Rule-Making Notices
Notice of Hearings
Administration
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to ss.
16.004 (1),
227.11 (2) (a), and
16.855 (15), Stats., and interpreting ss.
16.85 and
16.855, Stats., the Department of Administration will hold public hearings on a proposed rule order revising ch.
Adm 21 relating to construction contracting for facilities owned by the State of Wisconsin.
Hearing Information
Date: May 14, 2008
Time: 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Location: Dept. of Administration Building
101 East Wilson Street
First Floor, St. Croix Conference Room
Madison, Dane County
Date: May 15, 2008
Time: 10:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
Location: Eau Claire State Office Building
718 West Clairemont Avenue
First Floor Conference Room 105
Eau Claire, Eau Claire County
Interested persons are invited to present information at the hearing. Persons appearing may make an oral presentation but are also urged to submit facts, opinions and arguments in writing as well.
Submission of Written Comments
Written comments from persons unable to attend the public hearing, or who wish to supplement testimony offered at the hearing, should be directed to:
Donna Sorenson
Department of Administration
101 E. Wilson Street
P.O. Box 7864
Madison, WI 53707-7864
Phone: (608) 266-2887
Written comments must be received by June 15, 2008, to be included in the record of rule-making proceedings.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Administration
Statutory authority
Statutes interpreted
Explanation of agency authority
Pursuant to s.
16.85, Stats., the Wisconsin Department of Administration is responsible for the supervision of all engineering, architectural services or construction work performed by, or for, the state in the construction and acquisition of new buildings or improvements and additions to existing buildings.
Related statute or rule
None
Summary of proposed rule
The Department proposes amending Chapter
Adm 21, regarding the Department's requirements for advertising, bidding and contracting construction projects.
The proposed rule amendments would permit bidders and contractors to submit state construction project bids via electronic format. This allows for standardized, fair and equitable bidding statewide while maintaining bid integrity. Projects outside of the Dane County area now requires bidders to prepare bids in advance of bid opening and travel to Madison, or use a mail service to deliver the bid to the department. This practice is not considered equitable to contractors throughout the State to have equal preparation time for submitting bids for state construction projects.
Included in the proposed rule are amendments to provide consistency to Department of Administration references as well as language striking written word bids versus numerical values.
Comparison of rules in adjacent states
The State of Wisconsin surveyed other states through the National Association of State Facility Administrators and received several responses. The States of Montana, Ohio, Kansas and Alaska do not currently utilize electronic bidding practices. The State of Vermont has instituted electronic bidding with success and little adverse affect. Several states responded that electronic bidding was being utilized in their Departments of Transportation for roadway projects.
The State of Wisconsin also used data from the Federal Highway Administration regarding other states and bidding practices. 27 states are using electronic bidding for state DOT projects according to a 2006 survey.
The Illinois Capital Development Board opens sealed bids at four locations, Springfield, Chicago, Carbondale and Peru for state building construction projects.
The State of Minnesota Materials Management Division requires on line registration of vendors, but still does sealed public bid opening in paper format. Minnesota does have an initiative to move to electronic plan distribution to vendors.
The State of Iowa individual departments handle construction independently. With exception of the Iowa Transportation Department, the other departments do individual sealed bid delivery and public bid opening via paper bid submittals.
Comparison with federal regulations
The US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration utilizes electronic bidding for highway construction projects. A review of the federal websites appear to indicate that other federal agencies can centrally post requested construction/services to the Federal Business Opportunities website with instructions on bidding independent to each agency within the federal government. A review of most of these federal posted projects indicates bids are to be hardcopy hand/overnight or other service delivered to a specified location. None appeared to have electronic bidding availability.
The US Army Corps of Engineers utilizes the US Central Contractor Registration site for Contractors interested in doing Business with the Federal Government. The solicitations appear to require submittal of sealed hard copy bids to be submitted at various locations throughout the country.
Summary of factual data and analytical methodologies
The current rule has been in existence since 1979 with little or no updating. Some editorial and dollar threshold changes were made in a 2006 rule package.
The proposed rule permits bidders and contractors to submit state construction project bids via electronic format. This allows for standardized, fair and equitable bidding statewide while maintaining bid integrity. Projects outside of the Dane County area currently require bidders to prepare bids in advance of bid opening and drive to Madison or use a mail service to deliver the bid to the department. This practice is not considered equitable to contractors throughout the state. Business practices since 1979 have radically changed including current practices such as electronic and web based advertisement, electronic document exchange and acceptance and electronic notifications. The proposed rule amendments will expedite the processing of construction documents and enhance the construction of state projects.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
The Department foresees a positive and significant impact on small businesses.
It is estimated the majority of bidders on state construction projects are small business contractors and vendors. This change will save contractors and bidders driving and delivery time and associated costs as well as allowing them additional time in the bidding process to prepare bids for submittal to the department.
Fiscal Estimate
State fiscal effect
This rule will have no effect on the revenues received by the department.
The final decision on how the Department will accept electronic bids has not been made. At this time, it is anticipated that bids would be accepted as a secure upload to WisBuild, which is a secure website used for managing data related to State of Wisconsin building projects from design to completed construction. This would require a robust environment as multiple bidders may attempt to upload their bid near the time of the bid opening.
If the Division of Enterprise Technology can not host such an environment, then the Division of State Facilities would need to contract with a hosting service.
