

Project Labor Agreements

Apprenticeship Requirements

Food Policy Standards

Legislative and Regulatory Reforms

Executive Order 42 of 2019

PPB

EPP


Legislative and Regulatory Reforms

MOCS plays a critical role in implementing citywide procurement and contracting reform initiatives to improve the city’s capital process.

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New York City Capital Process Reform Task Force

In November 2024, Mayor Adams released a year-end report showing significant progress in reforming how public infrastructure is constructed across the five boroughs and celebrated New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s signing of legislation that enables the city to cut red tape and deliver projects faster and more efficiently for New Yorkers.
The 2024 year-end report outlines how the city has fully implemented, or is in the process of implementing, 100 percent of the Capital Process Reform Task Force’s 39 recommendations, made in 2022, to more efficiently deliver public infrastructure across New York City. The Capital Process Reform Task Force was formed by Mayor Adams in April 2022, and it is led by Deputy Mayor Joshi and Chief Delivery Officer Landry. It is comprised of a group of leaders representing the construction industry, labor, and minority- and women-owned business enterprises (M/WBEs) and tasked with undertaking a top-down review of the city’s capital process and recommending reforms, from project initiation to closeout.

The reforms recommended by the task force and implemented by the city are improving scoping and planning, cutting down project initiation time, removing redundant reviews from procurement, increasing M/WBE participation, managing projects more effectively, cutting down on change orders, standardizing and streamlining invoicing and payment, improving the delivery of projects for libraries and cultural institutions, and supporting implementation of a citywide capital project tracker.

Impactful procurement changes that MOCS championed as part of the task force include:

FCB Thresholds: Increases to the dollar thresholds for contract reviews by the State’s Financial Control Board (FCB). Prior FCB thresholds had not been updated in 35 years and did not properly reflect current economic conditions, unnecessarily delaying the approval of contracts and change orders.

E-Bidding: Elimination of physical paper bid form requirements for construction procurements, an outdated State requirement that required vendors to physically deliver paper bid forms which duplicated the information they already provided within their electronic bid submissions through the City’s digital procurement platform, PASSPort.

Executive Order 102: Removal of redundant measures for prevailing wage compliance via the repeal of the pre-award review provisions of Executive Order 102 of 2007. These duplicative measures added weeks to months to procurement timelines, without adding tangible value, since the same monitoring and compliance controls were already in place under the City’s Standard Construction Contract.

Executive Order 50: Streamlining the City’s implementation of Executive Order 50 of 1980 for the review and approval of vendor Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) policies. Previously the Department of Small Business Services (SBS) Division of Labor Services reviewed and certified vendor EEO policies on a contract basis, which meant vendors who had multiple contracts with the City were subject to the same reviews unnecessarily. Changes to the rulemaking process were completed in 2023 allowing this certification now to be by vendor, as opposed to by contract previously, and extending these certifications to now last for three years.

Expanded Alternative Delivery

Alternative Delivery consolidates design and construction procurements that, historically, were required to occur separately and/or at separate stages, per state law, which added years to project timelines. The city has already begun implementing its limited existing authority to consolidate those two procurements into one for permissible projects through design-build delivery. You can learn more about the Department of Design and Construction’s flagship program and read the city’s annual Design-Build reporting here

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The legislation Governor Hochul signed in November 2024 — sponsored by New York Senator Leroy Comrie and New York Assemblymember Ed Braunstein — will build on that progress by expanding the city’s ability to use progressive design-build and construction manager build — two contracting models which cut time-consuming and expensive steps out of the outdated design-bid-build model, resulting in faster, more efficient project delivery.

Public Notice and Comment

In November 2024, Governor Hochul also signed legislation— sponsored by New York Senator Luis Sepulveda and New York Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar — which will allow New Yorkers to submit comments on procurements over $100,000 online as opposed to requiring an in-person hearing, effective May 21, 2025; this will save an average of 20 days on every applicable project timeline. MOCS championed this reform to save time on registration and expand access to award information.

