The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (“PennDOT”) has announced that based upon responses to PennDOT’s request for qualifications for its Rapid Bridge Replacement Project, a public-private partnership involving the construction of more than 500 bridges, it will invite four teams to submit proposals for the project. Those four teams are:
- Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners: Plenary Group, The Walsh Group, Granite Construction Company, HDR Engineering, HNTB Corporation and Infrastructure Corporation of America
- Keystone Bridge Partners: InfraRed Capital Partners, Kiewit, Parsons, The Allan A. Myers family of companies, DBi and American Infrastructure;
- Commonwealth Bridge Partners: John Laing Investments, Fluor, American Bridge Company, Traylor Bros. Inc., Joseph B. Fay Co., STV Incorporated and Infrastructure and Industrial Constructors;
- Pennsylvania Crossings: Meridiam, Lane Construction, AECOM, Trumbull, Wagman Companies and Cofiroute.
PennDOT expects to release the final project details and requirements to the four teams this summer and select a preferred proposal this fall. Construction is anticipated to begin in the summer of 2015.
According to PennDOT, the selected team will manage the design, construction and maintenance for at least 500 bridges throughout the Commonwealth for yet-to-be determined number of years under one contract. The team will be responsible for financing the effort and PennDOT will make payments based on the team’s adherence to the terms of the contract.
To learn more about the Rapid Bridge Replacement Project, you can visit PennDOT’s public-private partnership website.
According to the most recent government data as reported by the Associated General Contractors of America (the “AGC”), construction employers added 15,000 workers to payrolls in February despite harsh winter weather throughout much of the nation. Those additions have pushed the construction industry employment to the highest level since 2009. The largest area of growth remains residential construction; however, over 50,600 non-residential jobs have been added over the last twelve months.
The AGC also reports that the unemployment rate for workers actively looking for jobs and last employed in construction declined from 15.7% in February of 2013 to just 12.8% last month. This unemployment rate is the lowest since 2008 and represents a significant decrease from February of 2010, when it reached 27.1%.
The AGC’s most recent construction industry employment report provides another indication that the construction industry continues to recover from the economic downturn. The AGC’s full report is available here.
Babst Calland was proud to be a Gold Sponsor of the Thursday, February 27, 2014 Master Builders’ Association Evening of Excellence event at Heinz Field, which marked the 20th anniversary of the MBA’s Building Excellence Awards in eight categories. This annual event has evolved into the region’s biggest networking event for the construction industry, with over 900 people attending the event this year. Photos from the event can be seen here and the winning teams can be found here.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has drafted, for public comment, rules concerning well site construction. The current draft requires submission of an application along with a set of detailed drawings, a sediment and erosion control plan, a dust control plan, a geotechnical report and a storm water hydraulic plan. Babst Calland has more on the draft.
According to a recent PennDOT press release, five teams have submitted Statements of Qualifications for PennDOT’s public-private partnership (“P3”) Rapid Bridge Replacement Project. The project would help repair or replace at least 500 bridges in Pennsylvania. You can read more about the five teams and this P3 project here.
The Construction Industry Safety Coalition, an organization representing twenty-five different construction trade associations, recently issued the following statement regarding the rule on Crystalline Silica proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”):
After an exhaustive analysis that involved hundreds of construction safety professionals, builders, construction managers and specialty trade contractors representing virtually every facet on the industry, it is our conclusion that the administration’s proposed new silica rule is significantly flawed and will do little to improve workplace health or safety. Specifically, the proposed rule sets a silica exposure standard that cannot be accurately measured or protected against with existing equipment and includes a series of data errors that undermine many of the rule’s basic assumptions.
The proposed rule’s new silica exposure limit is virtually impossible to accurately measure or protect against using existing technology. For example, commercially-available dust collection technology is not capable by itself of protecting workers from the rule’s new silica exposure limit. A limitation the agency appears to acknowledge in its additional requirement that workers also wear respirators, something that would not be necessary if the dust collection technology was effective.
