(a) The Director of State Highways and Transportation may suspend a contractor and/or its affiliates from bidding on State Highway Commission contracts, participating in the bidding on commission contracts, subcontracting on commission contracts, or supplying material, equipment, labor, or personal services for a period not to exceed forty-five (45) days for any of the following reasons indicating conduct injurious to the competitive bidding process:

1. (1) Conviction of a contractor or affiliate of a bidding crime resulting from a jury or bench trial, any pleading of guilty or nolo contendere by a contractor or affiliate to a bidding crime, any admission of conduct constituting a bidding crime by any contractor or affiliate, any testimony by a contractor or affiliate, whether or not protected by a grant of immunity, in any jurisdiction, to conduct constituting a bidding crime;
2. (2) Conviction of a contractor or affiliate of any offenses indicating a lack of moral or ethical integrity as may reasonably be perceived to relate to, or reflect upon, the business practices of the company;
3. (3) Any other cause affecting responsibility as a commission contractor of a serious and compelling nature;
4. (4) Debarment of a contractor or affiliate by some other state or federal agency for substantially any of the reasons listed above; or
5. (5) Participation by a contractor or affiliate in any conduct which has the effect of evading or undermining the sanctions imposed on a suspended or debarred contractor.

(b)

1. (1) Any contractor or affiliate suspended for the reasons set out above shall be notified in writing of such suspension.
2. (2) Such notice will be by registered mail and shall include the dates of suspension and the general reasons necessitating the suspension.
3. (3) If the commission will seek debarment of the contractor or affiliate, the notice shall also include that fact, along with any reasons for debarment if different, or additional to, the reasons for suspension, and inform the contractor of a cut-off date for the development of the administrative record by the assigned hearing officer.
4. (4) Within ten (10) days of receipt of the notice, the contractor or affiliate may also request a hearing at which time the contractor or affiliate can challenge the factual or legal predicate of the debarment or present any evidence pertinent to the debarment.