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Join us Wednesday, May 25 at 1:30 PM EDT

The ��ѻ��ý annual convention included a session entitled “Who’s on the Hook for Design Defects in Design-Build Projects.” Fox Rothschild’s Dirk Haire, Les Synder of Infrastructure Construction Brightline West, and David Hecker of Kiewit presented. Attendees crowded into a standing-only room because more and more builders are facing design liability, especially design-builders on large infrastructure projects. The presentation highlighted how some owners abuse the submittal process on design-build jobs to make changes without compensating the builder with more time, money, or both. One project took a sample of owner comments and extrapolated that just one project generated over 15,000 submittals and generated over 110,000 comments of “concern” or “preference.”

Michigan State University (MSU) is a forward-thinking public owner that uses ConsensusDocs standard construction contracts as the basis for its projects. At the Associated General Contractors of America (��ѻ��ý) annual conference held in Grapevine, Texas, MSU's STEM Teaching and Learning Facility was considered “the most significant construction project of 2021” by ��ѻ��ý. Granger Construction Company was the Construction Manager and a signatory party on the ConsensusDocs 500 contract. Granger received the association's top prize, Construction Risk Partners Build America Grand Award, and the award for the best construction management renovation project under $99 million.

Prices of materials and services used in new nonresidential construction leaped nearly 21 percent in April from year-ago levels, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released today. The association urged the Biden administration to provide relief to hard-hit employers by ending tariffs on key construction materials and reconsidering its recently proposed Buy America regulations that will make it harder for firms to find and pay for key construction materials.

In construction, alternative project delivery methods typically refer to design-build, construction management at-risk (CM@R or CMAR), and integrated project delivery (IPD). Design-build and CM@R have been commonly used for so long that it seems strange to call them “alternatives.” IPD and design-build are more written about as a subject matter. However, CM@R is just as popular as ever, and some practitioners see CM@R as the project delivery method that delivers project schedule towards completion the fastest. Experienced practitioners of CM@R like the ability to commence construction before all the design details for the entire project are determined. In Iowa, both chambers of the legislative body recently approved legislation, Senate Bill 183, that expands the authorization to use CM@R on public projects and explicitly disallows design-build for public projects. This would make Iowa one of two states banning design-build for all public projects joining North Dakota.

On April 28, the Department of Transportation (DOT) published a request for comment on proposing to issue a transitional waiver to comply with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s new Buy America requirements. Here’s what to know:

Pre-Conference Federal Contractor HR Workshop Presentations Accepted Also