An informal, multi-state network of companies and brokers appears to be involved in fraudulently produced Chubb surety bonds discovered earlier this year and other controversial surety practices, according to interviews with small contractors that have lost premiums paid for the bonds.
Image Courtesy of Gibbs Giden Locher Turner Senet & Wittbrodt LLP A co-generation plant in California was shut down in 2006 and liquidated after costs tripled. Related Links: Timeline of the Victorville Power Plant Project and Dispute Jacobs Back in Court Over Failed Power Project Jacobs Engineering Settles Long-Running Power Project Battle It’s been almost a decade since the groundbreaking at the Foxborough Industrial Park in Victorville, Calif., 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles, where the city’s leaders once made plans based on the fact that Victorville was, at the time, the second-fastest-growing city in the U.S.Little remains of the
In case contractors needed confirmation that the words in a contract delay clause have the power to darken or brighten their thoughts and moods, here it is.Chicago researchers have found a link between contract terms and human emotions, and say that perceptions of words may also help practitioners decide whether to work with a new owner or look for other clients.Cindy L. Menches, an assistant civil engineering professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and graduate student Lawrence Dorn, gave surveys to 27 students and industry pros in a construction management class at the school to determine what
Norr Engineering Testimony at a commission of inquiry shows mall owner's unusual approach to repairing the mall's leaky roof. Related Links: Elliot Lake Commission Inquiry Testimony Engineer Cited in Fatal Ontario Mall Rooftop-Garage Collapse Set to Plead Not Guilty Where once it looked like the entire blame for a fatal mall roof section collapse in northern Ontario last June would rest on the shoulders of a single engineer and his employer, testimony given in Toronto at a special provincial inquiry about the accident now shows a series of missteps and sloppy practices that may have contributed to the disaster.Testimony presented
Ontario Commission of Inquiry Robert Wood, former president of M.R. Wright & Associates, testifies at commission of inquiry hearing into the fatal 2012 mall roof collapse. Related Links: Testimony Shows Complex Roots of Deadly Mall Collapse (subscribers only) A communication breakdown at an Ontario engineering firm contributed to flaws in an inspection that failed to detect weaknesses in a mall roof before it collapsed.The engineer who wrote a report based on a visual inspection, stating that the mall roof was sound in May only weeks before the roof slab collapsed last June 23, killing two women inside, also had a
Related Links: Forrester Correspondence with District of Columbia over Joint Venture Project Prices (Embedded at bottom of page) District of Columbia Announcement of Forrester Settlement One of the Washington, D.C. area's biggest general contractors agreed to take $1 million less than it had requested for a big district high school renovation project because the district said the company had misrepresented its work with a minority-owned business enterprise on the project and two others.The contractor, Rockville, Md.-based Forrester Construction Co., made itself the majority and controlling partner of the joint ventures, entitling it to most of the profits, without informing the
Related Links: Video of Norman Anderson's presentation on World Risk Day The World Risk Day Presentations Some of the countries with the best skills and resources for creating infrastructure have lost much of their capability in recent years, according to a survey of infrastructure professionals.The survey was conducted via a questionnaire and scoring system compiled by CG/LA Infrastructure, a Washington, D.C.-based consultant.Norman Anderson, the company’s president, discussed the fall-off during one of many presentations during World Risk Day, the second in an annual a series of webinars held May 14. Active Risk, a leading provider of risk management software based
Related Links: A Bold Individual Surety Claims His Coal-Backed Bonds are Rock Solid Clarity Needed on Individual Surety Assets Half of sureties see market conditions for contract surety softening later in 2013, but only one surety broker in five agrees that it will happen, according to surveys of both companies and brokers by the National Association of Surety Bond Producers.The difference in perspective was evident in more ways than one at the NASBP's annual convention in San Francisco on April 21-24. Mark McCallum, NASBP's chief executive, said the association's survey of some 65 companies and individual brokers showed that producers
Courtesy of St. Mary's County, Md. Architectural rendering of the future Patuxent Naval Air Station Museum. Federal investigators are reportedly trying to locate the source of fraudulent surety bonds provided to a small Maryland prime contactor for its work on a museum and visitor’s center at the Patuxent Naval Air Base in St. Mary’s County, Md. The county has taken steps to terminate the contractor, an action its attorneys say they are trying to prevent because their client has been the victim of a fraud and has lost $175,000 in premium paid for the bonds.The performance bond covered the contractor’s
