Audit of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance Overview of Audited Entity

This section describes the makeup and responsibilities of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance.

Overview

The Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) is the state agency responsible for major public construction and real estate for the Commonwealth. DCAMM was established by Chapter 579 of the Acts of 1980 as a division within the Executive Office for Administration and Finance (EOAF) to create a professional building design and construction agency and an independent board within EOAF, the Designer Selection Board, to select design consultants. DCAMM’s main office is on the 15th floor of 1 Ashburton Place in Boston.

DCAMM is administered by a commissioner, who is appointed by the Secretary of EOAF with written approval from the Governor. The commissioner appoints deputy commissioners, associate deputy commissioners, and legal counsel as appropriate to manage and oversee DCAMM’s operations. Descriptions of DCAMM’s operational components appear in the Appendix to this report. DCAMM received state appropriations of $19,118,113 and $22,603,445, respectively, for fiscal years 2019 and 2020. As of December 31, 2020, DCAMM had 424 employees.

DCAMM manages more than two billion dollars annually in state-funded construction projects and manages more than 550 active leases, consisting of more than five million square feet of office space that house state agencies. DCAMM is also responsible for assisting, and consulting with, state agencies on constructing and maintaining state facilities. During our audit period, DCAMM administered 172 projects² with an estimated cost obligation³ of $2,483,527,292, ranging in value from $112,952 to $375,500,000. Of the total cost obligation, $20,699,558 (0.8%) was awarded to 58 minority-owned businesses and $55,381,535 (2.2%) was awarded to 58 woman-owned businesses.⁴ For the 172 projects, there were 185 contracts (127 construction contracts and 58 design contracts), consisting of 931 prime contractors⁵ and subcontractors with a total of 6,535 employees, of whom 5,961 (91.2%) were employed in construction and 574 (8.8%) in design. For the 127 construction contracts, contractors hired 5,961 individuals, of whom 191 (3.2%) were women and 1,199 (20.1%) were minorities. Payroll for the 5,961 employees associated with these 127 contracts totaled $90,246,668, of which female and minority workers accounted for $1,867,350 (2.1%) and $12,939,264 (14.3%), respectively.

Construction Project Management

Public construction projects typically involve three stages: study, planning and design, and construction. The primary method DCAMM uses to manage its construction projects is design-bid-build. In this method, a contract is awarded to design the project and then bids are solicited from contractors to perform the construction phase of the project based on the design specifications.

The second method DCAMM uses is construction manager at risk (CMAR). Chapter 149A of the Massachusetts General Laws enables DCAMM to use the CMAR method on projects with an estimated cost of at least $5 million. The CMAR method outsources various administrative and managerial responsibilities, as well as risk, from the state agency to a private construction manager (CM) firm. Before construction, the CM firm acts as project manager, providing its expertise and consulting services to DCAMM or the state agency that awards the contract (the awarding authority) and the design team. The goal of this arrangement is to ensure accuracy and practicality in the design documents and to mitigate the risk of unforeseen issues and events that could result in costly change orders.⁶ Later in the process, the CM firm acts as general contractor and is responsible for constructing the project according to the awarding authority’s specifications within a certain dollar amount, referred to as the guaranteed maximum price.

Certification Process / Project Evaluation

DCAMM is responsible for certifying companies in the designated categories of work⁷for prime contractors and sub-bidders⁸ to bid on construction projects for state agencies. Contractors need to file or renew their certifications annually by submitting an online application in the Business to Government Now (B2GNow) contractor management system and uploading evidence that they meet all the requirements or conditions⁹for the certification that are listed on DCAMM’s website. To obtain DCAMM certification, contractors must receive three scores of 80 or higher on their project evaluations. Evaluations are completed at the end of each project; if general contractors do not submit evaluation forms to DCAMM, DCAMM requests the forms. If a contractor scores less than 80 on three evaluations in five years, DCAMM does not recertify that contractor. Evaluations for all public and private projects must be signed by an official from the awarding authority.

There are three phases for the certification process: preliminary tasks, audits, and approval and review. During the preliminary (intake) process, the intake coordinator reviews the certification type, application type, company name, application fee payment, and certification status; whether the company has been in business for at least a year; and whether the company has submitted its financial statement / statement of gross revenue to ensure that the application has enough information for DCAMM to complete the certification process. The intake coordinator finishes and signs off on the application and then forwards it to a compliance officer (CO) for a complete review of the documents received. The CO ensures that all required documentation has been received; reviews it in B2GNow to ensure that the information is complete and consistent for the application; approves the application; and forwards it to a manager for final review, approval, and certification.

