Courtesy of Dept. of Veterans Affairs Work will continue on the Aurora VA Hospital after $43.3 million in stopgap funds were funneled to the project in mid-March. Related Links: Senate, House VA commmitees' release with March 10 letter on Colorado project VA May Cede Lead Role in Hospital Construction Program (ENR 2/2/2015 issue) [subscription] A looming end-of-March shutdown of the nearly $900-million Dept. of Veterans Affairs hospital construction project in Aurora, Colo., has been avoided—for now. VA officials have agreed to “reprogram” an additional $43.3 million to keep the project going through the end of May. That amount is on
Rising cybercrime has executives on edge as the industry increasingly relies on electronic project data. Risk experts chafe at lack of data on cyber attacks, saying ignorance hampers defense. Federal regulators agree and new rules are expected. What should company leaders do?
No cyberthreat better represents the difficulty of hitting a moving security target than ransomware, which encrypts a computer's files and demands the owner pay a ransom, usually in Bitcoins, to get the data back.
ENR asks an array of vendors serving the industry how they assure customers their data is secure and their services will not become a vector for the next cyberattack.
Related Links: Surety Bond Misconceptions A P3 Makeover for the Standard Surety Bond (subscription required) Public-private partnerships (P3s) will back many of the most important projects in the years ahead and some concessionaires have chosen to adopt what is known as the European or Canadian model, which focuses on guarantees in the form of letters of credit and liquidity. Even within the insurance industry, some are trying to make bonds look more like LOCs. This is very troubling.The U.S. infrastructure has always been supported by surety bonds. As a purist, I believe that if we choose to use P3 as
Every 10 years or so the American Institute of Architects (AIA) updates and revises its standard form family of construction documents and in 2007 the AIA modified the AIA A-201 contract to add the Initial Decision Maker (IDM) as a condition precedent to mediation.This laudable change marks an important shift, moving away from the architect as the resolver of disputes. Unfortunately, change comes slowly. The architect is the default IDM unless the parties affirmatively insert a name, other than the architect, in the contract to act as the IDM.Nonetheless, unlike prior AIA agreements, the AIA has opened the door to
McGraw Hill Construction, the business group of McGraw Hill Financial that includes Engineering News-Record (ENR), as well as sister units Architectural Record, Dodge and Sweet's, is set to have a new owner, expected in the fourth quarter.McGraw Hill Financial announced on Sept. 22 a definitive agreement to sell the construction group to Symphony Technology Group (STG), a strategic private equity firm based in Palo Alto, Calif. It focuses on acquiring high-performance companies that are leaders in growth markets.STG has a global portfolio of 22 companies with a combined revenue of $2.7 billion and 17,000 employees."We believe that STG will enable
PhScarborough had pledged coal waste at this West Virginia tract as the asset backing his bonds. Edmund C. Scarborough, who owned the biggest and most public individual surety business in the U.S., once claimed that his guarantees were backed by solid assets comprised of valuable coal waste.In federal bankruptcy court in Tampa July 17, Scarborough and his wife, Yvonne, filed for protection from their creditors, listing assets of $4.5 million and liabilities of $16.2 million.The 70-page filing states that the main business asset held by the debtors is IBCS Mining, a Charlottesville, Va., based company that
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