§ 3-617. Penalties for noncompliance; no retaliation.

(a)

The director is authorized to recommend suspension, revocation, sanction or debarment of any contract or contractor, as appropriate, for providing false or misleading information regarding the SLBE program to the department, purposefully omitting or refusing to provide information requested by the department, or otherwise violating any provision of the SLBE program.

(b)

The director is authorized to suspend or revoke the certification of an SLBE, as appropriate, for providing false or misleading information to the department, purposefully omitting or refusing to provide information requested by the department, or otherwise violating any provision of the SLBE program, without having to make a recommendation to any other person or department.

(c)

Sanctions shall be imposed in conformity with any applicable federal, state or local laws. In determining whether to suspend or revoke the certification of an SLBE, the director shall consider the following factors:

(1)

Whether the failure to comply with applicable requirements involved intentional misconduct or, alternatively, may be reasonably concluded to have resulted from a misunderstanding on the part of the SLBE;

(2)

The number of specific incidents of failure by the SLBE;

(3)

Whether the SLBE has been previously suspended;

(4)

Whether the SLBE has failed or refused to provide the director with any information requested by the director or required to be submitted to the director pursuant to law or these procedures;

(5)

Whether the SLBE has materially misrepresented any applicable facts in any filing or communication to the director; and

(6)

Whether any subsequent restructuring of the subject business or other action has been undertaken to cure the deficiencies in meeting applicable requirements.

(d)

Suspensions may be for any length of time not to exceed five years. Suspensions in excess of one year and revocations of certification shall be reserved for cases involving intentional or fraudulent misrepresentation or concealment of material facts, multiple acts in contravention of applicable requirements, cases where the SLBE has been previously suspended, or other similarly egregious conduct.

(e)

The making of any false or misleading statements shall be grounds for application of any applicable criminal and or civil penalties in addition to the grounds for sanction.

(f)

No person shall intimidate, threaten, coerce or discriminate against any individual or business for the purpose of interfering with the implementation or enforcement of any provision of the SLBE program because such individual or business filed a complaint or cooperated in the investigation of a complaint.

(Ord. No. 130041, § 6, 3-21-13)