Senate advances bill waiving proof of prior work requirement for state bids

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Lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a bill that would waive a rule that prevents contractors from bidding on state construction projects unless they have a job that’s at least half as big already under their belts.

The proposal, called Senate Bill 574, passed the state Senate on a 22-11 mostly party-line vote. The bill, co-authored by Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Cedarburg, would waive a state requirement calling on contractors to first show they’ve completed a project that’s at least as 50% as big as whatever job they’re planning to bid on.

Stroebel and Rep. Jesse Rodriguez, R-Oak Creek, introduced the legislation in September. With the Senate’s favorable vote on Tuesday, the proposal still needs approval from the State Assembly and Gov. Tony Evers’ signature to become law.

The bill authors argue their proposed change would allow more contractors to compete for state jobs.  Stroebel said the state’s bonding requirement — which will remain in place — are enough to ensure taxpayers’ interests stay protected. The state now prevents contractors from competing for state construction projects unless they can first furnish a 100% performance bond and a 100% payment bond.

“The contractor who fails to complete the job will have a more difficult time getting bonded for future state projects,” he wrote.

The proposal to eliminate the requirement concerning previous work is backed by the Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance, an insurance trade group. Its opponents include the Mechanical Contractors Association of Wisconsin and the Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors Association of Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin.

In addition to waiving the 50% rule, the bill would prevent the Department of Administration from asking contractors to furnish evidence of having particular project experiences, unless those experiences can be shown are specifically related to whatever project is being bid out. At the same time, the bill preserves the department’s ability to set additional bidding requirements if state officials decide that specific experiences are needed.

The rules are part of the state’s contractor certification program, which requires construction companies to be certified with the state before competing for projects worth more than $50,000. The changes took effect in the state’s 2013-2015 budget period, when Wisconsin switched to a single-prime system of project delivery.

The certification program also allows bids to be submitted only by companies that can show that they’ve been in business for at least a year, that they have the capacity to take on whatever work they’re seeking to win and that they’ve performed at least one project for a public entity, among other things.