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Finance committee approves contract changes for school construction work with Downs Construction
Summary
The committee approved an amendment and contract extension for Downs Construction to cover reimbursable soft costs and to extend the company's role in phases 2 and 3 of Providence school capital projects, resolving reimbursements the city had already paid.
The Providence Finance Committee approved two related actions to reconcile and extend work with Downs Construction on Providence school capital projects.
City staff asked the committee to amend an existing contract to add $904,295 to cover reimbursable soft costs that Downs Construction procured and for which the city had already reimbursed the company. Staff said these costs were incurred between 2020 and 2023 at the direction of the prior public property administration; in some cases the purchases drew down purchase order balances and were not processed through the city’s then-standard procurement and purchase-order channels. City staff told the committee those reimbursables are eligible for reimbursement from state sources (housing aid) when RIDE pays debt service to the city.
Separately, the committee approved a contract extension that increases Downs’ total authorized contract value to cover additional work on phase 2 and phase 3 school projects. Staff said additional schools were added to the scope after the 2019 memorandum of agreement and that changing the owner’s project manager (OPM) at this late stage would be costly and disruptive to projects already underway. The extension request adds roughly $11,048,000 to bring the amended total contract value to about $18,914,190, according to staff figures presented at the meeting.
Committee members questioned why the city did not amend the contract earlier and asked for the underlying documentation. City staff said they had obtained a legal opinion at the time that said the work could be reimbursed to the contractor, but that purchase orders were depleted and normal procurement channels were not followed during the pandemic and early project rush. Staff said the finance department has since tightened controls and reissued proper purchase orders in the city’s ERP system for ongoing capital projects.
After discussion the committee voted to approve both the amendment to reimburse Downs’ previously invoiced costs and the extension to allow work to continue on phases 2 and 3.
