The Board for Contractors previously filed a Notice of Intended Regulatory Action for the Board for Contractors Regulations (18 VAC 50-22- et seq.) and the Board for Contractors Individual License and Certification Regulations (18 VAC 50-30-et seq.). The intent of the two regulatory actions is to review the current fee cap for examinations.

The Board for Contractors requests specific comments regarding three examination fee cap options:

1. Leave the fee cap as it is currently.

2. Raise the fee cap.

3. Remove the fee cap from the regulations.

Below is the Brief Summary and Purpose of the Action: 

Summary

In the process of negotiating a contract with our exam vendor, the Board determined the cap on exam fees was problematic when attempting to expand exam services to include multiple languages. The Board currently adheres to the provisions of the Virginia Public Procurement Act and the agency believes that amending the regulations to remove the cap and allow the contracts to be negotiated within the provisions of the act without the cap, will allow for expanded services. These services include, but are not limited to, additional language services and remote proctoring. Other Boards housed at the Department of Professional and Occupations Regulation have amended their regulations to include this provision.

Purpose

This regulatory change will remove a price cap that has been in place since 1995. By removing the cap, the Board is allowing the Virginia Public Procurement Act to function as designed, ensuring that all contract negotiations and implementations are done in accordance with the law.

The comment period for the regulatory action listed above begins December 19, 2022 and ends on January 18, 2022.

Comments may be submitted online to the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall at http://www.townhall.virginia.gov/L/Forums.cfm. Comments may also be sent to Marjorie King, Regulatory Boards Administrator c/o Board for Contractors, Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 400, Richmond, Virginia 23233, fax: (866) 430-1033, e-mail: contractor@dpor.virginia.gov.

A public hearing will be held following the publication of the proposed stage of these regulatory actions.