June 20, 2017 | Contracts

As you may be aware, the American Institute of Architects (“AIA”) revises its main contract forms every ten years and has recently released the 2017 Editions of their contract forms, including the AIA A201 – General Conditions of the Contract for Construction.  I’ve just finished an initial review of the new AIA A201 2017 Edition. … Read more

October 7, 2016 | Government Regulations

South Carolina General and Mechanical licenses are classified into five respective groups.  Each group defines the contractor’s financial limitations for bidding and performing general or mechanical construction.  Effective June 3, 2016, the South Carolina Legislature has enacted changes to the financial limitations and net worth requirements for each license group.  A summary of the changes… Read more

September 1, 2016 | Contracts, Insurance

Contracts usually require contractors and subcontractors to carry certain types of insurance with stipulated coverage limits.  In most of the contracts that come across my desk, the owner or contractor simply require the contractor or subcontractor to provide a certificate of insurance to confirm and verify that the required insurance coverages are in place.  If… Read more

July 21, 2016 | Government Regulations

Contractor licensing requirements vary widely from state to state and are very state specific.  In some states you have to obtain a contractor’s license before you start work.  In other states, such as South Carolina, you have to obtain a license prior to offering to do work, otherwise it is a violation of the licensing… Read more

June 28, 2016 | Public Procurement

The OSE gave its form SE-210 – Invitation for Professional Services – a facelift in the 2015 update of the OSE Manual. Take a look at the old form, compared to the new version. While the appearance of SE-210 is improved, there aren’t a whole lot of substantive changes. Mainly, they’ve added information to call… Read more

June 20, 2016 | Public Procurement

It’s pretty much business as usual under the newly updated Chapter 7 in the Office of State Engineer’s (“OSE”) Manual for the Planning and Execution of State Permanent Improvements Part II, which sets out the contract administration procedures for traditional design-bid-build projects. With a few exceptions, basic contract administration remains the same as under the previous… Read more

June 10, 2016 | Public Procurement

The State Engineer has updated the SE-225 Conditions of Service to be used with the AIA B101-2007 Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect. Formerly titled “Article 12 – Other Conditions or Services,” the New SE-225 has a few significant changes from its predecessor document. The first and most significant change is that SE-225 completely… Read more

June 3, 2016 | Public Procurement

Back in 2008, the South Carolina legislature enacted changes to the South Carolina Consolidated Procurement Code. These changes allowed state agencies the use of additional project delivery methods for state construction projects including design-build, design-builder-operate and maintain, design-builder-finance-operate and maintain, and construction management at-risk.  (2008 S.C. Acts 174).  The State Fiscal Accountability Authority (formerly the… Read more

May 24, 2016 | Public Procurement

In the Office of State Engineer’s (“OSE”) newly released 2015 Edition of the OSE Manual for the Planning and Execution of State Permanent Improvements Part II, Rev. 1/2016, the State Engineer adopts 30 new forms for use in the bidding and administration of indefinite delivery contracts (“IDC”). IDC’s are those contracts for professional services or… Read more

May 16, 2016 | Public Procurement

When I learned Chapter 6 in the Office of State Engineer’s Manual for the Planning and Execution of State Permanent Improvements Part II went from 20 pages in the 2011 edition to 17 pages in the 2015 edition, I expected to see significant changes between the two editions. However, the changes are only skin deep,… Read more