2025 Legislative Session Outcomes for Procurement

The 2025 legislative session included bills addressing local government procurement in areas related to bidder responsibility, subcontractor requirements, prevailing wages, contractor licensing, and bonding requirements. This blog summarizes five new bills related to these important procurement elements that will broadly impact local government, both this year and over the next two years.

Responsible Bidder Criteria Modification

Before award of a public works contract, a bidder must meet a number of mandatory criteria (as defined in RCW 39.04.010 and RCW 39.04.350) to be considered a responsible bidder and qualified to be awarded a public works project. Two bills from this session modify this responsible bidder criteria: HB 1549 and HB 1644.

Apprenticeship requirements and prevailing wage training

HB 1549 modifies responsible bidder criteria in both 2026 and 2027.

Effective July 1, 2026, RCW 39.04.350 is amended to require that bidders subject to apprentice requirements under RCW 39.04.320 submit an apprentice utilization plan before the local government awarding agency issues a notice to proceed.

With this new requirement for bidders, RCW 39.04.350 is also amended to allow the local government awarding agency to make the determination to exempt certain bidders from this requirement.

Also on this effective date, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) is required by HB 1549 to develop an apprentice utilization plan template and to publish completed plans from bidder-awarded contracts with apprentice utilization requirements on the L&I website.

This bill also updates prevailing wage training requirements for a contractor to bid on a public works project. Currently, a responsible bidder is required to have L&I training before bidding and/or performing work on public works projects. However, a bidder can be exempted from this training requirement depending on both the length of time they have been in business and their experience with prior public works projects.

Effective July 1, 2027, RCW 39.04.350 is amended with a responsible bidder exemption from the training requirement if a bidder:

• has completed at least one public works project and has not violated responsible bidder and prevailing wage requirements within the previous three years, or
• has among its staff or board of directors at least one designated person who has received the required L&I training within the previous three years.

Minor work permits

HB 1644 modifies responsible bidder criteria in RCW 39.04.350 with additional requirements concerning the safety and health of working minors.

Effective July 1, 2026, a bidder must not be subject to a revocation of a minor work permit at the time of bid submittal for a public works project. The bidder must confirm this status in the signed statement that is submitted before being awarded a contract.

Identification and Licensing Requirements for Subcontractors

For public works projects with an estimated cost of $1 million or more, RCW 39.30.060 currently requires that bidders submit the names of all contractors with whom the bidder, if awarded the contract, will subcontract for HVAC, plumbing, or electrical work, or for the installation of structural steel or rebar.

• The list for HVAC, plumbing, and electrical subcontractors must be submitted within one hour after the bid submittal deadline.
• The list for structural steel and rebar installation subcontractors must be submitted within 48 hours after the bid submittal deadline.

The bidder may also submit itself for any of these categories and/or may submit subcontractor lists at the time the bid is submitted.

RCW 39.30.060(3) also notes specific reasons substitution of a listed subcontractor can be made, including the inability of the listed subcontractor to obtain the necessary license to perform the work.

HB 1633 amends RCW 39.30.060 in two ways:

1. it changes the timing for submittal of the HVAC, plumbing, and electrical subcontractor list, and
2. it amends RCW 39.30.060(3) by removing language that allows for subcontractor substitution due to the inability of that subcontractor to obtain the necessary license to perform the work.

Effective July 27, 2025, bidders for public projects estimated to cost $1 million or more must submit the list of all licensed subcontractors (and proof of license) for HVAC, plumbing, or electrical work (or may also identify itself for such work if licensed to do so) at bid submittal.  (Note that the deadline for submitting a list of structural steel and rebar installation subcontractors remains the same: 48 hours after the bid submittal deadline.)

Errors identified by the local government awarding contracting agency in the proof of license information must be corrected by the bidder within 48 hours of submission.

Expanded Definition of "Interested Party" for Prevailing Wage Complaints

Workers on public works projects and service maintenance contracts must be paid prevailing wages.

L&I investigates alleged violations of this requirement when a complaint is filed by a person who is part of an “interested party,” which is defined in in RCW 39.12.010 to include a contractor, subcontractor, an employee of a contractor or subcontractor, an organization whose members' wages, benefits, and conditions of employment are affected by this chapter, and the director of labor and industries or the director's designee.

HB 1821 amends RCW 39.12.120 to require that L&I provide a copy of an employer's certified payroll records to an interested party if these records are requested as part of a prevailing wage complaint. This change is effective July 27, 2025.

HB 1821 also expands the definition of an interested party in RCW 39.12.010. Effective January 1, 2026, an "interested party" may additionally include a joint labor-management cooperation committee established pursuant to the federal labor management cooperation act of 1978, or a Taft-Hartley trust.

Design-Build Bonding Requirements

Design-build public works contracting brings a single firm to both the design and construction of a public works project instead of separating it into two separate contracts. Local governments are authorized to use design-build procedures in RCW 39.10.300-.330.

The firm awarded a design-build contract must provide a performance and payment bond for the contracted amount of the overall project, which includes both the value of the design and the value of the construction. HB 1967 modifies the requirements for performance and payment bonds for these contracts by amending RCW 39.10.330 and RCW 39.08.030.

Effective July 27, 2025, RCW 39.10.330 is amended to require that any firm awarded a design-build contract provide a performance and payment bond for the contracted amount before the start of construction and no later than 10 days upon request from the contracting agency. (A performance and payment bond is not required for the portion of the design-build contract that includes design services, preconstruction services, and other services that are not public works construction included in the contract.)

Also effective July 27, 2025, RCW 39.08.030 is amended to require that these performance and payment bonds will be in an amount not less than the dollar value of the contracted amount of the construction portion of the contract. (A performance and payment bond is not required for the portion of the design-build contract that includes design services, preconstruction services, and other services that are not public works construction included in the contract.)

Certification for Installation of Transportation Electrification Infrastructure

Effective January 1, 2026, SB 5528 adds a new section to RCW 19.28.211 requiring contractors installing electric vehicle (EV) supply equipment as part of a public works project meet L&I certification requirements.

Resources as 2025 Legislative Changes Occur

To support local government, MRSC will be updating our model statement over the next year to reflect these new requirements. As an additional resource, L&I's Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business provides information about every contractor registered in the state.