Apr 15, 2022 2 min read

The Central Greene School District receiving no electrical or general trade bids for their renovation projects is indicative of the issues facing today’s construction industry like supply chain and labor shortages. This is overshadowed by the impact of the Separations Act.

Enacted in 1913, the Separations Act requires separate prime contractors for one public construction project in the areas of general construction, electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning. This is referred to as a Multiple Prime Delivery System. In essence, the Separations Act forces the public owner to serve as the construction manager for a project and each of the prime contractors contract directly to the public owner.

This is an inefficient contract delivery method fraught with problems. Only Pennsylvania requires it for all public construction. Two other states have a less restricted version of the Separations Act. This system is not used in the federal, private, residential, and commercial markets. The construction industry has drastically evolved over the past century, but Pennsylvania is unable to take advantage of progressive delivery methods like Design/Build and Construction Manager-At-Risk because of the Separations Act.

A repeal of the Separations Act would permit school districts like Central Greene to take of advantage of contracting methods that allow early procurement of materials, guaranteed pricing, and schedule certainty – all of which would better serve the students who will be in an aging middle school for another year. And for all the taxpayers of Pennsylvania, modernizing the Separations Act can save at least 10% on each construction project.

James Dudt

Scenery Hill