Construction

Building - AGC NYS In Your Corner
If Wicks Were So Efficient,
Why Does it Need to be Mandated?
By: Joe Hogan, VP of Building Services
AGC NYS CORNERSTONE WINTER 2012
24
As I read over the years OpEd articles from
various forces seeking to maintain the
status quo relative to the Wicks Law, those
organizations, which include NECA (National
Electrical Contractors Association) and MCA
(Mechanical Contractors Association) would seek,
through the use of tired arguments and flawed
studies, to keep New York State as one of the
most backward states in the nation. The very old
studies cited are seriously flawed in when and how
costs were measured. They base their studies on
instances where MEP trade contractors are given
the opportunity to bid directly to the owner or
to a general contractor and then measure only
the bid costs. They fail to measure the impact
of market manipulation and, more importantly,
the final costs to the owner and taxpayer relative
to cost of the work and design and contract
administration costs. It should be noted that
the only studies these organizations cite are selfserving
in that they were commissioned by those
Mechanical and Electrical Contractor Associations
who stand to gain financially by maintaining
the status quo. When AGC NYS cites studies,
we cite those conducted by New York State
Division of Budget and the New York City School
Construction Authority – organizations with no
axe to grind. With regard to the latter, they have
very real experience and comparisons that show
tremendous savings in cost and time.
With all that said, all these studies are nice but one
only needs logic to determine the best path. If the
Wicks Law’s requirement for multiple contracts
were as efficient as NECA, MCA and their allies
would have you believe, there would be no need
to mandate it. Why then do major sophisticated
purchasers of construction such as GE, NYU, the
University of Rochester, Corning, and a host of
others, except in very rare circumstances, all
seek one financially responsible entity – a General
Contractor or Construction Manager at-Risk – to
construct their facilities? Why does the Federal
Government and nearly every other State in the
Nation not have a “Wicks Law?” Why do nearly
all individuals and small businesses throughout
the New York State and the Nation not act as
their own general contractor when building or
renovating their homes or offices? The answer
to each question is quite simple – the Wicks
Law makes no financial or project performance
sense for anyone but the very small interests of
those few members of NECA and the Mechanical
Contractors Association who ply their trade in the
public bidding market of New York State.
I have regularly heard it said, amid the snickering,
that New York State is on par with Mississippi as
one of the most backward states in the nation
relative to procurement practices. It is time
that New York State modernize its’ procurement
practices and the largest obstacle, while by no
means the only one, to that is the Wicks Law.
Even in its’ current form with some very small
ability to maneuver with a PLA, were DOT to seek
to engage in a design build process for a building
project, the listing requirements would make the
procurement very cumbersome if it were possible
at all.
BIM 101: An Introduction to
Building Information Modeling
Date: December 11
7:30 am Registration & Breakfast
8:00 am - 5 pm Program
Location: AGC NYS – Albany, NY
Call (518) 456-1134 to register
AGC NYS & LeanNYC
Holiday Reception
Date: December 12
Location: Arno’s Ristorante,
New York, NY
Call (518) 456-1134 for
registration details