On January 1, 2019, local laws went into effect that established new notification requirements for City departments seeking to enter into contracts. Under San Francisco Campaign & Governmental Conduct Code Section 1.126(f)(2), a City department must notify the Ethics Commission if it receives a proposal for a contract that has a value of $100,000 or more in a fiscal year and that will require the approval of a City elective officer (or a board on which a City elective officer serves or a state agency on whose board the officer’s appointee serves) in order to be approved. This notice discloses the prospective parties to the contract, including any subcontractors listed as part of the proposal, and is due within thirty days of receipt of the proposal. This page contains information about this notice requirement, as well as the electronic form that must be used to comply with the requirement.
Separately, City Departments are also required to provide bidders and potential bidders with certain information during the bidding process. Click here for more information about these notice requirements.
Contract
For the purpose of this notice, a contract is any agreement or contract, including any amendment or modification to an agreement or contract, with the City and County of San Francisco, a state agency on whose board an appointee of a City elective officer serves, the San Francisco Unified School District, or the San Francisco Community College District for:
- the rendition of person services,
- the furnishing of any material, supplies or equipment,
- the sale or lease of any land or building,
- a grant, loan, or loan guarantee, or
- a development agreement.
Proposal
A proposal is a response to a request for proposals issued by the City, a response to a request for qualifications issued by the City, or a bid, quotation, or other offer submitted in response to an advertisement or solicitation for bids issued by the City. Proposals that are deemed non-responsive and are therefore disqualified from consideration by the City do not trigger the notification requirement.
City Elective Officer
The notice need only be filed if the contract will require the approval of a City elective officer or his or her appointee. A “City Elective Officer” is any of the following: Mayor, member of the Board of Supervisors, City Attorney, District Attorney, Treasurer, Sheriff, Assessor, Public Defender, member of the Board of Education of the San Francisco Unified School District, or member of the Governing Board of the San Francisco Community College District.
Board of a State Agency
The notice must be filed if the contract requires the approval of a state agency on whose board an appointee of a City elective officer serve. However, these state agencies are limited to only the following agencies: Health Authority, Housing Authority Commission, Industrial Development Authority Board, Parking Authority, Relocation Appeals Board, and Local Workforce Investment Board.
Reporting
Who Must File
The department that has purchasing authority over the contract must file the Form SFEC-126f2 for any proposal that meets the criteria described above. Departments may designate any employee in the department to file Form SFEC-126f2 on the department’s behalf. It is also possible to have one employee initiate and complete the form and another employee sign and file the form; however, a single employee may act in both the initiator and signer role.
When to File
If the Form SFEC-126f2 is required, it must be filed with the Ethics Commission within thirty days of the department receiving the proposal.
How to File
Form SFEC-126f2 must be filed electronically through the City and County of San Francisco’s DocuSign system, which can be initiated at the bottom of this page. The form allows a City staff member to initiate and complete the form electronically and then send it to the designated signer (if applicable) to sign the form. The DocuSign filing process involves two key steps – completing the form and signing the form – which can involve one or two participants, depending on whether the department head has designated an employee to initiate and complete the form and whether the department head wishes to sign the form or directs the employee to submit the form on behalf of the department. The form may be routed to up to three additional staff assisting with the completion of the form prior to it being routed to the signer. (Note: When completing the electronic form, select “Amended” from the drop down only to amend an original or previously amended filing. “Amended” should not be used to identify an amended or modified contract).
After the form is initiated and completed, an email will be automatically sent to the signer with instructions for his/her signature. The signer can then electronically sign the form in DocuSign by following the instructions in the email.
When completing this form, if you run out of space to provide all of the information that the form requires, you must submit a supplemental form that contains the remaining information. Be sure to use the same identifying information on the supplemental form so that the supplemental form may be connected to the original form. However, you do not need to disclose information, such as the names of listed subcontractors, that you already listed on the original form.
Filing an Amendment
To amend a previously filed Form, you will initiate a new Form through the same online portal that you initiated the original filing. You will need to complete all sections of the form as you did prior, except with the correct information, and in the first portion of the form (Section #1 Filing Information), complete as follows:
Under Type of Filing, you will select “Amendment” from the drop down menu;
under Date of Original Filing, enter the date of the original filing that you are amending;
in the next field Amendment Description, enter the reason for the amendment.
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Click the image below to preview a form illustrating the information required to be disclosed. (Please note that this form is for viewing purposes only and that the electronic link shown below must be used to file the required information.)
List of additional individuals assisting with the completion of the form
Enter up to three names and email addresses of individuals who will be assisting with completion of the form. The form will route to these individuals in the order listed below after the individual that initiated the form has completed work on the form. These individuals can edit all form fields. The individual initiating the form can be entered as the last person on this list to review the edits made by prior individuals before it routes to the elected official or board secretary or clerk for final signature.