Hiring a Sewer Contractor for a Municipality or Public Agency

Start with the condition data, not the budget

Every good sewer procurement begins with a defensible picture of the pipe. For public mains that picture is a closed-circuit television survey coded to the NASSCO Pipeline Assessment Certification Program, known as PACP, by an operator who holds a current certification. PACP gives every defect a standard code, a position along the reach and a severity grade, so a crack at station 142 in one city means the same thing as a crack at station 142 in another. Manholes get the companion MACP coding and laterals LACP. The value to the agency is that the survey becomes the bid document: contractors price the defects the codes describe, not a verbal account of them, and disputes later are settled by referring to the same footage. Require the raw video and the database, not just the summary report, and keep both; they belong to the agency.

Prequalification

Most state procurement codes let an agency prequalify bidders for specialized work, and sewer rehabilitation qualifies. A prequalification package should ask for the license and classification the state requires, bonding capacity in writing from the surety, safety record including the experience modification rate, a list of comparable projects with owner contacts, the equipment the firm owns rather than intends to rent, and the names and certifications of the crew leaders who will actually be on the job. For lining, ask which liner systems the firm is trained and certified to install by the manufacturer. For excavation, ask about trench-safety competent-person training. Prequalification does not choose the contractor; it decides who is allowed to open an envelope, which is the point at which an unqualified low bid can still be refused without litigation.

Writing the specification

The specification is where agencies win or lose the job before it is bid. A rehabilitation spec should state the method or allow approved alternates with the acceptance criteria for each, the liner thickness design and the standard it follows, the pre- and post-installation television requirements, the sampling and testing of cured liner, the reinstatement of service connections, cleaning standards, acceptable bypass discharge points, and the restoration of surfaces to the agency's own standard details. Quantities should be unit-priced by the linear foot by diameter, with separate items for point repairs, manhole work, cleaning beyond a stated effort and traffic control, so that field changes are paid at bid rates instead of negotiated. Where the agency lacks in-house engineering, the bid-content guide on this site is a reasonable checklist of what the pay items must cover, and method-specific requirements are collected in the relining, bursting and open-cut hiring guides.

Bonds and insurance

Public construction above a statutory threshold requires a performance bond and a payment bond, usually each at the full contract value, from a surety licensed in the state and listed on the federal Treasury circular. Bid bonds, typically a percentage of the bid, keep bidders from walking away after the opening. Check that the surety's name on the bond matches a company that actually exists and that the attorney-in-fact who signed holds a current power of attorney; forged bonds are rare but not unknown. Insurance requirements should name the agency as additional insured, require workers' compensation at statutory limits and set general liability and auto limits appropriate to work in traffic. For projects touching a stream, a wetland or a storm outfall, add pollution liability.

Prevailing wage and related obligations

Public sewer work is prevailing-wage work in every state that has a prevailing-wage statute, and federally funded work carries Davis-Bacon rates regardless of state law. The wage determination must be in the bid documents, certified payrolls must be collected, and the agency must have someone who reads them. Federal money, including state revolving fund loans, adds American Iron and Steel requirements, Buy America provisions and disadvantaged-business outreach, each with its own paper trail. A town that has never administered a federally assisted contract should ask its funding agency for the compliance checklist before advertising, not after award.

Bypass pumping and traffic control

A public main cannot be taken out of service without a plan for the sewage. The specification should require a written bypass plan, sized for peak flow with redundancy, with containment at connections, noise limits for residential streets, round-the-clock monitoring and a spill response procedure that names who calls the state environmental agency. A bypass failure that reaches a storm drain is a reportable discharge with the agency's name on the notice. Traffic control follows the state's adoption of the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices; require a plan drawn to it, a certified flagger where lanes close, and coordination with the fire department and the school district on access. Both plans should be submittals reviewed before the contractor mobilizes.

Consent decrees and I&I programs

Many utilities work under a federal or state consent decree over sanitary sewer overflows, with deadlines for reducing inflow and infiltration. Those programs are procurement at scale: multi-year rehabilitation contracts, flow monitoring, smoke and dye testing and often a private-side component. The decree's schedule drives the contracting strategy, and agencies in this position often use indefinite-quantity contracts, where a contractor is retained at unit prices and issued work orders as the survey identifies defects. That structure rewards careful unit-price tables, minimum and maximum quantities, and clear escalation terms, because the contract may run for years.

Private lateral programs

Where the agency's data shows that private laterals carry much of its I&I, the agency may decide to inspect, repair or line them itself, with the owner's consent and sometimes a cost share. These programs raise questions ordinary procurement does not: the right of entry onto private property, whether the owner may use their own contractor and to what standard, who owns the warranty, how the owner's share is billed or assessed, and what happens when a lateral turns out to be in worse condition than the program's unit price assumed. Spell each of these out in the program ordinance and the contract. Homeowners on the other side of the arrangement should read the residential page and their state guide; a program works best when both sides understand it.

The small town without an engineer

A village with one public-works employee and a part-time clerk still has to buy sewer work legally. Three sources of help exist in nearly every state. The state rural water association or its equivalent offers technical assistance to small systems, often free. The state's revolving loan fund program usually requires an engineer's report but will say what it needs to see. And a short engagement with a consulting engineer to write the specification and review bids costs a fraction of one change order on a job that was specified badly. Do not let the only bidder write the scope. Insist on a PACP survey first, borrow a specification from a comparable neighboring utility and have counsel confirm the bid thresholds and bonding rules in the state's municipal code before the advertisement runs.

In order

1. Survey and code the system to PACP; keep the video and the database.
2. Prequalify bidders on license, bonding, safety, equipment and crew certifications.
3. Write a unit-priced specification with acceptance criteria, submittals and restoration standards.
4. Require performance and payment bonds, verify the surety, and collect insurance before award.
5. Include the wage determination and any federal requirements in the bid documents.
6. Review the bypass and traffic plans before mobilization and inspect the work against the spec.

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