VI. Project Bidding
Institution Procurement Official
The institution’s Procurement Official will be in charge of Capital Improvements Bidding and Contracting procedures. Project consultants may assist in the process.
Advertising and award procedure shall be according to Arkansas Code Annotated 22-9-203 as amended by Act 1051 of 2001 (Appendix 10) and 19-4-1405 (Appendix 11).
Contracting capital improvements above $5,000.00 and below $20,000.00, regardless of the source of funds shall be by competitive quote bid and a minimum of three (3) bonafide bidders shall be requested to bid.
Capital improvement contracting may be made without following statutory bidding requirements where unforeseen or unavoidable circumstances occur:
fire, storm, riots, etc.
result in overall higher expenditures or cause the Institution to lose revenue due to not providing the service responsible for, but not limited to, medical treatment, education, military armories.
The following documentation is required when emergency contracting is utilized:
Sole source on capital improvements will only be approved when there are no other sources to perform the required work. This does not relieve the statutory requirements for license, insurance and bonds. The following documentation is required when submitting a contract on capital improvements for approval:
All bids shall be submitted in a sealed envelope. Prime contractors shall follow Arkansas Code Annotated 22-9-204 (Appendix 12) when a subcontractors’ portion of the project is $20,000 or more. A sample Bid Form is also attached (Appendix 13).
All capital improvement bids shall include all costs such as sales tax, use tax, permits, insurance, etc. The contractor on capital improvement projects where labor and materials are furnished is defined by the Arkansas Revenue Laws as the user and is responsible for the appropriate taxes. There are no provisions for a contractor to avoid taxes by using the tax exempt number of any state institution, board, commission, or institution.
The responsibility for the supervision of opening bids is with the Procurement Official of each Institution. The person authorized to read shall first check the bid documents to determine if the bid is totally responsive. Items to verify are: Form of Proposal completed, contractor’s license number, bid bond (minimum of 5%), bid amount, signatures, addenda acknowledgement, corrections or changes initialed, and subcontractors listed. If all documents are properly submitted and executed, the official may proceed to read the bid. If any statutory item is omitted, the bid should be declared non-responsive and remain unread. Formalities other than statutory may be waived.
Bids shall be opened and read by the Procurement Official of each Institution or by the authorized/contracted design professional at the designated time and place. The Procurement Offical is responsible for establishing the official expiration of time. In those instances where it is not practical or possible to attend the bid opening, the Procurement Official may delegate this authority to a representative of the Owner.
Bids may be opened in any order, but if listed on a prepared tabulation, they should be opened in such order. On projects requiring the services of a design professional, he or she shall furnish, in writing, to the Procurement Official a certified tabulation of bids, and a certification of licensure for the contractor and subcontractor listed in the bid, prior to award of the contract. Tabulation of bids is the responsibility of the institution Procurement Official and/or design professional.
Whenever it is obvious from examination of the bid document that it was the intent of the bidder to submit a responsive bid, and such bid, (because of scrivener error such as transposition of figures), if accepted would create a serious financial loss to the bidder, the Institution reserves the right to relieve said bidder from responsibility under his bond and may reject his bid.
Each contractor is required to have a contractor’s license and shall indicate on his bid form his current license number as issued by the Contractor’s Licensing Board. This license is only required on projects of $20,000.00 or more. Failure to list a current contractor’s license will be cause for rejection.
Act 429 of 1977 (Appendix 14). This license is required on all projects that require this type of work. For more information contact:
Arkansas State Police
#3 Natural Resources Drive
Little Rock, Arkansas
72215 (501-221-8245)
Act 394 of 1985 (Appendix 15). This license is required on all projects that require this type of work. For more information contact:
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality
Air Service Division
Little Rock, Arkansas (501-562-7444)
Acknowledgement of bid bonds shall be made aloud. The official reading the bids shall indicate the bond amount (not less than 5% of base bid amount), the form of bond either cashier’s check or bid bond. The Official shall check the company or individual being bonded, the correct project designation, the Power of Attorney Supplement, and signatures of all parties. The bond shall be written by a surety company qualified and authorized to do business in the State of Arkansas.
In the event that all bids submitted exceed the amount appropriated for the award of the contract, the institution may negotiate an award with the apparent responsible low bidder if the low bid is within 25% of the amount appropriated.
Institutions shall adhere to Arkansas Code Annotated Public Works 22-9-212 (Appendix 16) in regards to trench or excavation safety systems.
