Reference no: EM133255705
Aim To Please Construction Corp. entered into a contract with the Federal Government to build a veterans' hospital. Aim To Please then subcontracted the structural steel work for the project to Not Too Steady Erection Co. The drawings and specifications contained details on the requirements for welding and for attaching certain steel components through mechanical means. However, no bolts were specified or listed on the drawings. The structural engineer made a field visit and noticed that Not Too Steady was letting beams sit on top of columns, without bolting them together. Being alarmed at the implication, the structural engineer directed Not Too Steady's foreman, in the presence of Aim to Please's curtain wall superintendent, to bolt up all the steel that had been erected using galvanized two-inch bolts, immediately. Not Too Steady's foreman protested that the forces of gravity and the weight of the steel were sufficient to hold the beams in place until the concrete decks were poured and the curtain wall was installed, but proceeded to comply nonetheless.
In the meantime, Not Too Steady discovered that the drawings and specifications omitted to include cross bracing at certain points where trusses were to be placed, although cross bracing was specifically shown at other locations. After being informed of that by its subcontractor, Aim to Please notified the Government that cross bracing would be installed as necessary in locations where they were omitted from the design.
While all of this was happening, the Government became concerned about the possibility of a power shortage adversely affecting the hospital, once it was completed. Accordingly, the Government Contracting Officer directed Aim to Please to build a nuclear power plant at the hospital to serve as a backup source of energy.
Not Too Steady had entered into an AIA subcontract with Aim to Please, which included the A201-2007 General Conditions, without any amendments. The Government contract with Aim to Please included a clause providing that all work reasonably necessary for the complete construction of the project was included in the price; Aim to Please's subcontract with Not Too Steady did not contain such a clause. Both the prime contract and the structural steel subcontract contained a patent ambiguity provision.
1. Is Not Too Steady entitled to a change order from Aim to Please for the bolts?
2. What should Not Too Steady do to preserve its rights for furnishing and installing the bolts?
3. Is Aim To Please entitled to a change order from the government for the bolts?
4. What should Aim to Please do to preserve its rights for furnishing and installing the bolts?
5. If the cross bracing is a change, what type of change would the cross bracing be and why?
6. Is Not Too Steady entitled to a change order from Aim to Please for the cross bracing?
7. Is Aim to Please entitled to a change order from the government for the cross bracing?
8. What options does Aim to Please have in regard to the directive to build a nuclear power plant? What are the legal ramifications to Aim To Please's contract?
9. What should Aim to Please's response be if the government issues a change order for the cost of furnishing the bolts?
10. Any of the individuals who issued these directives have the authority to do so?