Welcome to Mobile

1. Welcome to Mobile

2. SiteManagerIt ain’t just for pay’in the bills Presented By: Steve Ferst, Chief Civil Litigation Counsel, FlaDOT Wick Heath, Info Tech, Inc.

3. Paying the contractor should require only a minimum amount of information • All we really need to know is: was the work performed to the specifications?

4. So long as a surety is on the hook, do we really care… • Who did the work? • Which employees were on the Job? • What work was performed by subcontractors? • Where the materials came from? • What equipment was used? • Or when it was on job site? • Or what the weather was?

5. Yes, as through this world I've wandered I've seen lots of funny men; Some will rob you with a six-gun, And some with a fountain pen. - Woody Guthrie The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd

6. “[I rob banks] because that’s where the money is.” -Willie Sutton Famous Bank Robber

7. Here’s the bank

8. Contractors have lawyers... & lots of ‘em!

9. SiteManager • Generates periodic revised construction estimates to facilitate progress payments to the contractor • Properly used and maintained, it allows the department to manage these processes more efficiently • It can aid the department to protect against fraud,theft, and other attacks on the integrity of the contracting process

11. Protecting the agency in the litigation or investigation context requires the most stringent standards of information • Significantly more than mere payment of the contractor • Adhering to the stricter standards required by litigation or investigation will result in more efficient use of the SiteManager by all users

12. The means by which we protect the agency from false claims, MBE fraud, and bid rigging will result in increased efficiency in the management of the agencies’ programs Because it will • Generate more reliable information upon which decisions can be made • Facilitate more accurate and timely transmission of information, • Increase the agencies’ credibility in its day to day on-site dealings with the contracting community

13. Two aspects of SiteManager that help protect the agency • Communication and automatic notification • The ability to collect and marshal information in a way that can be readily analyzed to facilitate investigations and successfully defend against claims

14. You should’da come to me sooner SiteManager facilitates timely communication and allows notification of the general counsel or the OIG of developing problems

15. SiteManager provides a distribution list function that allows the user to assign a list to specific processes that automatically generate system messages. For example, a user group can be created that includes an attorney from the General Counsel’s office who has been assigned to the contract at the outset, and to whom a message is sent automatically, whenever a key event or condition does or does not occur.

16. Potential Notification Triggers • Delays over a specified number of days • Multiple modifications within a specified time period • Cost / quantity modifications in excess of 5% as bid • Creation of a Force Account • Failure of a prime to pay a subcontractor • Failure of the construction to meet scheduled progress benchmarks • Notification of a claim by the contractor [SM has a Specific set of functions to track claims]

17. SiteManager Defending the false claim gets high-tech help

18. False claims are... Excessive and inflated claims by a contractor or An unsubstantiated and false request for additional compensation and/or time

19. If the claims are fraudulent, by definition they cannot be legitimately substantiated • But the burden is often on the agency to refute them nonetheless • If the contract is of long duration and involves a great deal of complexity, this can be difficult

20. Strategy of contractors: Hide the Ball!

21. SiteManager provides the DOT records and makes analyzing and defending false claims more efficient and cost effective • Review, analyze and successfully negotiate claims; • Ensure proper project records to defend claims that are litigated; • Attorneys can access the records without making project managers track them down; • Help resolve project issues on-site in a timely and fair manner to prevent litigation.

22. False claims type: DELAY CLAIM • Delay claims stemming from idle equipment and crew • Defenses: • The equipment wasn’t there to begin with • The equipment was being used at another job • That type of equipment was inappropriate to the job and was never used in the construction of the road

23. Equipment fraud • Big element of delay claim is idle equipment. • Review the data carefully • Every piece of equipment must have a unique identifying number

24. Every day record every piece of equipment on the job site and make sure the equipment works. • Analyze other DOT jobs and county/city jobs the contractor is performing in the area and see if you can get their equipment records.

25. Build a data base of equipment used on DOT jobs, and city and county jobs. • It may show multiple instances of the same equipment being used on one job while being claimed idle on another. • Contractor was taken off our bidders list for two years.

28. The database is costly and time consuming. • Expert reviewing daily reports and listing all the equipment and also compiling the equipment listed on delay claims. • Data from five jobs can run $100,000 to compile. • All daily reports on all jobs must be accurate. • Contractors do not expect you to take the time to do all this work on every claim.

29. Examples DemandAward $ 2,276,386 $ 5,000 $ 4,004,720 $ -0- $ 25,000,000 $ 575,000 $ 5,000,000 $ 750,000 $ 4,200,000 $ -0- $ 1,000,000 $ 65,000 $ 3,000,000 $ 255,000 $ 7,900,000 $ 1,750,000 $ 30,000,000 $ 3,725,000 $ 3,746,565 $ 72,500 $ 4,200,000 $ 85,000 $ 1,331,400 $ -0-

30. Records actually support FDOT’s position. • Many cases settle when you get the records. • SiteManager will allow you to accumulate the data quicker and with lower cost.

