THOMPSON REJECTS ARCHITECTURAL CONTRACT
FOR
- Contract denied due to ballooning costs and missing documentation -
Citing ballooning costs and lack of documentation, New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., today announced the rejection of a contract submitted to his office by the Department of Design and Construction (DDC) for construction-related services at the Brooklyn House of Detention.
In a letter today notifying DDC of the rejection of the proposed $31,347,000 contract between the agency and 1100 Architect / Ricci Greene Associates J.V. (1100 Architect / Ricci), the Comptroller's Office cites problems in the documentation that include the failure to adequately explain an almost 100 percent increase from the original estimate in construction costs for the project and incomplete documentation provided to his office.
"A thorough review of this contract has resulted in a litany of problems, including extreme miscalculations of cost estimates and missing documentation from the agencies involved," Thompson said. "A project of this magnitude must be taken seriously and our findings indicate that the city has lacked due diligence in this submission. Due to the ballooning cost estimates I am rejecting this contract for services at the Brooklyn House of Detention."
The contract with 1100 Architect / Ricci was initially estimated at $16,000,000, half of what was submitted to the Comptroller for final review, to provide design, architectural, engineering and construction-related services for the renovation and expansion of the Brooklyn House of Detention. DDC blamed the miscalculations on the fact that the Department of Corrections (DOC) had estimated the initial cost on only 7.21 percent of the total square footage of construction, bringing the total for the project, as calculated by the Comptroller's Office, to $222,000,000 (16,000,000 / 0.0721).
However, DDC informed the Comptroller that after follow-up meetings with DOC, the project was assessed at $420,000,000, almost $200,000,000 more than previously expected, due to DOC's failure to consider site constraints, subsurface conditions, pile foundations and other complexity factors. This caused the architect's cost to also rise.
"It is extremely troubling to think that an agency of the City of
Thompson, who is also a plaintiff in the court case against the re-opening of the Brooklyn House of Detention, requested all necessary documentation, including the original estimate, cost estimates of all the various factors identified by DOC, and a detailed breakdown of the architect's proposal. He has advised DDC, in the event they would like to resubmit this contract for review, to provide his office with all necessary documentation as it relates to the project.
"As our city is faced with this recession, causing unemployment to rise and families to struggle to put food on their tables, this type of financial mismanagement sends the wrong message to New Yorkers," Thompson said.
To view the letter to DDC and Comptroller Thompson's previous statements regarding the Brooklyn House of Detention, visit www.comptroller.nyc.gov
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