For more than a decade, New Jersey has had in place a series of pay-to-play laws that impose reduced contribution limits and heightened disclosure requirements for government contractors. The goal of these laws is to ensure fair contracting procedures and to remove favoritism from the procurement process.

But are these laws working as intended when seemingly innocent mistakes leading to relatively small political contributions remove otherwise qualified and competitive bidders from government contracts? News last month that a paving company was disqualified from $7 million in New Jersey Executive Branch contracts because of a $500 political contribution has government contractors throughout the State understandably concerned about their own compliance procedures. The disproportionate effect of a relatively small political contribution has highlighted the need to reform New Jersey’s pay-to-play laws.

And Jeff Brindle, the Executive Director of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, agrees. The need for reform is not a new issue, but the dramatic nature of this ineligibility determination may provide the impetus to begin this process in earnest.

In the current legal landscape and a blockbuster New Jersey election year that will see the election of a new governor as well as 120 State legislative races, government contractors need to focus on their pay-to-play compliance. Merely assuming that you are in compliance is simply not good enough, when a contribution of only a few hundred dollars can disqualify your company from millions of dollars of contracts. At this point in the election cycle, even one unintentional contribution can disqualify your company for up to 5 ½ years and, starting in April, refunds will not cure an excessive contribution once we have entered the 60 days preceding the 2017 primary election.