The Davis-Bacon Act, originally approved March 31, 1931, as amended, grants to the Secretary of Labor the power to determine wage rates paid to laborers and mechanics of contractors and subcontractors engaged in any construction activities supported by federal funds. The Davis-Bacon and related acts provide prevailing wage protection to workers on federal funded construction projects. These laws require the payment of locally prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits to employees of contractors or subcontractors performing work on federally financed or assisted construction projects valued in excess of $2,000.00.
each contract over $2,000.00 to which the United States is a party for the construction, alteration, or repair of public buildings or public works contain a clause setting forth the minimum wages to be paid to various classes of laborers and mechanics employed under the contract. Under the provision of the Act, contractors or their subcontractors are to pay workers employed directly upon the site of the work no less than the locally prevailing wage and fringe benefits paid on projects of a similar character. The Davis-Bacon Act directs the Secretary of Labor to determine such local prevailing wage rates.
In addition to the Davis-Bacon Act itself, Congress has added prevailing wage provisions to approximately 60 statutes which assist construction projects through grants, loans, loan guarantees, and insurance. These "Related Acts" involve construction in such areas as health, housing, air and water pollution and transportation. If a construction project is funded or assisted under more than one Federal statute, the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage provisions may apply to the project if any of the applicable statutes requires payment of Davis-Bacon wage rates.
General Wage Determinations reflect those rates determined by the Division to be prevailing in a specific geographic area for the type of construction described. The general wage decision contains no expiration date and remains in effect until modified, superseded, or withdrawn. General wage determinations are usually issued whenever the wage patters for a given location, for a particular type of construction are well settled and it appears there will be a recurring need for determined rates. If a contracting institution has a proposed construction project to which a general determination would be applicable, the published determination may be used by the contracting institution without consulting the Department of Labor.
The Arkansas Department of Labor maintains a current file of the U.S. Department of Labor General Wage Determination issued under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts and will provide them upon request. In a situation where this office cannot provide a General Wage Determination and it is necessary to have a Federal Wage Rate for your project, call the Purchasing Official for the correct procedure to follow. State Institutions are responsible for providing specific Federal regulations, guidelines and procedures as directed by their Federal Grantor/funding source to the Architect/Engineer or any party that will publish work requiring the expenditures of Federal funds.
In situations where the Davis-Bacon standards are applicable the recipient institution must:
Compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act procedures requires the recipient institution to police the contractor to insure that he does pay wages to the employees required by the Davis-Bacon Act. The contractor, not the recipient institution, however, is responsible for filing Form WH 347 or WH 348. While union scale wages may often be similar with Davis-Bacon wage rates for a particular area, the two are not necessarily the same. The recipient government institution is not relieved from the legal obligations of insuring that Davis-Bacon Act rates are paid, just because the project is being constructed by employees paid at union scale wages.
The legal advertisement for this project and invitations for bids will state that federal funds are being used and that Davis-Bacon Wage Rates will apply.
On state-funded capital improvement projects where the project cost exceeds $75,000.00, the provisions of Act 74 of 1969, as amended, on wage determinations shall be published in the specifications for the project. The legal advertisement for this project and invitation for bids will state that State Wage Determinations shall apply.
Any or all addenda must be acknowledged on the proposal form and such acknowledgment shall be stated during the reading of the bids. Every effort should be exerted to eliminate addenda. If addenda are necessary they should be issued as soon as possible, but in any event not later than three (3) working days before receiving bids. However, an addendum which only moves the bid date may be issued any time before the receipt of bids. In the event an addendum requires major or extensive changes in the scope of the project, an appropriate extension of the bidding period should be granted.
The period of time allocated for the work shall be specified in the contract documents. The owner/institution and the design professional shall decide on the amount of liquidated damages and the amount of such damages is to be included in the project specifications.
Any bid received at the office designated in the solicitation after the time specified for the receipt will not be considered (unless it was sent by registered or certified mail not later than the fifth calendar day prior to the date specified for receipt of bids, or unless, it is determined that the late receipt was due solely to mishandling by the Institution after receipt at the Institution office designated on the invitation.)
The only acceptable evidence is:
(1) The date of mailing of a late bid, modification or withdrawal sent either by
registered or certified mail is the U.S. Postal Service postmark on the wrapper or on the original receipt from the U.S. Postal Service. If neither postmark shows a legible date, the bid, modification or withdrawal shall be deemed to have been mailed late. (The term "postmark" means a printed, stamped, or otherwise placed impression that is readily identifiable without further action as having been supplied and affixed on the date of mailing by employees of the U.S. Postal Service.)
Bidders may submit written modifications to their bid at any time prior to the expiration of the bidding time. No modifications made shall show the base bid amount.
At the time of opening of bids each bidder will be presumed to have read and to be thoroughly familiar with the plans and contract documents, including all addenda. The failure or omission of any bidder to examine any form instrument or documents shall in no way relieve any bidder from any obligation in respect to his bid.
