The Wicks Law, a construction mandate dating back to 1912, was put into place to promote competition and protect workers' rights. Named for Senator Arthur Wicks who sponsored a bill to expand the law in 1946, the Wicks law requires that, under General Municipal Law §101, state and local government construction projects costing more than $3 million in New York City are subject to bidding separate plumbing, HVAC and electrical contracts for each project undertaken.

Part of the SCA's enabling legislation, Public Authorities Law §1735 to be exact, excludes it from being subject to the Wicks Law. However, there are other requirements of the legislation to which the SCA must adhere. All subcontractors, whether "Wicks" or "Non-Wicks", must be prequalified by the SCA's Contractor Qualification Unit. A "Wicks" subcontractor is defined as a firm/company performing construction work in the Plumbing and Gas Fitting, HVAC, or Electrical trades, licensed to do business in the City of New York in that trade. The bidder of a particular contract is required to submit with its bid, the names of its proposed "Wicks" subcontractors and the estimated dollar value of the work to be performed by each subcontractor, for those Wicks trades that the SCA identifies in the Invitation to Bid letter, as involved in the referenced work. The bidder must propose prequalified “Wicks” subcontractors for those trades that are estimated to exceed $1 million in value and may propose “Non-Wicks” subcontractors for work that is less than $1 million.