Purchasing and Bidding: Small Public Works Roster

Chapter 138, Laws of 2000, significantly changed small public works roster provisions for awarding public works contracts. The legislature also directed the Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development (previously CTED, now the Washington State Department of Commerce) and the Municipal Research Council to prepare and distribute a Small Works Roster manual. MRSC fulfilled this original obligation in 2000 with the original Small Works Roster Manual for Local Governments in paper form. Subsequent to that effort, the Manual was published and updated online on MRSC's web site in HTML format.

This present edition is intended to provide interested users with the best of all worlds: a basic Manual in paper form and in Adobe PDF format that can be viewed online and/or be printed by the user; and an online Sourcebook that will be updated as new and better sample documents come to our attention.

As shown in Appendix A of the Manual, which is a table titled Summary of Small Public Works Roster Statutes, small works procedures began modestly in 1981, with a limit of $25,000. Only four specific state agencies were authorized to use the SPWR. In 1991, counties were authorized, with a limit of $100,000. In 1993, the statute was changed to read "all authorized municipalities," with cities being specifically authorized, in addition to counties. In 2000, the limit was raised to $200,000, uniformly for all authorized State agencies and municipalities. HB 1196 (Chapter 79, 2009 Laws), raised the limit to $300,000 and changed corresponding notice requirements in Section2(c), effective on July 26, 2009. MRSC's Small Public Works Roster Manual, Second Edition lets you stay up to date with the changes made by HB 1196 for your public works roster.

Download the new Small Public Works Roster Manual for Local Governments: Second Edition ( 2.92MB), revised May 2009, (Updated 10/30/09).