Project Process

• Small Project: Projects qualifying for funding from the all agency appropriations and other funding sources and costing less than $600,000 may be requested and approved under the Small Projects Program. Board of Regents and State Building Commission approvals are not required, approval authority has been delegated to the Division of Facilities Development within the Department of Administration.
• All–Agency Project: A targeted project program addressing the maintenance, repair, renovation and minor remodeling needs for existing facilities, site improvements, and site utility systems. Funding for this type of project is categorically enumerated. Requests must be submitted by Agency through the biennial capital budget process. Funds are released at monthly State Building Commission meetings. Project costs between $600,000 and $2,000,000 for new construction /$3,000,000 for building maintenance, repair, and renovation/ $5,000,000 for site improvements and site utilities repair and maintenance. Board of Regents and State Building Commission approvals are required.  
• Instructional Space Projects: are categorically enumerated in the state capital budget and can be funded from any combination of  bonds or cash.  These remodeling projects cost more than $600,000 and less than $7,400,000 and focus on maintaining and upgrading the classrooms and instructional laboratories space and technology.  Board of Regents and State Building Commission approvals are required.
• Minor Project: A targeted project program addressing the maintenance, repair, renovation and minor remodeling needs for exsiting facilities, site improvements, and site utility systems.  Funding for this type of project is categorically enumerated in the state capital budget and can be funded from any combination of bonds or cash.  Requests must be submitted as a part of the capital budget process for projects costing more than $3,000,000 and less than $15,000,000.  Board of Regents and State Building Commission approvals are required. 
• Major Capital Project: Any new construction project having a budget exceeding $2,000,000 is considered a major project and require specific enumeration in the state capital budget.  Board of Regents and State Building Commission approvals are required. No major project shall be approved for construction by the Commission unless it has been individually or categorically enumerated by law. Building maintenance, repair, and renovation; site improvements and site utilities maintenance and repairs costing $3,000,000 or more also require specific enumeration- as a part of the state budget process.

All–Agency and Major Capital Projects are submitted and approved as a part of the timeline and procedures for the Statewide Development of the Capital Budget.

Statewide Development of Biennial Capital Budget

Every two years, as part of the biennial budget process, the Building Commission recommends to the legislature a State Building Program, which includes a list of projects and funding sources to meet the state’s capital improvement and maintenance needs over the following two –year budget cycle. The approval of the Capital Budget incorporates several steps:

1. Six‐Year Agency Facilities Plans: The first step in the development of the Capital Budget is the submission of six‐year facilities plans by agencies. These plans, which are updated every two years, describe long –term programmatic developments within the agency, link those developments to projected facilities needs and identify specific projects to meet the agency’s facilities needs. Agencies’ six‐year facilities plans are submitted to DFD in July of even‐numbered years.
2. Agency Capital Budget Requests: In September of even‐numbered years, agencies submit their Capital Budget requests to DFD. These documents contain more detailed descriptions of the projects identified in the first two years of the agency’s six‐year plan, which are submitted in July of the same year. Agency requests for funding are classified as either enumerated projects (exceeding $1,000,000) or “all agency” projects. By law, (Wis. Stat. 20.924), projects estimated to cost in excess of $1,000,000 must be enumerated in the authorized State Building Program. The all agency program, as authorized by the legislature, provides funding to the Building Commission to support general categories of repair and renovation projects. Agency requests for both enumerated and all agency projects are analyzed by DFD staff.
3. Building Commission Recommendations: In early March of the following year, Building Commission members review agency requests and develop a set of recommended projects and funding plans that comprise the Commission’s Capital Budget recommendation to the legislature. For example in March 2023, the Building Commission acted on requests for the 23-25 Capital Budget.
4. Joint Committee on Finance Review: As required under Wis.Stat.13.48(7), the Building Commission’s recommendations are forwarded to the legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance by the first Tuesday in April. The Joint Committee does this by including its proposed State Building Program in the Committee’s amendment to the executive budget bill.
5. Final Approval: Both houses of the legislature take up the Capital Budget and State Building Program as part of their deliberations on the biennial budget. The governor’s veto power extends to the provisions in the budget bill that relate to the Capital Budget. Subject to the legislature’s veto review, the new biennial building program goes into effect after it is signed into law by the governor.