Performing Work for Cities / Towns

[climbingmonkey24]

I was just curious for those of you who have done work for cities / towns, did you have to go through an application process to get a contract or get called for that, or do they just at random call tree companies when they need work that the public works tree division department isn't going to do themselves?

 

[oldoakman]

The city I work for has a contract with a local company. The purchasing division ultimately handles the bid process with input from Forestry staff. The contract runs for a year and is renewable for additional years for a total of 3 years. Bidders must prequalify with the Purchasing Division. The size of the city is approximately 200,000 residents.

 

[climbingmonkey24]

What are some of the prequalifications? Do you have to have a bucket truck?

I was just wondering. Something that crossed my mind. I saw some people talking about working in parks, etc. in another thread so was curious about it.

 

[Wrangler]

If you want to bid on work that is out for bid on a public owned property such as a park or road improvement project, you must obtain a Public Works Certificate .There is some paperwork involved, they will check to make sure you are current on payroll taxes, that you are not behind on child support, your criminal background, and any violations with Dept of Labor. You must submit normal docs such as business licenses, letter of formation and all your insurance certs.And here is the kicker, as of two years ago you must also participate in a Federal Department of Labor Apprenticeship Program. This is the hard part. There are several ways to do this, none are easy or cheap. If you do a google search you’ll find all the info .
However , a municipality is allowed to hire a company to do work for them without putting it out for bid, so long as they do not exceed a certain dollar amount (it’s 2,500 or $ 5000.00 a year if memory
serves)
Just remember when trying to win a bid for a corporation or the government, sometimes they don’t look all that hard to make sure you meet their criteria to let you do the work but they will go through your paperwork diligently before paying you and if something is not right you just did some free work and possibly got a DOL investigator to deal with. That can be a big problem.
Its a lot to get set up but definitely worth while , even if it takes a few years !

 

[ATH]

Depends on the municipality and the project. I've done a few projects for pretty small towns - like just 20-30 young trees for young tree training. A couple of those were requiring somebody who has been through the State Division of Forestry's (free) young tree training program.

I've also done some pesticide treatments for a slightly larger town (+-30K, so not big city!). I know the forester from various training events, etc... He calls a couple of companies he knows to be reputable (and me) for a bid when he needs that done, and takes the low bid, as required.

Other small towns: somebody's cousin does it all ,tells them what he thinks ought to be done, and bills whatever they want.

Another town I wanted to bid some work for had it all in one contract 30-40 bigger removals, some really big prunes, and some smaller pruning. We don't do removals, so didn't bid.

Call whoever manages those contracts: forestry department, parks, street department, etc, etc, etc. and tell them you are interested in bidding. I'm pretty sure most places would require that they include you in the bids, but obviously, you'd need to meet some qualifications to win the bid. Ask what those are. You should also be able to see what previous bids where and what the other bids were on the jobs you bid on (depending on state public information laws)

 

[oldoakman]

In the city I work for, Forestry writes the specs for work and required equipment. Purchasing takes care of checking licensing requirements insurance legal residency/green cards of employees, minority businesses etc. One time I was on a bid committee that was looking at contractors for indoor plant maintenance services. One of the contractors bidding did not have the required state applicators license. The contractor said he was not using restricted chemicals. Purchasing did not know he had to have a state license.

 

[Wrangler]

It matters where the money is coming from. If it’s federal money, or even if it’s partially funded with federal money such as road improvement, drainage,sidewalks etc. you’ll be required to pay prevailing wage and be subject to the scrutiny of DOT people. If it’s coming out of your towns budget especially for maintenance,thats much more relaxed.
i did storm work last year for a small municipality and got paid within two weeks without even providing them with an insurance cert. I was a sub on a road improvement project and almost a year later got audited and had to explain why I did not have canceled check to show that I paid my flagger( my then fiancé, now wife) the correct rate. I explained that she did payroll for my company and singed the checks and regularly used funds from business account for personal use. Then provided them with three months of bank statements to show that she did take her pay out of account via debit card ,just not in form of check. I also had to show that we had paid the payroll taxes on wages reported for her on certified payroll. After a ton of paperwork i got fine removed but incident was still on file. It was a great learning experience!