WICKS Saves Money

The School Construction Authority ("SCA") has prepared a Report on the Wicks Law, a State law requiring separate bidding by key trades for public projects in order to increase competition. The major finding of the Report is that contracts bid out under Wicks cost $3.00 a square foot less than contracts bid to a single contractor. This is just further evidence that attempts to scrap the Wicks Law will only result in higher costs to taxpayers and an increase in profits to general contractors. The Wicks Law needs some modification (the monetary limit at which separate bidding must occur is still set at only $50,000) but this Report demonstrates that WICKS SAVES MONEY. Efforts to repeal Wicks are based in political posturing and not based upon facts.

Interestingly, the Report also concludes that the savings created by the Wicks Law is lost after the contract is bid and the base contract is complete. We believe that any increase in costs beyond the base contract is not due to the Wicks Law but rather because of the poor performance of many public agencies in administering change orders, claims, etc. Further evidence that Wicks saves money, when administered by high quality public agencies, is provided in a section of the Report that found that the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) decided to work under Wicks bidding procedures in thirty-three instances out of thirty-five. DASNY, the State's premiere construction agency, has the option of using Wicks or not. It would not be consistently opting for Wicks if it thought that bidding non-Wicks resulted in less expensive and better projects.

In any case, Wicks saves the public money and should not be repealed. The threshold amount needs to be updated - that's all.

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