DIR public works contractor registration: fees, renewal, and lapse penalties
Registration is the license to be on a public works job at all, and it is the number your eCPR is filed under. The figures below are from DIR's contractor registration page.
What it costs
Public works contractors register or renew for one, two, or three fiscal years, July 1 to June 30, for a fee of $400, $800, or $1,200. Registering for three years costs the same per year and removes two renewal deadlines.
Who qualifies
DIR's page lists the conditions, including that the contractor must not have any delinquent unpaid wage or penalty assessments owed to any employee or enforcement agency, and must not be in prior violation of the registration requirement, with an allowance for a first violation in a 12 month period on payment of an additional penalty. Read the current list on DIR's page before applying; it is the primary source.
What a lapse costs
- First time registration: a $2,000 penalty applies when a contractor registering for the first time bid on, was awarded, or worked on a public works project in the past 12 months while unregistered.
- Late renewal, July 1 to September 30: if the contractor bid on, was awarded, or worked on a public works project after registration expired, the penalty is $400 when the lapse was accidental and $2,000 when it was not.
- Renewal after September 30, or reactivation: a $2,000 penalty applies when the contractor did any of those things in the past 12 months while unregistered.
Why certified payroll depends on it
The eCPR record carries your public works registration number; the only alternative value the schema accepts is a literal NA for an unregistered contractor, which is a flag to the agency rather than a solution. The statute treats registration and payroll records together: an unregistered contractor working on a project where registration is not required must still keep the section 1776 records for at least three years after completion (Labor Code 1771.4(a)(4)). And a registered contractor on a covered project furnishes those records electronically to the Labor Commissioner at least every 30 days (section 1771.4(a)(3)).
Set the reminder
Registration expires June 30 no matter when in the year you registered. Put the renewal on the calendar in May. We check registration status at setup for every customer and remind you before it lapses, because a lapse in July is the kind of problem that surfaces in September as a $2,000 penalty and a project you cannot file on.