was not the lowest bidder and did not get contracts, however.įor example, we took a random sample of three bill lettings in 2015. We found many examples where Michels Corp. Michels has tried to argue that his company saved taxpayer money by submitting the lowest bid for highway projects. Highway construction cost overruns and delays for various projects has caused Republican legislative concern for years. had 19% of that massive project, to expand part of Interstate 39/90 south of Madison, as a subcontractor. The contract went to I-39 Constructors LLC, “a partnership formed by Hoffman Construction, of Black River Falls, and Rock Road Cos., of Janesville.” We have documented that Michels Corp. He wouldn’t approve it, but he says Evers’ administration did. However, since Michels was not the sole company involved in Wisconsin Constructors II, LLC, we are not including this in our analysis for now.ĭave Ross, Walker’s DOT secretary, revealed in a column that a massive I-39/90 construction project came in $27 million over engineer estimates. The net earnings ended up being $206 million. Michels Corp.’s website says, “Michels managed the construction of the Zoo Interchange Phase 1 reconstruction mega project as part of a joint venture named Wisconsin Constructors II, LLC.” The original contract awarded was for $198 million. There’s another project that we are not counting in the total: Phase one of the massive Zoo Interchange in Milwaukee County. Zoo Interchange Project Not Included in Analysis Timothy Ramthun in the Republican governor’s primary. Tim Michels is running against Walker’s Lt. These numbers do not include earnings Michels Corp. The projects spanned both the Scott Walker and the Tony Evers administrations. was paid more than $567 million by the state during that time frame. projects are not yet complete, so we filtered those out to focus on only the projects that are finished (some at 100% completed, some a little more than that). The records are only available online for the past five years, so we focused on that time period. projects to the net earnings listed for the company by DOT at the end of road projects. We used state records to compare the awarded contract amount for Michels Corp. Three percent of $567 Million is $17 Million.ĭuring the last debate, on the Dan O’Donnell show, Michels repeated that he believes there is “no waste, fraud and abuse in the transportation construction budget.” He said roadbuilding in Wisconsin is “highly competitive,” adding that he was “intimately familiar with that, of course.” The DOT has a change order budget goal of three percent for construction cost increases. We gave the Michels’ campaign a chance to respond to these findings.

Liquidated damages are financial penalties charged to the contractor if the job is not completed on schedule.Įven if you count “current contracts” instead of the original contract amounts, there are almost $15 million in overages. Over the same five-year period, Michels Corp. projects span the state, from Milwaukee to Dodge Counties, and they involve some of Wisconsin’s most prominent and important roadways. The net earnings for the 31 projects were $17.7 million over the originally awarded contract amounts, state records show. Michels Corp., the company that vice president and treasurer Tim Michels helps run, earned more than $17 million over the original contract amounts awarded by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation during the last five years, Wisconsin Right Now has documented.

Dot wi status or construction i39