Client:
Public Housing Authority (Owner)

Client Challenge:
As a result of the construction and renovations to multiple public housing projects, the Owner (DRG Client) faced $2.5 million in claims from its contractors. The claims alleged various Owner-caused delays and disruptions such as differing site conditions, delayed notice to proceed, and delayed responses to critical RFIs.

Project:
Four Public Housing Construction & Renovation Projects

Aggregate Project Size:
$5.5 million

DRG Solution:
Perform an independent assessment of the contractors' claims to facilitate settlement discussions, while concurrently preparing for litigation at the direction of Counsel.

The DRG focused our initial efforts on evaluating the contractors' alleged financial damages. During our review of the contractors' job cost reports, financial statements, and payroll records, we determined that two of the contractors significantly overstated their damages. We reviewed the payroll and progress records in times when the contractors had unencumbered access to their work and determined that all but one of the contractors were incapable of performing in accordance with their claimed productivity rates.

To evaluate the contractors' alleged entitlement to damages, The DRG evaluated the root causes of their overruns. During that analysis, we found that approximately half of the overruns were caused by issues that were unrelated to the claims made by the contractors. At the conclusion of our analysis, we provided Counsel and client our findings. The DRG also participated in the settlement negotiations.

Outcome:
The claims were successfully settled, prior to trial, for an aggregate total of less than $1 million.