July 2, 2007

EDITOR'S NOTES

Many owners and contractors will agree that the best projects are those in which all parties work together to ensure the success of the project. Disagreements are inevitable, but with open communication, those disagreements do not necessarily turn into major road blocks. For the fixed-price project discussed in this week’s first case, all parties worked towards a common goal—to finish on time. Despite combined efforts from the contractor and owner, the project hit a few snags and finished a month behind schedule. Because of the late finish, the owner withheld final payment, arguing breach of contract. The court ruled that the owner did not follow proper procedure regarding the alleged breach and therefore could not withhold the payment.

Contract riders are not uncommon on public projects. The subcontractor in this week’s second case refused to sign a particular rider, then appealed the contractor’s decision to replace it with another sub that agreed to the rider. Its appeal was unsuccessful.

In the final case, the GAO instructs that a contractor should not wait for the procuring agency to ask questions about a proposal, especially when the proposal contains a unique way of executing the project. The proposal should be a self-contained document if the bidder expects to be competitive.

Subscribers: click here for the full story

Non-Subscribers: click here to subscribe