How to Fill Out the New Jersey DPMC 701 Uncompleted Contracts Form

The DPMC 701 form is a one-page sworn certification that reports the total dollar value of your firm’s uncompleted contracts, public and private combined, when you bid on a New Jersey public works project. The New Jersey Department of the Treasury’s Division of Property Management and Construction uses that number to confirm your current backlog plus the new bid will not exceed the aggregate rating assigned during prequalification.¹ You sign it, a notary witnesses it, and it travels with your bid package. Get the number wrong and the bid gets rejected at opening, even if your price was lowest.²

Download the form directly from the Treasury at nj.gov/treasury/dpmc/Assets/Files/DPMC701.pdf.¹

Who Has to File It

Every firm bidding on a New Jersey public works project must hold a valid DPMC trade classification, and every named subcontractor in the bid must hold one too.³⁴²

Calculating the Uncompleted Contracts Figure

The form has one number that actually matters: the total dollar value of unbilled work across every active contract your firm holds, public and private alike.¹ Under N.J.A.C. 17:19-2.13, backlog is measured as total contract value minus billed work, supported by the most recent approved invoice or similar documentation received on or before the bid date.²

In practice, pull a current work-in-progress schedule. For each job, take the total contract value and subtract everything already billed with approved invoices behind it. Add the remaining balances. That sum goes on the form.

Three things trip people up:

Private-sector jobs count. The regulation covers all sources of work, not just state contracts.
Only approved amounts reduce your backlog. A large invoice sitting unapproved on the bid date does not come off the number.
The figure must be accurate as of the bid date. If a contract closes out or a major invoice clears between when you drafted the form and bid opening, redo the number.

Estimating aggressively to show more room is where contractors get burned. If the state checks your figure against your aggregate rating and finds a discrepancy, the bid is rejected.²

Signing, Notarizing, and Sealing

Below the dollar amount, the certification language asks you to confirm two things by signing: the uncompleted work figure is accurate, and the bid amount plus all outstanding incomplete contracts does not exceed your prequalification dollar limit.¹ Fill in the firm name, print your name, sign, and add your title.

The form includes a space labeled “Affix corporate seal here” and a notary jurat at the bottom. A notary public must witness your signature and complete the jurat. In New Jersey, the maximum fee a notary can charge for a jurat is $2.50.⁵ If your company uses a corporate seal, affix it in the designated space. The notarization is what makes this a sworn legal document rather than a working estimate.

Checking the Number Against Your Aggregate Rating

Your aggregate rating is the financial ceiling DPMC assigned you during prequalification. It is calculated during the prequalification process based on working capital, your Firm Performance and Prequalification Evaluation (FPPE) score, bonding capacity, and other factors from your application, with assigned dollar ratings running from $100,000 up to $25,000,000, plus an “UNLIMITED” tier.⁶

Before you sign the 701, do this arithmetic yourself:

Take your uncompleted contracts total (the number on the form).
Add the value of the bid you are about to submit.
Compare that sum to your aggregate rating on your Notice of Classification.

If the sum exceeds the rating, you cannot be awarded the contract, and signing the certification would be false.² The only legitimate lever when you are near the ceiling is finishing billing on existing projects before the bid date so your backlog figure drops.

Aggregate rating information is published on the DPMC website, so competing bidders can and do flag suspected overages.⁷

Submitting the Form With Your Bid

The completed, signed, notarized DPMC 701 goes into your bid package alongside your Notice of Classification and the rest of the required bid documents. For DPMC-managed projects, the Division uses the Bid Express electronic portal for submissions.⁸ Other state agencies and school districts set their own submission procedures, and some still require sealed physical bid envelopes. Read the bid advertisement for the specific project to confirm delivery method and deadline.

At bid opening, officials review whether the bidder’s classification and aggregate rating support the proposal. If a question arises about whether a bid falls within a firm’s rating, the bid is still opened; if it turns out to be at variance with the rating, it is rejected.²

What a Wrong Number Costs

Because the DPMC 701 is sworn and notarized, falsifying the backlog figure carries real penalties. The Notice of Classification warns in capital letters that any attempt to alter or misrepresent information on the form may result in prosecution, debarment, suspension, or disqualification.⁷ Debarment reaches beyond the single project; it closes the door on state work generally and tends to spill into bonding and private-sector relationships.

Honest mistakes bite too. A backlog figure that is low because you forgot a private-sector contract still exposes the bid to rejection once the real number comes out. Before you sign, cross-check against your internal job-cost reports, your most recent billing cycle, and any contracts you have signed but not yet started. The hour spent reconciling is cheap compared with losing the award.

1
State of New Jersey Department of the Treasury. DPMC 701 – Total Amount of Uncompleted Contracts
2
Legal Information Institute. New Jersey Administrative Code 17-19-2.13 – Award of Contracts Exceeding Aggregate Rating
3
Justia Law. New Jersey Administrative Code 17-19-2.1
4
Justia Law. New Jersey Revised Statutes 52-34-7 – State Bid Threshold
5
New Jersey Department of the Treasury. New Jersey Notary Public Program Frequently Asked Questions
6
Legal Information Institute. New Jersey Administrative Code 17-19-2.8 – Aggregate Rating
7
Department of the Treasury Division of Property Management and Construction. Notice of Classification
8
Bid Express. New Jersey Division of Property Management and Construction