- Fair-and-Open Check Box Requirement: Check a box to indicate whether each contract was awarded pursuant to a “fair-and-open-process”; and
- Certification Requirement: Certify that the statements and/or information contained in Form BE are true and acknowledge that if any of the statements or information are willfully false that you may be subject to punishment.
- Businesses may find it challenging and time consuming to identify whether a contract was awarded pursuant to a “fair-and-open-process” given that your 2015 Form BE may cover long-term contracts that could very well have been awarded years ago.
- In many cases it will be unclear how vendors should classify Executive Branch contracts awarded pursuant to a competitive process because the phrase “fair-and-open process” is a term of art with respect to county, municipal and legislative contracts.
- In past years, ELEC asked the person filing Form BE to simply “acknowledge” that he or she was familiar with the information contained in the Form BE. Now, ELEC is asking the person filing Form BE to certify to the accuracy of the statement and to acknowledge that he or she may be subject to punishment for willfully false information.
Tags: New Jersey • ELEC • pay-to-play • business entity • Election Law Enforcement Commission • Form BE • Annual Disclosure