Over a Century of Wasted Tax Dollars

The lack of a single point of contact from the construction team creates a nightmare scenario for the owner. It’s inefficient and cumbersome.

The most problematic is it eliminates the possibility of collaboration during pre-construction, which is a more efficient method of construction. If early collaboration were allowed between the project architect and a single construction manager, projects would proceed more smoothly. Hurdles could be anticipated and resolved in advance. Without collaboration, expertise from the construction team is sparse, if at all, during the design phase.

Legislation has been proposed several times in recent years that would do away with or amend the Separations Act.

During a legislative budget hearing in 2017, state Secretary of General Services Curt Topper testified that the Separations Act “requires that we do business less efficiently than we could otherwise do business.”

He said the old law “effectively sets up a situation where it is much more difficult to design a project, bid a project, and manage a project. So, I’d love to see us address that problem.”

Yet the law remains on the books, while its inefficiency is well documented.

From 2000 to 2010, public education projects could opt out of the Separations Act through the Education Empowerment Act that was enacted during Gov. Tom Ridge’s administration. Seventy school districts applied for the waiver during that period, an indication of the unpopularity of the Separations Act.

The Allegheny Conference on Community Development reviewed some of those projects and issued a report concluding that savings of between $8,000 to $2.5 million were achieved on school construction projects that used a single prime contractor instead of multiple primes.

Kennett Consolidated School District did one project with a single prime and one with multiple primes per the Separations Act. The single prime project was finished two months ahead of schedule and $300,000 under budget. The multiple prime project came in over budget. This is just one of the many examples to show that the Separations Act is costly to taxpayers.

There is a long line of organizations, trade unions, and governments that are lobbying for the modernization of the Separations Act.

They include the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, National Federation of Independent Businesses PA Chapter, Pennsylvania School Boards Association, Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials, Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools, Green Building Alliance, Green Building United, U.S. Green Building Council Central PA, Keystone Contractors Association, Master Builders Association of Western Pennsylvania, National Utility Contractors Association Pennsylvania Chapter, Association for Responsible and Ethical Procurement, Carpenter Contractor Trust, Construction Legislative Council of Western Pennsylvania, Design-Build Institute of America, General Contractors Association of Pennsylvania, General Building Contractors Association, Cement Masons Local 526, Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, and Laborers’ District Council of Western Pennsylvania.

Many public owners want to modernize the Separations Act, and a few of the more vocal ones include the Philadelphia School District, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, Peters Township School District, Cumberland Valley School District, and Community College of Allegheny County. KC