Local Law 63 Reforms

Task force members inside and outside government have partnered on related efforts to modernize city processes, to ensure all aspects of the capital delivery systems align with the task force objectives.
In August 2024, the City Council unanimously passed Intro 0863-2024, effectuating Local Law 85 of 2024, which went into effect on October 1, 2024. This legislation included several reforms for contracts subject to Local Law 63 of 2011 (“LL63”). LL63 previously required agencies to provide notice of all standard or professional services contracts valued over $200,000. Notices that were not included in agency annual plans had to wait 60 days after publication before they could be solicited.
Local Law 85 raises the threshold from $200,000 to $1 million, reduces the waiting period from 60 days to 10 days, and exempts some methods, including the M/WBE small purchase method. It also codifies current processes that are aimed at ensuring agency compliance with the law. The implementation of this bill will have marked impacts resulting in reduced cycle times, improved efficiency, and increased effectiveness of the M/WBE Small Purchase.
These impactful reforms to LL 63 will help hundreds of contracts get registered faster while protecting the integrity of the law’s original labor oversight function.

M/WBE Noncompetitive Small Purchase Method Threshold Increases

Following a key recommendation from the Capital Process Reform Taskforce and advocacy by MOCS, Governor Hochul signed legislation in December 2023, increasing the M/WBE small purchase threshold from $1 million to $1.5 million, building upon prior legislation that already increased the prior threshold from $500,000 to $1 million in October 2022. The latest reform enables city agencies to immediately purchase goods and services up to $1.5 million from M/WBEs on a discretionary and noncompetitive basis, which saves costs and time compared to a competitive process. As the City remains committed to supporting and uplifting M/WBEs, this reform will make it easier for more M/WBEs to contract with the City and will increase M/WBE utilization in citywide procurement.

Citywide Construction Mentorship Program

M/WBEs have historically faced barriers to entry when competing for City construction opportunities. And while some agencies (DDC and SCA) had successful mentorship programs to support M/WBEs in building capacity to compete and successfully deliver City projects, most agencies did not have the ability under State law to replicate those models. In 2023, the Task Force championed legislation to expand mentorship programs to all City agencies. The Mayor’s Office of Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises is coordinating with MOCS and across agencies to build this program.

New York City Procurement Policy Board Rule Updates

The Procurement Policy Board voted to adopt a number of changes to the Procurement Policy Board Rules ("PPB Rules"), which govern procurement actions for City agencies. The following changes were adopted by the PPB under the current administration:

M/WBE Noncompetitive Small Purchase and Notice of Award

PPB Rule § 3-08 (Adopted 4/27/23): The amended PPB Rule increased the dollar threshold for the M/WBE Noncompetitive Small Purchase method by replacing the $500,000 threshold with a cross reference to New York City Charter § 311(i)(1), which currently sets the threshold at $1 million. This rule change will allow any subsequent threshold increases from the state to go into effect immediately, without requiring a PPB rule change as in the past. This will allow agencies to utilize newer, higher thresholds more quickly and efficiently. The amended rule also establishes a more robust notice requirement for procurements made using the M/WBE Noncompetitive Small Purchase method to promote oversight and transparency in the City's procurement process.

Subscriptions

PPB Rule § 1-02 (Adopted 6/14/23): Amended PPB Rule 1-02(f)(5) provides clarity on the definition of subscriptions, accounting for modern technologies to include research databases and training materials while removing outdated references.
Eliminating Consecutive Posting Requirements

Eliminating Consecutive Posting Requirements

PPB Rule § 3-04, 3-05, 3-10, 3-11, 3-12, 3-13, 3-16 (Adopted 12/6/23): Amendments to these PPB Rules removed consecutive posting requirements for negotiated acquisitions, sole-source procurements, prequalified lists ("PQLs")–including the HHS-Accelerator PQL–demonstration projects, innovative procurements, and government-to-government purchases. This change reduces the number of procurement notices that are published in the City Record, which had limited value to the public, unnecessarily expended City resources, and slowed down the procurement process.