Even more troubling, the proposal is rife with errors and inaccurate data that call into question the entire rulemaking process. Agency officials, for example, omitted 1.5 million construction workers from its assessment of the size of the affected workforce. The agency also did not consider the broad range of tasks and variety of settings and environments in which construction occurs. And the agency’s assessment of the rule’s cost was off by a factor of four.
Given the lack of scientific explanation justifying the new exposure limits, the many contradictions between the rule and the realities faced in the construction industry, and the fact that agency officials made significant errors in the basic data the rule is based on, we are urging the administration to withdraw this proposed rule. We strongly urge agency officials to work with us and employee groups to craft a silica measure that will build upon the work all of us have done to reduce silica-related deaths by 93 percent during the past three decades.
Contemporaneous with the above statement, the Construction Industry Safety Coalition filed its comments to OSHA’s proposed Crystalline Silica rule, which are available here. Additional information about OSHA’s proposed rule, including the full text of the rule is available on OSHA’s website.
Babst Calland is proud to be a gold sponsor of one of the region’s premier construction trade association events — the Western Pennsylvania Master Builders Association Evening of Excellence. This year’s event take place on Thursday, February 27 from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Heinz Field.
Due to (yet another) winter storm last week, Babst Calland’s Construction Law 2013: The Year in Review seminar has been rescheduled and will take place on Wednesday, March 5, 2014. This complimentary “year in review” breakfast seminar will cover an overview of 2013′s significant developments (both statutory and case-law) in the area of construction law. This year’s topics include: CASPA, mechanics’ liens, payment bonds, pipeline construction, the Procurement Code and Public-Private Partnerships (“P3″). The seminar will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Greentree, beginning with a continental breakfast at 7:30 a.m., followed by the seminar at 8:00 a.m. For more information, please email Matt Jameson. Speakers will include Kurt Fernsler, Matt Jameson, Rick Kalson, Dave White, Nino Legeza, and Dave McKenery.
Last week, Williams Partners announced plans to build a new pipeline. The pipeline would transport natural gas from northern Pennsylvania through Lancaster County and would increase capacity of the Transco, the largest pipeline system in the United States. Early estimates indicate that the pipeline could cost five billion dollars and could take three years to complete. Read more here.
Due to impending weather reports for Tuesday, February 18, Babst Calland’s Construction Law 2013: The Year in Review seminar will be rescheduled. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. Thank you.
The United States District Court for the District of Maryland recently interpreted the mediation clause in the AIA A201 -2007 “General Conditions of the Contract for Construction” to require mediation before proceeding with a mechanics’ lien claim. Kane Builders S&D, Inc. v. Maryland Pharmacy, LLC, 2013 U.S. LEXIS 83432 (D. Md. June 13, 2013). In Kane, the subcontractor and contractor used a form AIA contract as their agreement for the subcontractor to furnish labor and materials in the construction of a retail pharmacy. The parties incorporated as part of the contract the AIA Document A201 – 2007 General Conditions.
The standard conditions in the AIA A201 include Section 15.2.8, which provides, “If a Claim relates to or is the subject of a mechanic’s lien, the party asserting such Claim may proceed in accordance with applicable law to comply with the lien notice or filing deadlines.” Section 15.3.1, however, states, “Claims, disputes, or other matters in controversy arising out of or related to the Contract . . . shall be subject to mediation as a condition precedent to binding dispute resolution.” Another relevant clause is Section 15.3.2, which provides that a request for mediation “may be made concurrently with the filing of binding dispute resolution proceedings but, in such event, mediation shall proceed in advance of binding dispute resolution proceedings, which shall be stayed pending mediation for a period of 60 days from the date of filing.”
The subcontractor filed a mechanics’ lien in state court for nonpayment, and the owner contended that mediation was a condition precedent to the subcontractor prosecuting its lien claim. Distrct Court Judge Deborah K. Chasanow held that Section 15.3.1 is sufficiently broad to include mechanics’ lien claims. The court also rejected the subcontractor’s argument that litigation does not constitute “binding dispute resolution” as that term is used in Section 15.3.1. Therefore, the court concluded that mediation was a condition precedent to the subcontractor’s right to prosecute its mechanics’ lien claim.