Bidders on capital improvement projects are to be reminded of paragraphs GR-3-L and G2-21, Arkansas Gross Receipts Tax Regulations whereby bidders are deemed to be consumers. They are not tax exempt nor may they use the tax-exempt status of a state institution to avoid sale or use taxes for whom they are performing a capital improvement project.
All deletions, changes, additions, or alterations of the bid documents will be acknowledged and read aloud. If such modifications cannot be waived, the bid shall be declared non-responsive and rejected.
Corrections or change of figures must be noted and unless initialed by authorized officials, shall be sufficient grounds for rejection.
N. Announcing Low Bidder.
Until such time as the bids have been reviewed and certified, any announcement or reference to the low bidder will use the phrase, "apparent low bidder". Contract awards should not be made on the day of bid opening except in special cases.
O. Unsuccessful Bid.
In the event no bids are received and it is apparent that further solicitation of bids would be futile, requested capital improvements may be contracted from any available qualified contract, upon approval by institution Purchasing Official.
P. Performance Bond
Performance and Payment Bonds are not required for bids $20,000 or under. For work exceeding $20,000, the bidder shall furnish a Performance and Payment Bond in the amount equal to 100 percent of the contract price, on a form identical to the Arkansas Statutory Performance and Payment Bond Form (Appendix 18 PDF) as security for faithful performance of the Contract and payment f all obligations arising thereunder within ten days after receipt of the Intent to Award. The bond shall be written by a surety company qualified and authorized to do business in the State of Arkansas. The bond shall be executed by a resident agent or non-resident agent and shall be licensed by the Insurance Commissioner to represent the surety company executing the bond and filing with the bond the agent’s Power of Attorney as his authority. The bond shall be written in favor of the Owner. Bidder shall file the bond with the Circuit Clerk in the county where the Work is to be performed. Failure to deliver said bonds, as specified, shall be considered as having abandoned the Contract and the bid security will be retained as liquidated damages. The bidder shall include in the bid the Performance and Payment bond amount so that the bid represents the total cost to the Owner of all work included in the contract. All bonds shall be issued to the "Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas" not the campus where the contract is performed.
Q. Insurance.
Institution shall require the Contractor to provide the following insurance to cover Contractor’s liability and protect Institution, provided Institution shall have the right to provide their own Builder’s Risk and Fire Insurance excluding any applicable deductible for contracts as they deem appropriate.
1. The Contractor shall secure and maintain in force during this Contract such insurance as is specified within the Contract Documents, from an insurance company authorized to write the prescribed insurance in the jurisdiction where the Project is located as will protect the Contractor, his subcontractors, and the Owner from claims for bodily injury, death, or property damage which may arise from operations under this Contract. The Contractor shall not commence work under this Contract until he has obtained all the insurance required, has filed the Certificate of Insurance with the Owner, and the certificate has been approved by the Owner. All certificates shall identify the "Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas" as the certificate holder. Each insurance policy shall contain a clause providing that it shall not be canceled by the insurance company without written notice to the Owner of intention to cancel.
2. Workers’ Compensation and Employer’s Liability Insurance in statutory limits shall be secured and maintained as required by the laws of the State of Arkansas. This insurance shall cover all employees who have performed any of the obligations assumed by the Contractor under these Contract Documents including Employer’s Liability Insurance. This insurance shall protect the Contractor against any and all claims resulting from injuries, sickness, disease, or death to employees engaged in work under this Contract.
liability. Prior to blasting, the Contractor shall furnish a Certificate of Insurance, which shall certify that damage caused by blasting is within the coverage of his Comprehensive General Liability Insurance to the full limits thereof. Hired and non-owned automobile insurance for automobiles and trucks shall include hired and non-owned automobile coverage.
S. Qualifications of Contractors.
All contractors are subject to approval by the Institution. The Institution shall record violations of contracts, poor workmanship, and other serious breaches of responsibilities. Where a contractor has exhibited unsuitability in the professionalism of a contract, the Institution Purchasing Official shall thoroughly investigate all aspects of his alleged unsuitability and make a determination to suspend the contractor for cause not to exceed one (1) year. The contractor shall be notified in detail the results of the investigation and be afforded the opportunity to appeal his suspension. The decision shall be given to the contractor in writing. Suspension of a contractor for cause shall be reported to the Contractor’s Licensing Board where applicable.
When it is necessary for the Institution to suspend a contractor twice in any twenty-four month period, the suspension shall be automatically referred to the Contractor’s Licensing Board with a recommendation that the contractor be debarred from bidding on any state-funded capital improvement projects.