Pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 66.0901, whenever the Village
lets public work by contract, the contract must be awarded to the
lowest responsible bidder. What constitutes a responsible bidder is
a determination that requires the exercise of discretion by the Village
and its departments, officials or employees under reasonably consistent
responsible bidder criteria when exercising its discretion.
In this article, the following definitions shall apply:
CONTRACTOR
A person, corporation, partnership or any other business
entity that performs work on a public works contract as a general
contractor, prime contractor or subcontractor at any tier.
PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACT
A contract for the construction, alteration, execution, repair,
remodeling or improvement of a public work or building, where the
contract is required to be bid pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 59.52(29).
In order to be a responsible bidder for purposes of being awarded
a public works contract, the contractor must meet the following criteria:
A. The contractor maintains a permanent place of business.
B. The contractor is authorized to do business in the State of Wisconsin.
C. The contractor, or agent, partner, employee or officer of the contractor,
is not debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment or declared ineligible
from contracting with any unit of federal, state or local government.
D. The contractor is in compliance with provisions of § 2000e
of Chapter 21, Title 42 of the United States Code and Federal Executive
Order No. 11246 as amended by Executive Order No. 11375 (known as
the "equal opportunity employer" provisions).
E. The contractor has general liability, workers' compensation,
automobile insurance and unemployment insurance.
F. The contractor has complied with all provisions of any prevailing
wage laws and federal Davis-Bacon related acts, and the rules and
regulations therein, for projects undertaken by the contractor that
are covered by these laws, for the past five years.
G. The contractor has a written substance abuse prevention program meeting
the requirements of Wis. Stats. § 103.503.
H. The employees who perform work on the project are properly classified
as employees or independent contractors under all applicable state
and federal laws.
I. The contractor has not been the subject of any investigation, order
or judgment from any state or federal agency or court concerning an
employment practice, including, but not limited to, classification
of employees, unemployment insurance, discrimination or payroll fraud.
If the contractor has been the subject of any investigation, order
or judgment from any state or federal agency or court concerning an
employment practice, the contractor must provide copies of the investigation,
order or judgment and/or may be disqualified.
J. The contractor's employees who will perform work on the project
are:
(1) Covered under a current workers' compensation policy and properly
classified under such policy.
(2) Covered under a current health insurance policy as required by federal
or state law.
K. The contractor possesses all applicable professional and trade licenses
required for performing the public works.
L. The contractor has adequate financial resources to complete the public
works contract, as well as all other work the bidder is presently
under contract to complete.
M. The contractor is bondable for the terms of the proposed public works
contract.
N. The contractor has a record of meeting the criteria which will be
considered in determining completion of projects and may include,
but are not limited to:
(1) Completion of contracts in accordance with drawings and specifications;
(2) Diligent execution of the work and completed contracts according
to the established time schedules unless extensions are granted by
the owner; and
(3) Fulfilled guarantee requirements of the contract documents.
O. The contractor has, and diligently maintains, a written safety program.
If information other than what was disclosed by the contractor in §
1-22 is discovered by the Village or the department, official or employee responsible for awarding the public works contract, and such information calls into question the contractor's abilities or competence to faithfully and responsibly comply with the terms of a public works contract, that information shall be considered in determining whether the contractor is a responsible bidder.
The general or prime contractor bidding on a public works project
must include in its sealed bid:
A. Its own affidavit swearing compliance with the criteria set forth in §
1-22 on the form required by Village.