31. A comparison • Without SiteManager FDOT went from 41 construction cases in litigation on 7/1/02 to 18 today. • With SiteManager?

32. SiteManager provides for the entry of two types of data that are helpful for litigation purposes Data which is preloaded in the form of: identifying -- drop down screen substantive information and Data which is descriptive, non-formalistic -- DWR notes and comments

33. Supporting data • 00A697 Bulldozer 8/29/04 Site – Contract 397 • 00A697 Bulldozer 8/30/04 Site - Contract 482 • 00A697 Bulldozer 8/31/04 Site - Contract 482 • 00A697 Bulldozer 9/1/04 Site - Contract 397

34. Non-supporting data • 00A697 Bulldozer 8/29/04 Site - Contract 397 • Dozer # 697 8/30/04 Contract 482 • Dozer #697 8/31/04 Contract 482 • 100 HP Dozer No. A697 Sept 1, 04 at Old Mill Road Location

35. Some data, such as specific pieces of equipment, must be entered in precisely the same way each time it is entered or else it cannot be retrieved or analyzed in a systematic manner • SiteManager drop down menus provide a convenient way to precisely enter this information

36. ABC CORPORATION VID7865927 Equipment ID Description Active? 1255 1999 FORD F150 PICKUP Y 1257 2000 FORD PICKUP 4x4 Y 1258 2000 FORD F150 PICKUP Y 1259 1259 FORD F150 P.U. 2000 Y 1260 2001 FORD E250 VAN Y 1261 2002 FORD F150 4X4 PICKUP Y 134 1999 Volvo Tandem Dump 16cy Y 1344 1960 MACK WATER TRUCK TANK Y 135 2002 Volvo Tandem Dump Y 136 2002 Volvo Tandem Dump Y 2411 1985 D-31A KMTSU DOZER(4638) Y 2412 KOMATSU D31P-20A DOZER Y 2413 JOHN DEERE 750C DOZER Y 2414 JOHN DEERE 750C DOZER Y 2518 1975 CAT 12G GRADER Y 2520 1979 CAT 12G GRADER Y 2521 120G CAT. MOTOR GRADER Y 2523 1995 CAT 12G GRADER Y

37. Contractor Equipment Master List

38. Contractor’s Equipment is Associated With a Contract

40. Delay claims often seek compensation for Idle employees. SiteManager provides for the systematic entry identifying the contractor’s employees and allows their utilization to be tracked • Keep track of certain employees by social security • number or name • Supervisors • Heavy Equipment Operators • Keep track of other employees by function or work crew

41. Contractor Personnel

43. Contractor’s Supervisors

45. Other uses of SiteManager • Inefficiency claims • Rain Days / Delays • Match workers and work with other jobs. Not delayed if see that crew working elsewhere • Internal efficiency analyses

46. Equipment On-Site Log Report – By Contractor

47. Supporting data • 8/29/04 Proj. 397 AM Temp – 82; Sunny and Clear • 8/29/04 Proj. 397 PM Temp – 92; Sunny and Clear • 8/30/04 Proj. 397 AM Temp – 78; Sunny and Clear • 8/30/04 Proj. 397 PM Temp – 89; Sunny and Clear 8/31/04 Proj. 397 AM Temp – 72; Sunny and Clear • 8/31/04 Proj. 397 PM Temp – 86; Sunny and Clear • 9/1/04 Proj. 397 AM Temp – 78; Sunny and Clear • 9/1/04 Proj. 397 PM Temp – 89; Sunny and Clear

48. Non-supporting data • 8/29/04 Proj. 397 Temp – 87; No Work Performed • 8/30/04 Proj. 397 Temp – 92; No Work Performed • 8/31/04 Proj. 397 Temp – 78; No Work Performed • 9/1/04 Proj. 397 Temp – 89; No Work Performed • 9/2/04 Proj. 397 Temp – 76; Contractor on Site • 9/3/04 Proj. 397 Temp – 86; Paving MP1.8 – MP2 • 9/4/04 Proj. 397 Temp – 78; Paving MP2 – MP2.1 • 9/5/04 Proj. 397 Temp – 89; Paving MP2.1 – MP2.3

49. Improve Internal DOT Processes: • District Comparison Analyses • DOT Personnel • CEI • Contract days increased • Contract dollars increased • Premium costs by district • Claims by dollar value • WO coded as “avoidable” • Assessed/waived Liquidated Damages