B2GNow

B2GNow is a software system that tracks contractors’ certifications and compliance with diversity requirements. DCAMM uses it to monitor the certification process and track certified contractors, as well as to document, review, and approve certifications in the three phases of the certification process. Contractors and subcontractors can use B2GNow to view their contracts, submit applications for certification with supporting documentation (financial statements, evaluation forms, and licenses), send certification change requests to DCAMM, and view their certifications.

Construction Workforce Participation

According to state guidelines, each construction contract should include workforce participation goals: 15.3% of the hours of construction work performed should be done by minority workers and 6.9% by female workers. According to Section 44A(1)(G) of Chapter 149 of the General Laws, enforcement procedures need to be in place to ensure compliance with workforce participation goals. Currently, DCAMM requires contractors to submit weekly workforce reports that include the number of hours worked in each trade by each employee who identifies as a woman, minority, and/or non-minority. Contractors send this information electronically to DCAMM through the Labor Compliance Program Tracker (LCPTracker), a Web-based labor and certified payroll system. In this system, contractors manage employees’ profile information and submit certified payroll reports to DCAMM at the end of each week. Contractors electronically sign each payroll report to indicate that the payroll has been certified. DCAMM includes the certified construction hours in its annual report.

LCPTracker

LCPTracker, which is linked to B2GNow, is an electronic certified payroll reporting software program for contractors to use to submit payroll information weekly to DCAMM for approval. DCAMM automatically accepts the certified payroll in the system. With this software, DCAMM can ensure that workforce participation goals are successfully met by tracking the genders and ethnicities of contractors employed, their backgrounds, their skill levels, and the prevailing wage. DCAMM uses the data in LCPTracker to generate the “Supplier Diversity—Affirmative Marketing Program for Design & Construction” section of its annual report.

Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth’s Pandemic Response Guidance

On September 30, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth provided guidance in response to the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic for state agencies. The guidelines help state agencies that are experiencing significant changes identify their goals, objectives, and risks associated with COVID-19. Objectives can include telework; return-to-office plans; a risk assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on department operations; changes to the business process; safety protocols for employees and visitors; and tracking of COVID-19-related awards and expenditures, which are tracked separately from other federal, state, and local expenditures.

Cybersecurity Awareness Training

The Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS) has established policies and procedures that apply to all Commonwealth agencies. Information Security Risk Management Standard IS.010 requires that all Commonwealth personnel be trained annually for cybersecurity awareness. Section 6.2 of the document states,

The objective of the Commonwealth information security training is to educate users on their responsibility to help protect the confidentiality, availability and integrity of the Commonwealth’s information assets.

To ensure that employees are clear on their responsibilities, all employees in state executive agencies with access to a Commonwealth-provided email address are required to complete an cybersecurity awareness course every year. EOTSS notifies employees when the required training is available, and they must complete it within 45 days after receiving the email. All new hires must complete an initial security awareness training course within 30 days after their orientation; this can be in addition to other agency-specific or role-based training. The training, provided by cybersecurity experts at the company KnowBe4, includes a short video, interactive segments, and a few knowledge-check questions per topic. After completing the training, employees receive a certificate proving they passed the course. EOTSS, the state Human Resources Division, and training administrators can review who has completed the training.

2.    An active project can consist of one or more contracts, which can employ one or more contractors.

3.    Items such as land acquisitions, equipment, furnishings, and occupant relocation costs were included in the total cost obligation data provided by DCAMM.

4.    There were 63 total projects, of which 53 were awarded to businesses that were both woman- and minority-owned businesses; 5 were awarded to woman-owned businesses; and 5 were awarded to minority-owned businesses.

5.    A prime contractor is a business engaged in construction that can bid directly to a state agency that awards the contract and can manage all the subcontractors on a project.

6.    Change orders are changes to the scope of work of the original contract that require approval from the awarding authority.

7.    The categories of work for which DCAMM certifies contractors include items such as painting, plumbing, roofing, and waterproofing.

8.    A sub-bidder is a subcontractor that submits a bid.

9.   According to Section 4.04 of Title 810 of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations, DCAMM does not issue a certification to a contractor if the contractor does not meet the requirements, which include a minimum evaluation score of 80 out of 100, all licenses required by law for the category of work, experienced personnel, and a completed application.

Date published:	February 23, 2022