What are my options
for construction services?
You have
three general options for service providers for construction services: F&S
Construction Services, Job Order Contracting, or outside contractors. Facilities & Services
assists with procuring services from any of these providers.
Generally, the table below explains your options on the providers.
| Options | Under bid limit | Over bid limit |
| Facilities & Services Construction Services | Yes | Yes |
| Outside contractor through Contractor Services Request System | Yes | No |
| Outside contractor through bid process | No | Yes |
| Job Order Contracting | Yes | Yes |
However, if you contact an outside contractor asking them to provide you an estimate about a job or project, you no longer have the option to use F&S Construction Services. This is a one-way door. Per the Illinois State Board of Higher Education and Illinois Procurement laws, F&S cannot directly compete with outside construction providers. Therefore, whenever you involve outside contractors you cannot return to F&S.
When do I get
to choose which construction service provider I use and when am I told
who I must use?
This is a loaded question. First and foremost, we will not tell
you whom you must use. You have choices. Our job is to let you know
what your choices are and which would be most likely to deliver what you
need, when you need it, for the best possible cost. We will let you know
when rules and regulations prohibit certain choices, however.
What ways do
you structure your estimates for construction?
You can
request a fixed-cost price or a time and material budget. Outside contractors
offer a not-to-exceed option. We cannot at this time structure our projects
this way. Speak with your coordinator and he or she can advise your proceeding
under one format or the other. Depending on the project, your best interests
might be to prefer one format over the other.
If I want to
hire an outside contractor for work that I know is under the bid limit,
what do I do?
You use
the Contractor Services Request System. You must go to the site and begin
the request to use an outside contractor before you speak with any concerning
your project. After you have completed as much of the request as you can,
you submit it to us. At this point we preliminarily review your work description
and bring to your attention any considerations you need to make when discussing
the work with contractors. You will receive a email through the system altering
you that you can begin discussions with contractors.
There are more FAQ’s about this process on the system’s website at http://www.fs.uiuc.edu/contractor-services/index.cfm.
What if I am
not comfortable with the estimate that F&S Construction Services
provided for my job because I am not familiar enough with what is reasonable?
Without other prices to compare to, how can I be assured that I am getting
a fair price?
We know
that our door is one way and that if you go outside to speak with an outside
contractor, you cannot come back and use our services. In many ways this
assures that we are providing you our best price and the fairest price we
can. If you have doubts as to the price, speak with your project coordinator
who can outline where the costs come from. Project coordinators are also
equipped and knowledgeable enough to give you an honest and reasonably accurate
picture of your specific job and F&S’ ability to perform that work.
They will also recommend the use of an outside contractor when the situation
warrants.
Do I have to
comply with building standards?
Generally,
yes, standards exist to assure that buildings are safe, alterations in one
area don’t have a negative impact on other areas, and facilities are
constructed to continue to serve the needs of future generations of students
and staff. A variance process does exist and is explained on our Facilities
Standards website. Visit http://www.oandm.uiuc.edu/uiucapp/newintro2.cfm.
Can I have a
project coordinator help me to develop my scope even if I know I don’t
want to use F&S Construction Services?
Yes, you
can hire our project coordinators to work on developing the project scope
so you can go outside and get estimates from outside contractors. They can
even tell you if you are getting near or over the bid limit and would need
to go through preparing the project out for bid.
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