West Virginia Code 5A-3-33d – Grounds for debarment
(a) Grounds for debarment are:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 5A-3-33d
- Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. Source: OCC
- Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. Source: OCC
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
- Offense: includes every act or omission for which a fine, forfeiture, or punishment is imposed by law. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
(1) Conviction of an offense involving fraud or a felony offense related to obtaining or attempting to obtain a public contract or subcontract;
(2) Conviction of any federal or state antitrust statute relating to the submission of offers;
(3) Conviction of an offense involving embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification, or destruction of records, making false statements, or receiving stolen property related to the performance of a contract;
(4) Conviction of a felony offense demonstrating a lack of business integrity or business honesty that affects the present responsibility of the vendor or subcontractor;
(5) Default on obligations owed to the state, including, but not limited to, obligations owed to the workers’ compensation funds, as defined in § 23-2C-1 et seq. of this code, and obligations under the West Virginia Unemployment Compensation Act and West Virginia state tax and revenue laws. For purposes of this subdivision, a vendor is in default when, after due notice, the vendor fails to submit a required payment, interest thereon, or penalty, and has not entered into a repayment agreement with the appropriate agency of the state or has entered into a repayment agreement but does not remain in compliance with its obligations under the repayment agreement. In the case of a vendor granted protection by order of a federal bankruptcy court or a vendor granted an exemption under any rule of the Bureau of Employment Programs or the Insurance Commission, the director may waive debarment under § 5A-3-33f of this code: Provided, That in no event may debarment be waived with respect to any vendor who has not paid all current state obligations for at least the four most recent calendar quarters, excluding the current calendar quarter, or with respect to any vendor who is in default on a repayment agreement with an agency of the state;
(6) The vendor is not in good standing with a licensing board, in that the vendor is not licensed when licensure is required by the law of this state, or the vendor has been found to be in violation of an applicable licensing law after notice, opportunity to be heard, and other due process required by law;
(7) The vendor is an active and knowing participant in dividing or planning procurements to circumvent the $25,000 threshold requiring a sealed bid or otherwise avoiding the use of a sealed bid;
(8) Violation of the terms of a public contract or subcontract for:
(A) Willful failure to substantially perform in accordance with the terms of one or more public contracts;
(B) Performance in violation of standards established by law or generally accepted standards of the trade or profession amounting to intentionally deficient or grossly negligent performance on one or more public contracts;
(C) Use of substandard materials on one or more public contracts or defects in construction in one or more public construction projects amounting to intentionally deficient or grossly negligent performance, even if discovery of the defect is subsequent to acceptance of a construction project and expiration of any warranty thereunder; or
(D) A repeated pattern or practice of failure to perform so serious and compelling as to justify debarment; or
(9) Any other cause of a serious and compelling nature amounting to knowing and willful misconduct of the vendor that demonstrates a wanton indifference to the interests of the public and that caused, or that had a substantial likelihood of causing, serious harm to the public.
(b) For the purposes of this section, the term “conviction” includes, but may not be limited to, the entering of a deferred prosecution agreement or a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, including pleading to a lesser or related offense in exchange for some form of prosecutorial leniency.