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Bid
Law Requirements
Wisconsin
law requires certain public entities to engage
in competitive bidding when the estimated cost
of a “public works” project or “public
construction” exceeds a specified dollar
amount. The competitive bidding requirements
were enacted to “prevent fraud, collusion,
favoritism and improvidence in the
administration of public business, as well as to
insure that the public receives the best work or
supplies at the most reasonable price
practicable.” Aqua-Tech, Inc. v. Como Lake
Protection & Rehabilitation District, 71
Wis.2d 541, 550 (1976).
Depending on whether the contracting agency is
the State, county, city, village, town or school
district, Wisconsin law provides for different
requirements on public works projects. For
example, State of Wisconsin contracts are
governed by Sec. 16.855, Wis. Stats., and
require that contracts be let to the lowest
responsible bidder for all projects on which the
estimated costs of the public construction
exceeds $30,000, with some limited exceptions..
Other public contracts must follow the bidding
requirements of Sec. 66.0901, Wis. Stats. In
addition to the procedural requirements in
Section 66.0901, cities, towns, counties and
villages may also be subject to other
requirements. Specifically, Wisconsin state law
requires government entities to competitively
bid all “public construction,” projects when
the estimated cost of the project exceeds
$25,000. Wis. Stat. secs. 61.55 (villages),
62.15 (cities), 59.52 (29) (counties), 60.47
(towns). If the estimated cost exceeds $5,000
but is not greater than $25,000, the
governmental entity must give a Class I notice,
under Chapter 985, Stats., of the proposed
construction before the contract is executed.
If the project receives Local Road Improvement
Program (LRIP) funding it must be competitively
bid regardless of the project cost with a
limited exception allowing for towns to contract
with a county to perform the work if certain
criteria are met. School districts are subject
to the procedural requirements of Sec. 66.0901,
but are not required by law to competitively bid
projects or award contracts to the lowest
responsible bidder.
There are limited exceptions to these bid law
requirements in cases of emergency, situations
where cities and villages vote to authorize the
performance of public works directly by their
own employees, situations where labor and/or
material are donated by volunteers, certain
highway or bridge projects involving state or
federal aid, and for towns that contract
other municipalities to perform public works on
their behalf. Municipalities may not avoid bid
law requirements by serving as a general
contractor and negotiating with subcontractors,
public or private, to perform the public work.
Additionally, municipalities cannot evade
statutory bid requirements by dividing a project
into small segments that fall under the $25,000
statutory threshold.
To find out more about Wisconsin's bid laws
please contact us.
Contacting CBG
Construction Business Group
4702 S Biltmore Lane
Madison, WI 53718
Office
Hours: M-F 7:30am-4pm CST
Phone (608) 240-4170
Fax (608) 240-4179
cbginfo@constructionbusinessgroup.com
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