Notwithstanding this point, the court declined to dismiss the action. Judge Chasanow noted that Section 15.3.2 expressly contemplated that the subcontractor had the right file the lien claim while concurrently requesting mediation, and have the litigation stayed pending mediation. The court reasoned that staying the litigation, rather than dismissing it, was appropriate.
The practical takeaway from this case is the reminder that if parties do not wish to subject a mechanics’ lien claim (or other specific types of claims) to mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution provided for in the contract, the parties should expressly exclude lien claims from the mediation or ADR provisions. Otherwise, the parties are at the mercy of the court to determine whether the claim falls within or outside of the ADR requirement, and awaiting the decision of the court on this matter will only serve to delay the ultimate resolution of the underlying dispute.
A report analyzing data from the Department of Labor posted on the Associated General Contractors of America’s website indicates that while construction employment for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania fell by 3% in 2013, construction employment for the Pittsburgh region increased by a slight margin of 0.4%.
According to the figures in the report, which is available here, statewide construction employment in Pennsylvania dropped from 225,000 jobs in December 2012 to 217,800 in December 2013. However, despite this overall loss of 7,200 jobs in the Pennsylvania construction industry during the 2013 calendar year, the data shows that the Pittsburgh region actually added 200 construction jobs, increasing its overall number of jobs 52,900 to 53,100 over that same time period.
Perhaps even more encouraging than the data about the Pittsburgh region, is the data from the neighboring Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio-WV region which topped the list in terms of percentage of growth, posting a growth of 31%. However, because Steubenville is a relatively small market, its 31% growth represents an addition of only 500 construction related jobs – a number equal to the total jobs added by Pittsburgh’s neighboring market to the north in Erie.
Overall, the jobs data remains promising, with construction employment growing in 192 metro areas, remaining static in another 63, and declining in 84. The Associated General Contractors of America’s chief economist, Ken Simonson, attributed much of the growth to the increased demand for apartment and single family housing, noting that private residential construction spending increased by 18% in 2013, while public sector spending decreased by 1% over the same time period. Mr. Simonson remained even more optimistic about the future, stating that an unusually cold or snowy December in many regions may have artificially held employment data down, and with the weather and economy both likely to improve soon, even more areas should post employment gains in the coming months. The Associated General Contractors of America’s press release, including quotes from Mr. Simonson, is available here.
Babst Calland will continue to monitor the construction industry economic reports, so please check back often for updates.
As a service to its clients and prospective clients, the law firm of Babst Calland will provide a complimentary “year in review” breakfast seminar which will cover an overview of 2013’s significant developments (both statutory and case-law) in the area of construction law. This year’s topics include: CASPA, mechanics’ liens, payment bonds, pipeline construction, the Procurement Code and Public-Private Partnerships (“P3”). The seminar will be held on Tuesday, February 18, 2014 at the Doubletree Hotel in Greentree, beginning with a continental breakfast at 7:30 a.m., followed by the seminar at 8:00 a.m. For more information, please email Matt Jameson. Speakers will include Kurt Fernsler, Matt Jameson, Rick Kalson, Dave White, Nino Legeza, and Dave McKenery.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently published an article about how Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation (“PennDOT”) plans to replace at least 500 decaying bridges across Pennsylvania via public-private partnerships (“P3”). According to the article, nearly 60 of those bridges are located within Allegheny County, with another 23 in neighboring Westmoreland County and another 13 in Butler County. The Post-Gazette reports that PennDOT hopes to get construction underway on 50 to 100 bridges in 2015 and that the party or parties with whom PennDOT contracts for the construction of the bridges will also maintain the new bridges for a period that may be as long as 40 years.
The entire Post-Gazette article is available here.
Once again, Shell and Horsehead have extended their land option agreement for Horsehead’s zinc smelter in Beaver County, the site for Shell’s potential cracker. This is the parties’ third extension. Read more on this topic at Babst Calland’s Shale Energy Law Blog.