Cal. Public Contract Code § 20168.5

In any city that has agreed to permit the transfer of prisoners or parole violators under Section 2910 or 2910.5 of the Penal Code, or of wards under Section 1753.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, the city council may contract for the construction or expansion of facilities to be used for that purpose without the formality of obtaining bids, adopting plans and specifications, or complying with other requirements of this article, except as required by this section. The person to whom the contract is awarded shall execute a bond for faithful performance. The award of the contract shall be made after a public hearing on the basis of a request for proposals advertised in accordance with Section 6062 or 6062a of the Government Code. The contract may be awarded only to a contractor who has responded to the request for proposals and who is licensed to do the work in accordance with Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 7000) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code. The contract shall be upon terms which the city council determines are necessary for the expeditious completion of the work. A contract shall not be entered into unless at least three proposals to do the work have been evaluated by a competitive process established by the city council and the lowest bid is selected.