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Hernando County may suspend contract of company that did work on Osowaw Boulevard

 
Published Nov. 25, 2015

BROOKSVILLE — At the end of last month, Hernando County asked the contractor that constructed a bumpy stretch of Osowaw Boulevard to fix the problem. Now, county officials are considering terminating the contract entirely.

The contract that the county signed with B.R.W. Contracting Inc. specifies a series of steps between the parties if there is a dispute over the work. After the county requested that the company fix Osowaw, B.R.W. responded this month.

Janes M. Pietracatella Jr., vice president of B.R.W., described how the road could be smoothed out by milling down about 2 inches and then applying asphalt over the entire length of the project. The road then would need to be striped according to the original plan.

Then, he wrote: "If this remedy is acceptable to the county, B.R.W. will provide the county with a cost proposal to complete this work.''

He goes on to say that this approach should also be applied to the job that B.R.W. has won to add bike lanes to Shoal Line Boulevard, which also includes repavement of the road. The county stopped work from starting on Shoal Line when representatives of B.R.W. said that it would turn out just like Osowaw.

Shoal Line "has the same design deficiencies as Osowaw and can be expected to exhibit the same issues that we warned about on this project. Please let us know if you would like a cost proposal for this project as well,'' Pietracatella wrote.

He also noted, "We see the suspension of the Shoal Line Boulevard project as an admission that the plans and specification for both projects was defective.''

Pietracatella repeats B.R.W.'s previous argument that company representatives told county officials before the job began that their approved construction method wasn't going to work.

"We proceeded with the job when we were threatened with liquidated damages if we did not,'' he wrote. "B.R.W. will not bear the burden of fault that lies entirely with the county.''

But county officials don't agree and on Nov. 20 responded back, detailing all of the reasons why the "project does not meet the minimum requirements specified in the contract documents.''

The county's chief procurement officer, Russ Wetherington, explains how ruts, roller marks, ripples and waves are present throughout the work and says that there were 40 places that failed a test that would show smooth joints. Some of those issues can cause a premature failure of the pavement, and others contribute to a poor ride.

If B.R.W. cannot show a cause for why it could not complete the project correctly, Wetherington notes, the county can take the work out of the contractor's hands or terminate the contract.

B.R.W. has also run into issues with other local projects, including construction problems on Bell Avenue in Brooksville, and delays with projects, including a major paving job in Royal Highlands. The company was also suspended by the county from bidding on new jobs in 2015 after a company official acknowledged using substandard road base on another job.

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Contact Barbara Behrendt at bbehrendt@tampabay.com or (352) 848-1434.