Letter: CFMA to Contractors and Agencies: Do a Better Job
I read with great interest your editorial titled “Media Contempt for Construction” (ENR 11/2 p. 92).This same phenomenon led to a study, on which ENR reported (ENR 9/28-10/5 p. 10), that we released a month ago about the nature of federal disputes.
In our instance, we read a Washington Post article in May 2014 that discussed cost overruns on large federal construction projects that inferred that construction contractors were at fault.
After analyzing 107 cases over a 15-year period, we concluded that contractors were deemed to be at fault by a judicial body 50% of the time and federal agencies were deemed to be at fault 50% of the time. Instead of pointing fingers at each other, our hope was to highlight that both sides need to do a better job communicating with one another before and during the construction process and that improved communication might help to alleviate some of these disputes. For a closer look at our study, go to ncfma.org/federaldisputes.
Stuart Binstock
President and CEO
Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA)
Princeton, N.J.
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