Huge Change Order

[Tom W]

Currently working at a Superfund type remediation site. Original bid is $23,000,000. Through a series of lies, deceptions, poor engineering, planning etc. we have been approved for a change order that at this point is between $4-5 million and projected to rise to $20 million by the time the job is complete.

Change orders are very expensive in terms of profit margins relative to bid work. If everyone involved had been truthful and the actual problems were reflected in the original bid documents the projected total cost, now $43 million, would have been millions of dollars less. And who is on the hook for the additional bucks? Yep, you and me and all the rest of the taxpayers.

This is my first experience with remediation of this type and is a real eye opener as to how the goverment spends our tax dollars. As an example there is a huge area dug down to about 20'. Tests revealed remaining soil is still 'hot'. So what are we told to do? Remove another foot of soil from the entire area and retest remaining soil. If the test comes back 'hot' we will dig another foot off the area and retest. This digging, one foot at a time, will continue until we find clean soil. Don't do test bores or even dig test holes to find the real extent of the problem remove one foot of soil at a time. Sad.

-Tom

[Bob D.]

Yes, it is sad that our tax dollars get wasted like this.

"Don't do test bores or even dig test holes to find the real extent of the problem remove one foot of soil at a time."

Where are the test bores from the initial discovery? And who signed off on those reports?

Remember the FAR(Federal Aquisition Regulations), lowest (qualified) bidder wins. The problem is the unqualified bidders are not always weeded out and you get crap work from the winners.

Many go into Gov jobs bidding low knowing they can make it up in extras.

There are ways for you to bring this to light if you wish to. Whistle-blower programs and the like. They work but not always. You could also write to a local newspaper or TV station ans get them to do an investigative report on the extent of the problem throughout all the brown fields reclamation jobs in the area, uncovering the patten of misuse of the public trust and waste of tax dollars, payoffs, etc. Right before election day is a great time for the news organizations to print such reports. You could also reach out to State or local politicians or if Federal money is involved you Congressman or Senator, depends on what level you see the corruption at, if any that is.:rolling-eyes2: