OFFICIAL OPINION No. 33

OFFICIAL OPINION No. 33 nepartment of Property an cl 8uppl'ies-Pri·1: t ing-8 u:orn statements L Act No. 455 (1961) w ill be ;::omplied with by the filing with the Depan- ment of a sworn statement to be renewed annually covering all printed comracts of the vendor providad tliat the provisions of Section 1 of Act No. 455 <tre included as provisions of each contract and the G\';orn state- ment is included in each contract by reference thereto. Honorable Frank C. Hilton Secretary Department of Property and Supplies Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Dear Secretary Hilton : Harrisburg, Pa. April 23, 1973 This will acknowledge receipt of your letter of March 30, 1973, wherein you have requested an interpretation of the re- quirements of the Act of August 21, 19·61 (Act No. 455) (71 P.S. §1654 et seq.) which requires sworn statements of vendors as a provision of contracts for printing. Section 1 of Act No. 455 provides as follow-s: "Section 1. All contracts for printing for the Common- wealth or any department, board, commission or agency thereof, and all contracts for printing to be paid for wholly or in part with Commonwealth funds, shall con- tain the following provisions as conditions: " ( 1) The person to whom the contract is awarded shall agree as a con di ti on thereof to- " ( i) pay every employe engaged in the performance of said contract the prevailing wage rate, and provide working conditions prevalent in the locality in which the contract is being performed, or execute an affidavit that " (ii) a collective bargaining agreement is in effect be- tween an employer and employe who is represented by a responsible organization which is in no way influenc- ed or controlled by management, the provisions of which shall be considered as condition prevalent in said locality; and " ( 2) An agreement as a provision of the contract to maintain the conditions described in the sworn state- ment in the performance of such contract." You have indicated that the procedure presently followed by the Department requires bidders to file a sworn statement con- taining the provisions of Section 1 with each bid submitted to the Commonwealth for contract printing. You have suggested that the procedures of the Department will be simplified, and will encourage greater participation in competitive bidding, if a sworn statement is filed by each vendor with the Department of 82 OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Property and Supplies to cover all printing contracts of the vendor which statement will be required to be renew~d _annual- ly. Such statements will be incorporated into each pnntmg co?- tract by reference and the vendor, by signing tl:e co?-tract, will certify that a current sworn statement is on file with the De- partment. After a careful review of Act No. 455 it is our opinion, and you are accordingly advised, that Act No. 455 will be complied with by the filing with the Department of a sworn statement, to be renewed annually, covering all printing contracts of the ven- dor, provided that the provisions of Section 1 of Act No. 455 are included as provisions of each contract and the sworn statement is included in each contract by reference thereto. Very truly yours, w. w. ANDERSON Deputy Attorney General ISRAEL P ACKEL Attorney General