Coronavirus Impact on Public Construction Contracts;
Government Procurement Policies
Contractor Rights • Owner Rights • Time Extensions • Lost Productivity
While we hope the pandemic dies down quickly, the industry is drifting into the choppy seas of Force Majeure situations. There are multiple questions on everyone's mind, both for contracts underway as well as contracts not yet awarded or signed.
In any force majeure situation, there are numerous possible effects on a project, as well as resulting time and cost impacts. There are major open questions about how to handle these situations and what actions contractors and owners should take. Mitigation steps are universally paramount, but what are the cost and time recovery remedies that may be available?
This recorded webinar, by recognized experts in the field, reviews the various scenarios and questions about how the Coronavirus might affect your construction projects, including…
- No effect on project – i.e., remote site, no one’s traveled to the site in the past few months.
- No effect on project personnel, but possible delays to supplies and materials; not yet determined if critical path delays or not. May or may not have price escalations.
- Minor effect – some individuals, or even trades, don’t show up for work. Possible productivity issues.
- Major effect – individuals and/or trades not able to work – critical path delays expected.
- Project shutdown due to government mandates to stay home (constructive suspension).
- Project shutdown due to owner-directed shutdown. (Directed suspension of work of unknown duration. Possibly compensable?)
- Other scenarios – existing or new delays – will Coronavirus serve the purpose of concurrent delay to relieve either LDs or deny contractor of compensable delay.
- In addition, there are other practical considerations that need to be addressed, including...
Review steps to take immediately to mitigate impacts.
- Learn who's going to pay your employees.
- Determine when/how do give notice of delay. What should it say?
- Consider if you should show delay on the critical path. If submitting monthly CPM updates, how should Covad-19 be shown in the schedule?
- Understand how to account for actual or potential productivity slowdowns in the schedule.
- Be prepared to deal with contracts currently or soon-to-be bid, negotiated, awarded or awaiting notice to proceed.
YOUR PRESENTERS:
Shelly Ewald, Partner, Watt Tieder, focuses on international and domestic construction contracting and federal government contracts. She represents contractors and owners on a range of industrial and commercial projects including power plants, hydrocarbon projects, petrochemical refineries, mass transit systems, historic renovation projects and commercial office buildings. She also represents government contractors in federal, state and local protests and appeals for the construction, information technology and telecommunications industry. Shelly was recently elected as the Treasurer of the American College of Construction Lawyers and teaches international arbitration and government contracts at local DC area law schools.
John Livengood, Esq., AIA, FAACE, Senior Managing Director with Ankura Consulting Group, is an experienced claims expert with more than 40 years of construction related experience. He is a registered architect and an attorney experienced in construction litigation, project management, design analysis, and document preparation. He has worked on a variety of projects that include infrastructure projects of all types, including rail and rapid transit facilities, airfields and air terminals, railroad stations, solar projects, high-power lines, industrial, chemical and petro-chemical facilities, power plants, wastewater treatment plants, roadways, bridges, office buildings, sports stadiums, warehouses, educational institutions, hospitals, correctional facilities, military bases, environmental remediation projects, and microwave communication facilities as well as residential projects of all sizes.
Joseph McManus, Jr., Shareholder, Carlton Fields, focuses his practice on government contracting, construction litigation and dispute resolution. With more than 40 years of experience in federal government contracts, Joe is intimately familiar with the federal statutes, regulations and agency supplements unique to government supply, service and construction contracts. As a JAG Captain in the US Air Force, he was assigned to the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals. Cases handled range from the 680 series nuclear submarines construction, to base housing, air separation plants, and 50 caliber machine gun bullet contracts. He is past President of the American College of Construction Lawyers and Fellow in the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Gather your team and listen to the recorded webinars together and then discuss how the content shared in the webinar pertains to your particular company. -- Perfect Training Opportunity!
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