The project management consulting team for Maryland’s $2-billion Purple Line has been awarded an added $183.5 million to cover expanded project responsibilities while the state proceeds to select a new design-build contractor to complete the dispute-delayed light rail project through two suburban Washington, D.C., counties.
The contract modification, approved June 16 by Maryland’s three-member Board of Public Works, bolsters the budget for consultants AECOM, RK&K and WSP USA, which have overseen a much scaled-back construction effort since the original Fluor-led design-build group quit the half-finished project last summer in a dispute with the state over responsibility for approximately $800 million in cost overruns.