Construction Expert On Stimulus Funds Part 3

In Five Points the Government MUST Consider Before Doling Out Billions to the Construction Industry construction expert Barry LePatner has this to say:

"The government, too, should do its part to ensure there is adequate protection against this waste in the accountability provisions of the stimulus plan," adds LePatner. "Without a true fixed-price structure for all construction projects that shifts the risk for inefficiency and waste to the construction industry, our government will be back footing the bill for an additional tens of billions of dollars within a few years."

LePatner offers a few steps he would like for the nation's governing bodies to make beforethe infrastructure money is pumped into project contracts:

Create an Infrastructure Czar position. The current stimulus legislation proposes to set up oversight by an Accountability and Transparency Board composed of a chief performance officer and six members designated by the President, including inspectors general and secretaries of the Education, Energy, HHS, Transportation, and other federal departments. But according to LePatner, it's unlikely that any of these officials have a true grasp of the inefficient way the construction industry operates or how to address them in future contracts. In order for these project negotiations to be mediated properly, he advises, the President should create an Infrastructure Czar position.

 

"The Czar should be a savvy construction expert who did not emanate from the construction industry but who is familiar with the low bid/change order process that consistently drives up costs on construction projects," he explains. "This individual must know how critical it is to avoid traps like the fast-track process or guaranteed maximum price traps that never truly guarantee the contract price. A construction expert of this kind will help close the information gap that will likely exist between construction contractors and the policymakers trying to negotiate government contracts."

Excerpted from The American Surveyor.