Facilities Planning and Construction FAQs
WSU is a State agency and is required to comply with Minnesota State regulations. Facilities contracts, insurance coverage and prevailing wage rates are all part of this State compliance.
These requirements are outside of WSU's control and thus WSU is not able to wave these or determine that they do not apply to certain situations, projects or vendors.
What is the difference between a Work Order and a Project Request?
A project request includes projects intended to physically modify an existing space.
These include alterations such as electrical outlets, painting, carpeting and office remodeling which are in response to unplanned or non-budgeted changes in that area.
Project requests usually require the assistance of an outside contractor to accomplish the work, and in most cases, result in a Facilities contract.
Routine maintenance work includes maintenance work that can be accomplished by the WSU Maintenance Staff such as:
- moving of furniture
- hanging of shelves
- door and window issues
- blind repair
What is the point of the Facilities Project Request Form?
This form is to be used to gather the basic information for a proposed project, including scope of work, time frame and funding source.
This information will be used by the Facilities Planning and Construction Office to evaluate the project request and to prioritize, budget and schedule the work.
The information submitted by using this online form base becomes part of our project database. This database is available to be viewed by any campus user with a StarID and password.
When is a Facilities Contract needed?
A facilities contract is required whenever an outside vendor or contractor come onto campus property to perform any work, or when they take possession of any WSU property.
What are the steps needed to process a contract?
A signed 1400 form and a signed proposal/quote are needed to encumber funds and initiate the project.
Once the funds have been encumbered by the Business Office, Facilities Planning and Construction will then prepare and send a contract to the vendor for their signature.
Once the contract is signed and returned, along with any additional contract paperwork, a Notice to Proceed is sent to the vendor by Facilities Planning and Construction.
No work can begin until the Notice to Proceed is issued.
How long does it take to process a contract?
At least 2-3 weeks should be allowed for a contract to be processed. Summer and semester breaks are extremely busy times for Facilities Planning and Construction.
All contracts are important and will be processed as soon as possible. Life safety, health and code related work deemed an emergency will be given priority when processed.
What are the insurance requirements for a facilities contract?
Each contractor or vendor that does business with Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system must provide evidence of adequate insurance as a condition of its contract.
The current requirements are outlined in this example of Certificate of Liability Insurance (PDF).
What are the Prevailing Wage requirements?
Depending on the contract amount or work involved, prevailing wage requirements (PDF) may apply.
The project manager is responsible for enforcing prevailing wage requirements. Payroll reports will be sent directly to the project manager.
All applicable prevailing wage forms (Doc) must be correctly submitted before any project payment request can be processed.
