Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'damages'.
-
The VA has experienced a couple of warranty issues and a power outage that are the direct result of the contractor’s work. Construction was completed and the VA had taken beneficial occupancy and given final acceptance of the building. Since that time the VA has experienced several warranty issues; two of which have caused significant additional cost to the facility. Split Fittings: Fittings installed on water lines to sinks began failing almost immediately after beneficial occupancy and there have been multiple failures since then. Over time (6 months or so) the VA was able to convince the contractor to replace all of the fittings. This work is only recently completed and the success of the new fittings is still unknown. The local facility did have to cancel several patient appointments. Complete Power Outage: The VA campus where the building in question is located experienced a complete power outage. This outage impacted the surrounding neighborhood. It took approximately 1.5 hours to make repairs and to obtain clearance from the local utility company to restore power to the campus. The subcontractor was called out to trouble shoot and make the repairs. They discovered that the transformer was tied-in incorrectly, which caused a major power surge, blowing fuses all over the campus, damaging a compressor and a door controller. This also caused cancellation of patient appointments. Rightfully so, the facility would like to recover actual damages incurred and is looking for direction. Once they know what costs can be recovered they will assemble the data. What costs can be recovered? Materials. Is the cost of the replacement items – fuses, compressor, door controller, etc. – recoverable? Lost Patient Appointments? HQ reimburses local facilities for each patient appointment. The amount per appointment varies depending on the type of appointment. The loss of these appointments directly impacts the revenue the facility will receive. Can the facility recover the cost of these appointments? Normal Duty Hours – Labor Expended. Several VA employees were pulled off of their normal duties to attend to this outage. Is the cost of these labor hours recoverable? Overtime Labor Hours. VA employees worked several hours of overtime on two different days directly on the task of recovering from the outage. Is the cost of these OT hours recoverable? Overhead (OH). The Deputy Director and the Emergency Preparedness Official both worked about a day and a half on the recovery efforts from this outage. While the facility understands it cannot be compensated for lost reputation, can it be compensated for the OH expended due to this outage? Utility Company Costs. In the event the utility company decides to back charge the VA for expenses incurred due to this outage, can the VA recover these costs as well? Once the facility compiles all of this information, how do we go about recovering these costs from the contractor?
- 17 replies
-
- construction
- damages
-
(and 1 more)
Tagged with: