The main difference between a private and public construction project is that, w
The main difference between a private and public construction project is that, while the former is commissioned and paid by private institutions, businesses or building owners, a public construction job is closely associated with the rules that are determined by either the federal or state government. Public projects are defined as any project owned, controlled or commissioned by a government agency. This type of project is broken down into two categories, either state or federal. State projects are controlled by any part that is funded by the state and federal projects are either controlled or owned by the federal government. When the government is the United States or federal agency, the applicable rules are found within the “Miller Act.” When the government is the state or a state agency, the applicable rules are usually found within a “Little Miller Act” statute. Private project included any project that is owned or controlled by anyone other than a government agency. This includes anything from a homeowner to a publicly traded company. Below are some comparison between the public and private sectors from different prospective.
Wages: While doing construction for a commissioned by a private owner the employer is only required to pay federal or local minimum wage, whichever is higher. This means that is Colorado a company owner could pay everyone from the project manager to the laborers $12/hour without any legal repercussions. This could obviously not be done due to the supply and demand of workers; however, legally the company would not be under any obligations. If the same company conducts a job that was publicly funded, then things could be more complicated and in this case, all worker would need to be paid in accordance to the Davis-Bacon Act. While working on public projects, the company may need to maintain a certified payroll, which means every week the company must fill out a WH-347 form for every employee to include wages, benefits, hours worked and projects worked on.
Bidding: to put it simply, the major difference between bidding on a private project versus a public project is the wiliness of the bidder to comply with the requirements and bonding capacity. Depending on the type of project delivery method, private projects require an invitation to bid, Request for Qualification (RFQ), or Request for Proposal (RFP) with several stipulations and guidelines to follow to qualify for bidding. Public projects are more open to bidding for public with less requirements to meet because these projects are paid by the taxpayer. In other words, public projects are open bid, which means an open bid is advertised publicly and allows any contractor to submit a bid. The problem with that is there is no restrictions to the number of bidders. However, public projects enforced some reasonable stipulations represented by the preventive measures. Preventive measures help to safeguard the public from problems regarding contractor competency or financial