Document Oz3BLNEj7mYZmn8MJpwg4M1Q1

ht'BLiSKED Monthly by Texas Branch, A. U. "Luck seems to favor the man 'who doesn't count on it .WS S & 9 ^ * r Don Lee Editor Highway and Municipal News Prequalification in Wisconsin" HE classification of contractors The awarding official must, therefore, Twas first put into effect in Wis determine the responsibility of the bidder, consin in the beginning of 1925. Tehiteher before or after taking the bids, or poor; whether the nanced, equipped, org; aged; whether the coni method used prior to this time was to let and the Wisconsin plan is to do this be bills promptly, delinqui anyone bid regardless of whether he had fore taking bids. there were claims experience, equipment or finances. After The information that is filed by the what attitude the con' opening bids, it had to be determined who was the lowest responsible bidder. In many cases the low man was not respon sible and the award had to be made to the next bidder. This method caused a division offices on each contract job gives the main office a record of the perfor mance by the contractor. This record takes into consideration the following: . The name of the contractor, the name final settlement; whethi had trouble or made fi, easy; the general ato'tudt tor toward the work, operative, agreeable or ; great deal of trouble and general dissatis of the job, length of the job, total amount ' After taking into con faction. When the low bidder was told of the contract in dollars, date of the these items mentioned' he was not responsible, he immediately letting, date of the contracts, date of classes of work, as gi went out and set up the claim to the the final approval of the contract, agreed paving or surfacing, public that the highway officials were not upon date of starting the work, agreed tion of the division engin giving him a fair deal. The idea of the upon date of completion, final estimate contractor in one of the! qualification of all contractors for the in dollars; date of final acceptance, loss ficarions: General com kind and amount of work was to do away of time due to weather, loss of time due surfacing; grading only with having to reject the low bid. Under to conditions beyond the control of the bridges, concrete, tim ithe classification method, the low bidder contractor, loss of time due to the con structures, and paving i Jgets the job because he is not permitted tractor's fault, the number of working cation provides for other jto file a bid unless he is qualified to do the days, the total construction units, the be included in the con | work bid upon. All notices to contractors average number of construction units per mum amount in dolla: {for taking bids on work contain the fol working day, the progress, whether nor allowed to have underj lowing: "Bidders must be on qualified 1 list for the type and quantity of work to be bid upon at least two days before the i time set for opening bids." mal, subnormal, or unusually rapid; what part of the work was sub-let, the name of the subcontractor and his address, gener al progress, whether excellent, good, fair A general contractor?; bid on any one or r..l of but he is limited to the? under any one classifiedtil 1 It has been stated that the Wisconsin pie, the general contracf } plan is a form of restrictive competition or bidding by invitation, and it is extreme ly doubtful whether it would meet the requirements of the laws in other states. TEXAS HIGHWAY BRANCH Associated General Contractors mitted to bid on bridgH amount in money or for any reason, there included in the contrai Determine Responsibility First qualified to build, he must! The object of competitive bidding is to determine the lowest bidder. At first this was the only one, and in many instances, is the only one today, but common sense and public good, however, required that the awarding officials should be given some power in determining the responsi bility of the lowest bidder. Therefore, most laws state that the award shall be made to' the lowest responsible bidder. EDITOR'S NOTE:--Foe several month*, this page will Le devoted to explaining Proqaalificarion a* it has been adopted in several other states. With . this number, "PrequaJification in Wisconsin" is dis cussed and in subsequent issues this subject will be . *- treated upon as it pertains to South Carolina, Tense- ' "see and California. - Mljnturty sad jfrynnuhhft* OFFICERS ft DIRECTORS Cha*. S. Henning, Jr., Abilene President R. , W. Briggs, Pharr Vice-President H. J. Naylor, Ft. Worth * - Sec'y-Treas. Berman Brown, Austin - - Director W. P. Bentley, Dallas - - Director Bart Moore, Jr., San Antonio Director C. H. McClellan, Wichita Falls Director Fred Cavender, Texarkana > Director Tyree L. Bell, Corsicana * Director DON LEE, Executive Secretary _ /.Austin Hotel, Austin, Texas '' , this bridge to some quaT The maximum amounS will always be limited we may have a gene can have a bridge iriclt tract up to $30,000, or in span, but his total can be under contrai $200,000. A grading^ tractor is one that and gravel or stone tures up to a cer the size of his contra fsame for the'othe