Wuca's war

Underground contractors, MMSD take their skirmish from the Capitol to the courts

By Chris Thompson - Madison Bureau Chief

The war over design/build legislation in Madison sparked a skirmish between the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and the underground contractors that threatens to get a lot uglier before the two sides find peace.

For all intents and purposes, the sewerage district is back to square one, and they haven't accomplished anything in Madison, Richard Wanta, Wisconsin Underground Contractors Association executive director, said.

So, since they failed in the Legislature, the district decided to do a project anyway at Lincoln Creek and we filed a notice against it in June. On Sept. 7, WUCA filed suit against the MMSD requesting a permanent injunction on the project.

MMSD, perhaps unwittingly, planted the seeds for battle more than two years ago when it began investigating design/build. Michael McCabe, MMSD director of legal services, said the district involved itself in design/build on the heels of its private contract with United Water Services for the operation and maintenance of the district,s treatment systems.

We did a request for proposals nationwide to determine whether or not it was cost-effective to have a private firm handle our treatment plant operations, he said.

During that process, we became more aware of the use of design/build throughout the country as an alternative to the standard design/bid/build method. We had been aware for a long time that the federal and state levels used it on certain projects.

At the same time, the city of Milwaukee had just completed its ozone treatment plant, using some design/build. McCabe said the city saved about 15 percent to 20 percent of its cost by using design/build.

So we had those two things converge, and we thought it would be in the best public interest to try and broaden our authority for design/build, he said.

The district intended to broaden its project-delivery ability, maximize quality, speed up its projects and cut costs, McCabe said. Design/build, he said, held the allure of opening countless doors the district had never before considered.

We currently only have the authority to use design/build under emergency contract provisions, otherwise we are obligated on contracts over $25,000 to use the standard method, so our experience with design/ build is quite limited, he said.

Plan B

MMSD took a shot at enlisting the Legislature to expand the district,s authority to use design/build this spring, but when that failed, the district chose to use design/build on its Lincoln Creek project.

That,s the most realistic example of design/build, McCabe said.

The commission felt we would take homes out of the floodplain. We had designers working on plans for different segments of the river, and that formed the basis for proposals. That was let at the end of June.

Just a few days later, WUCA filed a notice of claim to stop the project. MMSD had 120 days, which was up on Sept. 9, to respond to the claim. Two days before, WUCA,s suit was filed.

Unless the sewerage district is successful in Madison, Wanta said, it has to follow the law, and that,s what we,re asking them to do. What we would like to see happen is the maintenance of the competitive bid law. If, in fact, design/build is needed, we would like to see Legislative approval for each job.