Why it takes NYC nearly 10 years to install 500 feet of pipes
Construction crews have been working to install new water pipes and sewers along York Avenue between East 61st and 63rd streets on the Upper East Side for more than eight years.
Foley said the project's issues could have been avoided if his agency was given more flexibility in soliciting bids from outside construction and engineering-design companies. He said bureaucracy and red tape prevented the department from including the work to relocate the Con Ed utilities in the project’s original construction plan.
Under state law, city officials have a mandate to manage most municipal construction projects that cost less than $10 million through a procurement method called “design-bid-build.” The rule means Foley’s team must first bid out a contract for a company to design a project. City officials must wait for that process to finish before separately soliciting for a construction company that has never overseen the project to physically perform the work.
Critics say the design-bid-build contracting method is used like a blunt tool that causes problems with complicated projects. Issues like the utility lines beneath York Avenue are often discovered only after construction begins. And when those obstacles are identified while work is already underway, the city is required to negotiate changes to its contracts with private companies, sparking delays and cost overruns.
He said the use of design-build techniques has already saved the city $2 million on a project to construct the new Shirley Chisholm Recreational Center in East Flatbush,
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Why child care is so expensive in NYC that it's become a crisisWhy child care is so expensive in NYC that it's become a crisis
Read more »
Boreal forest and tundra regions worst hit over next 500 years of climate change, study showsModelling climate change over a 500 year period shows that much of the boreal forest, the Earth's northernmost forests and most significant provider of carbon storage and clean water, could be seriously impacted, along with tundra regions, treeless shrublands north of the boreal forest that play a significant role in regulating the Earth's climate.
Read more »
Tectonic plates triggered a massive extinction 500 million years agoThe Sinsk event occurred during the Cambrian period, which was 53.4 million years long between two ice ages and it saw a huge diversification of life on Earth known as the Cambrian explosion.
Read more »
Stock Market Today: S&P 500 closes flat ahead of key inflation data, earningsStock Market Today: S&P 500 closes flat ahead of key inflation data, earnings
Read more »
More than 500 guinea pigs rescued from Colorado-based breederSydney Isenberg is an Emmy-nominated digital content producer with Denver7 (KMGH) in Denver, Colorado. She began her career in Bakersfield, California, after graduating from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University in 2018.
Read more »
500 guinea pigs living in 'deplorable' conditions rescued from breederIn past eclipses, researchers have reported birds quieting down, primates pointing at the sky and nocturnal animals making noise.
Read more »