Port of Oakland: OCIP, Bonds and the Maritime and Aviation PLA

Two Port of Oakland bid notices from 2024 describe the owner-controlled insurance program. One was a seaport switchgear project at the former Oakland Army Base, estimated at $8,828,000 and funded in part by a Maritime Administration (MARAD) Port Infrastructure Development Program grant. The other was an airport perimeter dike project estimated at $51,000,000 with FAA Airport Improvement Program funding. The seaport notice states that the OCIP will provide general liability, workers' compensation, employer's liability and contractor's pollution legal liability insurance with Alliant as administrator, and the airport notice carries the same wording on what the contractor still provides.

These are 2024 notices, and the bids have closed. The Port can change or replace a wrap-up program, and a given project can fall outside it, so each solicitation confirms whether the OCIP applies. The notices we read do not publish the OCIP's limits, deductibles or enrollment steps; those come from the project manual and the program's own insurance manual.

For an enrolled firm, the OCIP generally replaces its own policies for on-site work on that project for the lines the program provides. Off-site operations, the firm's other jobs and lines outside the program stay with the firm's own insurance.

The 2024 notices state that the contractor will be required to provide builder's risk insurance, automobile liability for the contractor's vehicles and equipment and other coverage listed in Document 00700, Article 4. Builder's risk on an owner job with an OCIP is a contractor cost here, which differs from some wrap-ups where the owner buys the property coverage.

How insurance costs are treated in the bid price, and whether enrolled subcontractors must remove their own insurance cost from their quotes, is set by the solicitation and the OCIP manual. We did not find a published bid-net rule for the Port, so read the bid form instructions before carrying a figure.

Subcontractors need the same attention. A trade that is enrolled for general liability and workers' compensation can still need its own auto, equipment and any coverage Article 4 lists, and its certificate should show those lines when it mobilizes.

The 2024 seaport notice states that a performance bond and a payment bond are required for the contract. It does not give the bond amount, so take the penal sums and the bond forms from the project manual.

The same notice allows the contractor to substitute securities for retention monies withheld, citing Section 22300 of the California Public Contract Code and Document 00680. Substituting securities can free working capital on a long airfield or terminal job, but the request has to follow the Port's form and escrow terms.

Sureties writing Port work typically weigh backlog, the size of the job against the firm's largest completed contract and any federal grant schedule. Bonds are credit extended by the surety, not insurance for the contractor.

The 2024 seaport notice says the successful bidder, whether union or nonunion, must comply with Document 00823R1, the Maritime and Aviation Project Labor Agreement (MAPLA), and sign a letter of assent. On that grant-funded project, wages were the higher of the federal Davis-Bacon rate and the state prevailing wage rate.

The Port's January 29, 2016, announcement of the renewed MAPLA described a simplified coverage threshold of $150,000 and above, capital program construction and on-haul and off-haul trucking within scope. A December 24, 2020, Port release reported a five-year extension. We could not verify whether the agreement was renewed again after that term, so check the version named in the solicitation.

For a nonunion firm, the letter of assent and the agreement's terms can change crew cost and staffing, and those terms belong in the estimate from the start.

For trucking firms and contractors hauling in and out of the Port, see truck fleet coverage for East Bay haulers.

Federal money adds federal contract terms. The 2024 airport dike notice carried the FAA's disadvantaged business enterprise rules under 49 CFR Part 26 and stated a small business contract-specific goal of 3 percent. The seaport switchgear notice carried MARAD grant terms, the federal uniform grant requirements in 2 CFR 200 and 1201 and Buy America provisions.

Those terms differ by funding source and by year, and the U.S. Department of Transportation revised its DBE program rules by interim final rule in 2025, so the goal and good faith effort rules in a current solicitation can differ from the 2024 notices. Read the federal provisions in each project manual rather than relying on an earlier bid.

The bid notices we read do not mention USL&H, the Jones Act or maritime employers liability; any such requirement would sit in Document 00700, which we did not read. The federal Longshore Act can apply to work over or next to navigable water depending on the facts, so a firm with pier, wharf or dredging scope should settle that question with its carriers before bidding.

The TSA says TWIC is required under the Maritime Transportation Security Act for workers who need access to secure areas of maritime facilities and vessels. The Port's notices set no TWIC rule for construction crews, and terminal work inside secure areas typically needs TWIC holders or escorts depending on the facility, so confirm access rules with the Port and the terminal operator.