[MSN] University rejects museum contractor claim.

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

University rejects museum contractor claim 

The Associated Press 

Published: January 6, 2007 
Last Modified: January 6, 2007 at 02:06 PM 


FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - The University of Alaska has denied a $17.4 million
claim filed by the contractor for the expansion of the UA Museum of the
North. 


In a letter dated Dec. 29, Kathleen Schedler, UA Fairbanks associate vice
chancellor of facilities and safety, denied the claim by Alaska Mechanical
Inc. to cover cost overruns associated with the $42 million museum
expansion.

Schedler said AMI failed to show that the university was responsible for the
project's delays or additional costs and therefore was not liable for
anything beyond the $25.9 million payment in the contract.

Additionally, the claim was filed after a deadline imposed by state law,
Schedler said. State law specifies that contractor claims due to changes in
a project's scope must be filed by 90 days after the issue is discovered.
Some of the issues in AMI's claim date back to March 2004.

AMI filed in June, claiming that AMI and several subcontractors were owed
money due to "disruptions, hindrances, interferences, delays, and other
breaches of UA's contractual obligation to AMI."

The company claimed that the university was responsible for $2.9 million of
extra work due to hundreds of changes to the building's designs. Those
changes, AMI said, slowed the project, forced AMI's employees and
subcontractors to work overtime and forced construction to take place in the
winter, resulting in additional costs.

Schedler rejected claims of a flawed design by the architect. She said that
over the life of the 40-month project, there were only 148
architect-initiated clarifications to the designs, fewer than one per week.

"That is a manageable flow on any job of this size," she said in her letter.

There were 845 clarifications or changes requested by AMI and its
subcontractors, she said, or about one change per work day for the life of
the project.

"This demonstrates a considerable effort by AMI to document an abundance of
questions," she wrote. "It does not necessarily demonstrate a poor design."

The project was due to be completed in December 2004 but some rooms remain
unfinished. The delays are AMI's fault, Schedler said, due to "ineffective
scheduling, poor quality control, and rework due to construction mistakes."

A fire in May 2004 caused by a worker using a cutting torch resulted in
several weeks of delay, she said. Additionally, she said, AMI was
inefficient in scheduling and coordinating subcontractors, she said. It was
that inefficiency combined with contractor errors that substantially caused
the delays in construction, she said.

Russ Schwartz, vice president of AMI, said his company is evaluating the
claim denial.

AMI has 14 days from the time they received the university's response to
file an appeal with Jim Lynch, the university's chief procurement officer.
If that happens, Lynch could appoint an independent reviewer to offer
recommendations.

Lynch will make the university's final decision on the claim. If denied, AMI
could sue in state Superior Court.

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Information from: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com