4specs.com    4specs.com Home Page

Alternates selected during construction Log Out | Topics | Search
Moderators | Register | Edit Profile

4specs Discussion Forum » Construction Contract Administration Discussions » Alternates selected during construction « Previous Next »

Author Message
David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI
Senior Member
Username: david_axt

Post Number: 714
Registered: 03-2002
Posted on Thursday, August 31, 2006 - 01:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Currently we have a project under construction where the owner wants to select an alternate that was not accepted in the original bid. I am cautioning our CA person to not consider it. I figure that the owner and architect could be accused of manipulating the bids with alternates and getting the contractor that we want (or excluding one that we don't want). Then we go back and select the alternates that we wanted in the first place. It just looks too suspicious. The owner should have selected the alternates he wanted shortly after bid opening and not during construction.

Has anyone else experienced this issue?
Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI
Senior Member
Username: rliebing

Post Number: 453
Registered: 02-2003
Posted on Thursday, August 31, 2006 - 01:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

No experience, but instead of "taking the alternate" [old news} why not merely make it new work and in the form of a Change Order requested by the Owner?

Perhaps a talk or negotiations with the Contractor is in order since there may be ramifications involved that would have been accounted for in the original alternate, but now have been obviated by not accepting the alternate.
Ronald L. Geren, RA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, MAI
Senior Member
Username: specman

Post Number: 320
Registered: 03-2003
Posted on Thursday, August 31, 2006 - 02:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

We've done it, and on a public bid, too. Like Ralph states, make it a change order to the contract. I understand your concern, but if it was an issue that the Owner didn't have the funding at the time of bid open, but later was authorized an increase, then there's nothing that anyone could have done.

It's kind of like a losing bidder coming in after construction is complete and filing a complaint that he could have done the construction with all the change orders for less cost, so he should have been awarded the contract. You can't anticipate everything at bid time; applies to owners and bidders.

The only recourse that a bidder has is if the bidder has definitive proof that the Owner withheld funds in order to manipulate the alternates so a specific contractor was awarded the contract, and then "amazingly found additional money" to pay for the other altenates after award of the contract. For public entities, this would be difficult to do since approval of funds for projects are usually through a public process.
David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI
Senior Member
Username: david_axt

Post Number: 715
Registered: 03-2002
Posted on Thursday, August 31, 2006 - 04:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

When we started construction on the job the contractor wanted to lay down some ATB in order to keep the site from becoming a mud pit. The contractor even went so far as to split the cost with us for the ATB. We did not install ATB because ATB was an alternate and we were afraid of a bid protest. (In hind site we should have taken the ATB. The site became a mosh pit sans rock band.)

Now the owner wants to take an alternate on a large folding panel partition door yet there is not talk of bid protests. We are also asking the contractor to reprice it instead of taking the price indicated in the bid form.

I don't get it.
John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA
Senior Member
Username: bunzick

Post Number: 572
Registered: 03-2002
Posted on Tuesday, September 05, 2006 - 09:36 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Assuming this is publically funded, there is only one correct answer to this, and that is in the legislation, and administrative rulings of the oversight agency, of the state (or local) project's jurisdiction. In Massachusetts, it is plainly illegal to accept the alternate later on. This is a bid process manipulation technique large enough to drive a busload of lawyers through. If the text of the law is not explicit, there may be either court cases, or administrative adjudicative rulings that make this determination. The owner's lawyer ought to be the one determining whether this can be done, and I'd be surprised if it's okay.
Tom Good architect CDT, SCIP, www.VGBN.org
Member
Username: tom_good

Post Number: 3
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Saturday, April 14, 2007 - 09:33 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

I guess this would not apply to public jobs in Massachusetts, but I always ask as post bid information in the instructions to Bidders "Within 4 calendar days after notification of selection for the award of a Contract and before execution of a contract, the Bidder shall state in writing the last possible date to include Bid Alternates by Change Order such that the Contract Sum will be adjusted by the amount stated on the Bid Form and that the Contract Time will not be extended. Bid Alternates which are not accepted for inclusion in the Contract Sum at execution of the Agreement for the Work will be deferred for decision by this date." I then add this to Article 4 of the AIA A101 Agreement: "4.2 The Contract Sum is based upon the following alternates, if any, which are described in the Contract Documents and are hereby accepted by the Owner:
......... Up to the deferral date and for a change in the Contract Sum indicated below for each Alternate, Alternates may be included by Change Order without a change in the Contract Time:" and then the unaccepted alternates are listed. This gives the Owner the option of selecting Alternates until later. I will have to remind myself that this may not be appripriate for all projects due to bidding regulations. However, in 20 years of practice, I have never had a bidder dispute.

Add Your Message Here
Post:
Username: Posting Information:
This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Password:
E-mail:
Options: Automatically activate URLs in message
Action:

Topics | Last Day | Last Week | Tree View | Search | Help/Instructions | Program Credits Administration