One of the most important calculations for all Prime certified contractors is the Single Project Limit. The Single Project Limit represents the maximum dollar amount a Contractor may bid on any single Public Building Project. This figure is noted in line 6 of your Prime Certificate. Single Project Limits are calculated for Prime and Small Prime Certified contractors only and do not apply Filed Sub-Bidders.
What projects evaluations are used to calculate your Single Project Limit?
As set forth in 810 CMR 4.05(2), “[a] Contractor’s Single Project Limit shall be based upon the average of the largest two public or private Building Projects in a Category of Work for which the Contractor obtains certification, completed by the Contractor within the past five years. The two projects must each receive satisfactory Project Ratings for them to be considered for capacity purposes.”
What does this mean? DCAMM will take your two highest valued, reliable and passing evaluated projects completed within the past 5 years and use them to generate your Single Project Limit.
Here are some limitations:
- The evaluated projects must be for Categories of Work for which the contractor qualifies for Certification. For example, if a contractor’s highest valued evaluation is for an HVAC project and the contractor does not presently qualify for certification in HVAC then the value of that project cannot be used to calculate the Single Project Limit.
- If an evaluation covers multiple Categories of Work only the value of the work for Categories for which a contractor qualifies for certification may be used in calculating the Single Project Limit. For example, if a project evaluation covers both HVAC work and Electrical work and the contractor does not qualify for certification in HVAC then the value of the HVAC work cannot be used in the Single Project Limit calculation.
- If an evaluation covers both horizontal work and vertical construction work only the value of the vertical construction work may be used in calculating the Single Project Limit.
- If an evaluation has been deemed unreliable it may not be used towards a contractor’s certification nor in the calculation of the Single Project Limit.
- If evaluation has a failing score (79 and below) the value may not be used in calculating the Single Project Limit.
- If an applicant is seeking certification in General Building Construction (“GBC”) and the highest valued, evaluated project is not a GBC project, then a separate GBC Single Project Limit must be calculated using the 2 highest valued, evaluated GBC projects. See Section III D. 1. b. of the Prime Certification Guidelines.
Calculating your Single Project Limit
The contract values from your two highest evaluated projects are averaged and then a multiplier is applied to calculate the limit. The multiplier is determined by the contractor’s Overall Numerical Rating. For the calculation of the Overall Numerical Rating see the Prime Certification Guidelines at Section III C. If your Overall Numerical Rating is 80 to 84 you get a 1.3 multiplier. If your Overall Numerical Rating is 85 to 100 you get a 1.8 multiplier. The minimum Single Project Limit required for Certification is $150,000.
Limits are Subject to Capping
Keep in mind that Single Project Limits are subject to capping by other applicable limits.
For both Prime and Small Prime Contractors the Single Project Limit on your bonding letter caps your calculated Single Project Limit.
The Single Project Limit can never be higher than the Aggregate Work Limit. The Single Project Limit will be capped by the Aggregate Work Limit if the Aggregate Work Limit is lower.
Small Prime Contractors are additionally capped at a maximum Single Project Limit of $2,000,000.