Construction Reform

Pursuant to the new Construction Reform Law, Chapter 193 of the Acts of 2004, and the revisions it made to M.G.L. c. 23A, §44 and M.G.L. c. 7, §40N, municipalities must now incorporate Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Women Business Enterprise (WBE) goals into both their design and construction procurement for municipal contracts for: the planning, acquisition, design, construction, reconstruction, alteration, remodeling, repair or demolition of any state assisted building project by any municipality that includes funding provided by the Commonwealth, in whole or in part (such as funding under the School Building Assistance Program, funding under M.G.L. c. 90, §34, funding in any legislative appropriation, grant awards, reimbursements, municipal commitments to use state funds and the like).

You can access the new law on The General Court of Massachusetts, website.

Under Chapter 193, the State Office of Minority and Women Business Assistance (SOMWBA) is responsible for establishing and monitoring an affirmative marketing program (AMCO) to ensure fair participation of minority-owned and women-owned businesses on state assisted building projects.

The following forms are designed to facilitate the mandatory MBE and WBE participation reporting by each municipality and must be filled out and submitted to SOMWBA on a quarterly basis.

Mandatory Forms:

Instructions for Completion of Attached Affirmative Marketing Program Forms

FORM #1 AMCO Contact Information Request Form

FORM #2 AMCO Minority and Women Owned Business Summary of Payments

FORM #3 State Assisted Building Projects

Affirmative Marketing Participation Goals Each Municipality must enforce the Affirmative Marketing Goals developed by the Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) in consultation with SOMWBA as follows:

Design Participation: MBEs (8%) and WBEs (4%)

Construction Participation: MBEs (7.4%) and WBEs (4%)

Guidelines and Proposed Regulations including information about reductions or waivers of such goals in appropriate circumstances have been developed by SOMWBA in consultation with DCAM.

General Guidelines to Municipalities (issued on 1/10/07) PDF Download   Word Download

Public hearings on the Proposed Regulations will be held at various locations throughout the Commonwealth in accordance with M.G.L. c. 30A §2. In the interim, the minimum Affirmative Marketing Participation Goals above should be applied to each design and construction contract.

Questions and Contact Information All questions concerning the Construction Reform Act and the implementation of the new law may be directed to the Construction Reform Project Manager's e-mail address at john.b.fitzpatrick@state.ma.us, or by telephone at 617-973-8692.