The Pennsylvania Separations Act of 1913 requires public entity construction projects to solicit separate bids and award separate contracts for electrical, HVAC (heating, ventilating, air-conditioning), plumbing and general construction. In other words, four prime contracts are required for public projects. This ensures a cleaner and less expensive process of spending taxpayer dollars. Separate prime contracts prevent the taxpayer from paying for unnecessary mark up of subcontractor’s prices. It also provides an opportunity for small and local contractors to bid on projects directly to the public body. The work is awarded based on low bid and is free of personal interest, bias, and prejudice. 

However, some in Harrisburg would like to repeal the Separations Act. Please utilize this page to contact your local legislators to oppose any legislation that will cost taxpayers millions of dollars in unnecessary construction costs. Head-to-head bidding between separate and single prime bidding has demonstrated that separate prime bidding is consistently less expensive.