§ 1197-Q — Authority; affirmative action

§ 1197-q. Authority; affirmative action. 1. All contracts for design,\nconstruction, services or materials for water projects authorized by\nthis title shall require that such contracts and documents soliciting\nbids or proposals therefor shall contain or make reference to the\nfollowing provisions:\n (a) The contractor will not discriminate against employees or\napplicants for employment because of race, creed, color, national\norigin, sex, age, disability, or marital status, and will undertake or\ncontinue programs of affirmative action to insure that minority group\npersons and women are afforded equal employment opportunity without\ndiscrimination. Such action shall be taken with reference, but not be\nlimited to recruitment, employment, job assignment, promotion,\nupgrading, demotion, transfer, layoff, termination, rates of pay or\nother forms of compensation, and selections for training or retraining,\nincluding apprenticeship and on-the-job training.\n (b) At the request of the authority, the contractor shall request each\nemployment agency, labor union, or authorized representative of workers\nwith which he or she has a collective bargaining or other agreement or\nunderstanding, to furnish a written statement that such employment\nagency, labor union or representative shall not discriminate because of\nrace, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability or marital\nstatus and that such union or representative will cooperate in the\nimplementation of the contractor's obligations hereunder.\n (c) The contractor will state, in all solicitations or advertisements\nfor employees placed by or on behalf of the contractor, in performance\nof the contract that all qualified applicants will be afforded equal\nemployment opportunity without discrimination because of race, creed,\ncolor, national origin, sex, age, disability or marital status.\n (d) The contractor will include the provisions of paragraphs (a)\nthrough (c) of this subdivision in every subcontract or purchase order\nin such a manner that such provisions will be binding upon each\nsubcontractor or vendor as to its working connection with a contract.\n 2. The authority shall establish procedures and guidelines to ensure\nthat contractors and subcontractors undertake programs of affirmative\naction as required by this section. Such procedures may require, after\nnotice in a bid solicitation, the submission of an affirmative action\nprogram prior to the award of any contract, or at any time thereafter,\nand may require the submission of compliance reports relating to the\noperation and implementation of any affirmative action program adopted\nhereunder. Such procedures and guidelines shall be consistent with the\nguidelines promulgated by the office of federal contract compliance\nprograms of the United States department of labor pursuant to\npresidential executive order eleven thousand two hundred forty-six, as\namended, and any state statutory or regulatory requirements. The\nauthority shall, in the promulgation of procedures and guidelines\npursuant to this section, cooperate with any federal, state or local\nagency established for the purpose of implementing affirmative action\ncompliance programs.\n 3. The authority shall seek meaningful participation in the\nperformance of contracts by minority business enterprises and shall\nestablish measures and procedures to identify those contracts and items\nof work for which minority business enterprises may best bid to actively\nand affirmatively promote and assist their participation so as to\nfacilitate the award of a fair share of contracts to such enterprises.\nFor purposes hereof, "minority business enterprise" shall mean any\nbusiness enterprise which is at least fifty-one per centum owned by, or\nin the case of a publicly owned business, at least fifty-one per centum\nof the stock of which is owned by citizens or permanent resident\nnoncitizens who are Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian or women,\nand such ownership interest is real, substantial and continuing. The\nprovisions of this subdivision shall not be construed to limit the\nability of any minority business enterprise to bid on any contract.\n 4. In the implementation of subdivisions two and three of this\nsection, the authority shall consider compliance by any contractor with\nthe requirements of any federal, state or local law concerning minority\nbusiness enterprises or equal employment opportunity, which may\neffectuate the requirements of this section. If the authority determines\nthat by virtue of the imposition of the requirements of any such law, in\nrespect to contracts affected by this section, that the provisions\nthereof duplicate or conflict with such law, the authority shall waive\nthe applicability of this section to the extent of such duplication or\nconflict.\n 5. In order to implement the requirements and objectives of this\nsection, the authority shall be responsible for monitoring the\ncontractors' compliance with the provisions hereof, for advising\ncontractors on the availability of competing qualified minority business\nenterprises to perform contracts proposed to be awarded and for making\nrecommendations to contractors to improve the access of minority\nbusiness enterprises to such contracts.\n