Victoria’s designer and prime consultant on the Johnson Street Bridge replacement project has recommended rejecting a request from the contractor that seeks more time and money to complete the project.
PCL Constructors Westcoast Inc. filed a change order March 17 saying it needed an additional $7.9 million and 5 1/2 months more to complete the $92.8-million project. City staff said the change order focused on two major issues: a delay in completion of the bridge design and an increase in the scope of the project.
But the MMM Group, which is overseeing the project on the city’s behalf, has recommended rejecting PCL’s request.
MMM’s recommendation and the change order are being reviewed by city staff and external consultants, city council reported after receiving the information in an in-camera session.
“My understanding of the process is they submit the change order saying they want $7.9 million more and six more months,” Mayor Dean Fortin said. “MMM, as our architect and manager, says [they have] reviewed it and don’t think it’s valid. Now we as the city do due diligence to review both,” Fortin said. “We had PCL’s point of view. We now have MMM’s point of view and we’re now going to review both.”
Fortin has been blunt in his assessment of the request, saying that the city had negotiated a fixed-price contract for the bridge and he didn’t expect to pay one penny more.
The city says it has a fixed-price contract of $62.9 million with a $2.815-million construction contingency.
Fortin’s position remains unchanged, saying the project needs to be completed on time and on budget.
Change orders are said to be the norm on large projects and are the typical mechanism for contractors to present potential changes. The city asked MMM Group to review the request and report back. City staff initially expected that report to be before councillors by mid-April.
In the interim, city manager Jason Johnson hired independent consultant Jonathon Huggett for $15,000 to assess risks associated with the project.
Huggett is to review all contract documents, interview key staff, the engineering consultants at MMM Group, and representatives from PCL Westcoast Inc. and to make recommendations on whether any additional strategies should be employed to ensure effective delivery of the project.
Huggett is looking at the bigger picture, Fortin said.
“We want to ensure we have all our bases covered.”
