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Engineering and related services registration process for consultant firms

License and certification | Submit and update DT1538 | Complete financial report | Acquire manuals and guides | Registration approval | Consultant extranet

Consultants seeking construction and design engineering services contracts (including value engineering) on Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) administered projects must register with the Department.

Firms performing only the following types of work are not required to register, but may do so if they complete the process outlined below:

• Surveying
• Environmental/hazardous materials work
• Landscape architecture
• Historic preservation
• Planning studies for all modes of travel

Firms only looking to subcontract on Department projects or specializing in certain types of engineering work are not required to register. Those firms may need to complete the Consultant Financial Report, however, for the purposes of establishing an indirect cost rate.

Information on airport engineering services is available on another Web page.

Registration entails the following processes:

License and certification

Firms must be licensed and hold a current Certificate of Authorization to practice professional engineering in the state of Wisconsin (per. s.s. 443.08). PE license numbers are not accepted in lieu of the credential.

Corporations not holding a current Certificate of Authorization should contact:

Department of Regulation and Licensing
Wisconsin Bureau of Business and Design Professions
P.O. Box 8935
Madison, Wisconsin 53708-8935

Phone: (608) 266-5511

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Submit and update DT1538

The annual renewal process for eligible firms begins in December and the Consultant Report Form DT1538 is due by February 15, 2008 to the WisDOT Contract Administration Unit.

Firms missing the renewal deadline may return to the Roster at any time by submitting an updated Form DT1538. The Consultant Financial Report is not due with the DT1538 during the annual renewal process.

The annual renewal deadline does not apply to firms not on the Roster of Eligible Engineering Consultants. Those firms may register with the Department at any time by submitting the DT1538 form and the Consultant Financial Report.

Submittal instructions are included at the end of the form. The instruction pages should be deleted before submitting the form.

No significant changes were made to 2008 form. Firms may re-use their 2007 form by updating:

• all contact, office, resume and project example information appropriate for the upcoming year,

• the version date at the top left of page 1 to 12/2007,

• article 7 (page 1) to the current date, and

• articles 19 and 20 (page 1) to include fees from 2003 to 2007.

• the name of your submitted DT1538 MS Word file should include "08" instead of "07" (ex: FIRM07.doc)

Firms must re-submit the DT1538 form during the year if they change their contact/address information, general firm e-mail or staff resumes. Please list the changes in your e-mail message when submitting updated information.

Information from the DT1538 builds the Roster of Eligible Engineering Consultants published on this Web site. To change the information listed on the Roster, re-submit the form to consultant.services@dot.state.wi.us.

The firm e-mail address provided on DT1538 is used for general communications and special notifications. To be regularly notified of Web site updates, sign up for the Web publication notification list.

The general and Web notification e-mail addresses may be the same or different, but only one of each per firm is maintained. Both addresses may receive an e-mail message from WisDOT when significant publications or changes in policy occur.

Complete financial report

Firms on the Roster must annually submit a Consultant Financial Report within five months after the end of their fiscal year.

Firms seeking inclusion on the Roster for the first time must submit a current Consultant Financial Report along with Form DT1538. If your firm is already on the Roster, do not submit the DT1538 form with the financial report.

Firms not currently on the Roster but that may have provided the Consultant Financial Report for the most recently completed fiscal year should contact the Audit Supervisor at (608) 266-2259 to determine if updated financial information is needed.

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Acquire manuals and guides

Firms must have access to the manuals listed below to be on the Roster of Eligible Engineering Consultants and are responsible for acquiring the most recent versions of the manuals.

Having access to manuals available on the Consultant extranet is equivalent to owning paper copies for the purpose of meeting this requirement.

Registration approval

Firms completing the registration process will be included on the Roster of Eligible Engineering Consultants.

Firms currently on the Roster that submit their Form DT1538 and Consultant Financial Report before the appropriate deadlines remain eligible continuously.

New firms and firms with late submittals will receive e-mail confirmation for both forms. WisDOT does not send a formal approval letter.

Contact Greg Jacobson at consultant.services@dot.state.wi.us with questions regarding eligibility.

Find additional information on consultant registration in the Facilities Development Manual, Procedure 8-5-45.

Consultant extranet

Firms on the Roster should have access to the Consultant extranet to access documents, forms and on-line manuals needed to contract with WisDOT.

Firms are also required to use the ESubmit application accessible through the extranet to upload Notice of Interest forms (NOIs) for construction and design solicitations.

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All external hyperlinks are provided for your information and for the benefit of the general public. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation does not testify to, sponsor or endorse the accuracy of the information provided on externally linked pages.

You will need Microsoft Word to view Word files. If you do not have a copy of Microsoft Word installed on your computer, you can use the Microsoft Word Viewer (provided free of charge) to view Word files. For more information about getting your free copy of Microsoft Word Viewer, visit WisDOT's Software information page.

Questions about the content of this page:
Greg Jacobson, consultant.services@dot.state.wi.us
Last modified: December 5, 2007