Public Works Contract Training

Working with the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) who is under a contract with the Washington State Department of Transportation, I provided training all day on Thursday, September 23, 2010 to about 25 public works and contracting professionals in Washington State.  The training was held in Camas, Washington.

Here's an outline of the topics I covered:

Risk Management Tools: Insurance, Bonds, and Retainage

• Types of Insurance
• Occurrence vs. Claims Made
• Insurance Documentation and Endorsements
• Bid Bonds
• Payment and Performance Bonds
• Contractor's Registration Bond
• Retainage Bonds
• Purpose of Retainage
• Retainage and Sales Tax
• Options for Managing Retainage

Bidder Responsibility and Bid Responsiveness

• What is Bidder Responsibility?
• The Difference Between Responsibility and Responsiveness
• Bidder Responsibility Before 2007
• Statute Changes to Bidder Responsibility in 2007
• Mandatory Bidder Responsibility Criteria
• Subcontractor Responsibility Criteria
• Supplemental Bidder Responsibility Criteria
• What Are the Interests of Stakeholders?
• Is Bidder Responsibility Working?
• Abuses of Supplemental Bidder Responsibility Criteria
• The Future of Bidder Responsibility
• Principles of Bid Responsiveness
• 9 Bid Responsiveness Issues

Bidding and Contract Documents:

• 2 Dozen Things to Remember

Construction Change Orders:

• 7 Tools to Prevent Change Orders
• 4 Elements of Change Orders
• Authorization of Change Orders
• Advantages of Work by Change Order
• Reasons for Change Orders
• Appropriate Uses of Change Orders
• What is a Cardinal Change?
• Evaluation of Change Order Requests
• 3 Methods for Negotiating Change Order Prices

Public Works Contract Close-out: Claims Against Retainage and Bond:

• Completion Date Terminology
• Notification to State Agencies and the Public
• Filing, Renewing, and Releasing Claims
• Pre-Claim Notices for Suppliers
• Foreclosure and Payment
• When to Release Retainage
• Issues and Drafting Problems with SHB 1555 (2009 Legislation)
• Preventing Payment Disputes

Please contact me if you would like to discuss training on these or other subjects.