Section 105IAC11-3-5. Joint ventures

   (a) A bid of two (2) or three (3) contractors will be considered a joint venture. Not more than three (3) contractors will be permitted as parties to a joint venture. All contractors applying for joint venture approval must be prequalified separately.

  (b) A contractor that is a member of a joint venture may not submit a proposal bid, in its individual capacity or as a participant in another joint venture, for the same contract on which the joint venture bids.

  (c) The bidding proposal:

(1) will be taken out in the name of the joint venture; and

(2) shall be signed by each participating contractor;

with each contractor fully responsible for the completion of all contract items. For electronic proposal bids, the joint bidder will be issued a unique vendor identification by the designated electronic medium, and the unique vendor identification shall be used to sign the joint venture. The contractors in the joint venture may combine their individual bidding capacities in order to meet the requirements of section 3 of this rule. A contractor in a joint venture shall have bidding capacity for the work the contractor is to perform. The bid items or the percentage of the bid item to be performed by a contractor in the joint venture must be shown in the proposal bid. The value thereof will be charged to the individual contractor's aggregate and classified bidding capacity.

  (d) A request for a joint venture is subject to department approval and must be executed on the form prescribed by the department. The form must be:

(1) signed by all parties involved in the joint venture; and

(2) received in the office of the prequalification engineer not later than 9:00 a.m., Indianapolis time, the last workday before the bid opening.

The prescribed form is available on the department's Web site.

  (e) The bid and performance bond may be executed by a surety for all parties to the joint venture, or a separate bid and performance bond may be executed for each participating contractor. When more than one (1) surety is used, a letter of agreement must be included with the bid and signed by each surety. (Indiana Department of Transportation; 105 IAC 11-3-5; filed Jul 25, 1991, 3:30 p.m.: 14 IR 2193; readopted filed Nov 7, 2001, 3:20 p.m.: 25 IR 899; filed May 23, 2007, 2:58 p.m.: 20070620-IR-105070036FRA; readopted filed Oct 2, 2013, 11:39 a.m.: 20131030-IR-105130295RFA)