Sole Source Requirements

PPB Rule § 2-02, 2-08, 2-09, 3-05 (Adopted 3/19/24): The PPB amended these rules to align the sole-source procurement dollar limit with the micropurchase dollar limit (currently $20,000, excepting construction contracts, which have a dollar limit of $35,000) and to clarify the rules for sole-source procurement. The sole-source procurement method allows agencies to directly and noncompetitively purchase goods and services from a single vendor when there are no other feasible vendors available. In practice, these amendments raised the dollar limits for sole-source procurement, which had been $10,000 and $15,000 for non-construction and construction contracts respectively. The increased dollar limits relieve potential burdens for agencies, as sole-source non-construction procurements between $10,000 and $20,000 and sole-source construction procurements between $15,000 and $35,000 will no longer have to undergo a separate procurement method. The amendments also standardized guidelines for sole-source procurement across several PPB Rules, increasing clarity for both agencies and vendors.

Mentoring Program and Prequalified List Changes

PPB Rule § 1-01, 3-10 (Adopted 6/4/24): In October 2023, the Governor signed into law New York State Assembly Bill A7673 that impacts various aspects of procurement processes, including PQLs and mentorship programs for small businesses and Minority and Woman-owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs). In response, the PPB amended PPB Rules 1-01 and 3-10 to allow PQLs for small-business and M/WBE mentorship programs sponsored by the City. PQLs consist of select vendors that agencies choose for solicitation in certain types of procurement, which expedites the process for both agencies and vendors. With this change, agencies will be able to more easily and efficiently operate small-business and M/WBE mentorship programs, helping smaller and underrepresented businesses thrive in New York City.
Additionally, the amendments clarify the use of citywide PQLs and includes M/WBE status as a valid criterion for vendors' prospective inclusion on PQLs, which delivers on a specific recommendation by the Capital Process Reform Task Force. The City Chief Procurement Officer also is now able to approve exceptions for PQLs. Finally, the amendments aligned the provisions governing adverse agency determination on prequalification with those of the suspension of prequalification.

M/WBE Noncompetitive Small Purchase Name Change

PPB Rule § 3-08 (Adopted 8/14/24): The PPB changed the name of the "M/WBE Noncompetitive Small Purchase" method to "M/WBE Small Purchase" to provide greater clarity regarding the procurement method. While competition is not required for contracts awarded pursuant to this method, agencies often do utilize various forms of source selection in connection with M/WBE small purchase contracts to promote competition and in the best interests of the City. Renaming this method by removing the word "noncompetitive" from the title will reduce confusion amongst vendors and potential vendors regarding whether to expect potential competition in connection with contracts awarded through this method.

Challenge-Based Procurement

PPB Rule § 3-11 (Adopted 9/19/24): The PPB amended Rule § 3-11 on Demonstration Projects to encourage the use of challenge-based procurement. Challenge-based procurement is an innovative approach to procurement that allows vendors to propose novel solutions to the City's most intractable problems. It also allows the City to pilot one or more solutions simultaneously, and, if a pilot is deemed successful, implement the solution at a larger scale without conducting a new competitive procurement. These amendments to the Demonstration Project rule encourage the use of this procurement approach by City agencies and make it easier and more appealing for the private sector to do business with the City.

E-Bidding

PPB Rule § 1-01, 1-05, 2-07, 3-02 (Adopted 11/21/24): In November 2023, the Governor signed New York State Assembly Bill A7685, which allows New York City to authorize the sole usage of electronic bids for contracts, removing requirements for paper bids for construction bids pursuant to GML § 103. The law took effect on March 1st, 2024. The legislation also allows for the public opening, reading, and identification of bids and proposers through online livestreaming and by posting an online record of such bids or proposals. The PPB was amended accordingly in November 2024 to reflect these changes. Bids and offers can now occur entirely digitally, at last modernizing an antiquated aspect of the procurement process.

Multi-Award Reform

PPB Rule § 3-02, 3-03 (Adopted 11/21/24): In November 2024, the PPB adopted a rule amendment to extend the maximum allowable term of multiple award task or purchase order contracts awarded through competitive sealed bidding and competitive sealed proposals from three years to five years, providing Agencies greater flexibility in the procurement of these requirements contracts. The rule also clarified the requirements and mechanism for the extension of task orders issued under these requirement contracts.