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Elkhart County approves amendment to courthouse design‑build contract, adds deadlines and liquidated damages
Summary
The Elkhart County Board of Commissioners approved Amendment No. 5 to the design‑build agreement with Performance Services Inc., adding scope, establishing new substantial and final completion dates, withholding delay damages and adding liquidated damages of $2,000 per day for missed deadlines.
Elkhart County commissioners approved Amendment No. 5 to the county—s design‑build agreement with Performance Services Inc. (PSI) on Feb. 3, 2025, adding project scope, revising completion dates and specifying monetary remedies for future delays.
The amendment adds $31,586 worth of work for additional pistol lockers and card readers at the jury assembly doors and sets the official substantial completion date at May 25, 2025, and the final completion date at July 14, 2025. County Attorney Steve Olson said the additional scope increases the contract price to $96,693,158, and that previously identified delay damages totaling $246,511.27 will be withheld by the county from the contract price, making the maximum amount owed to the contractor $96,446,636.73.
"The delay damages now total $246,511.27, which includes recovery for the expenses for those contracts that we talked about previously," Olson said during the presentation. He added that the introduced dates do not mean the courthouse will necessarily be fully operational by those dates but that they are the contractual substantial‑ and final‑completion deadlines.
To provide a financial disincentive for future delays, the amendment includes liquidated damages of $2,000 per day if substantial completion is not achieved by May 25, 2025, and $2,000 per day if final completion is not achieved by July 14, 2025. The amendment also adds dates to accommodate furniture installation.
Olson told commissioners the amendment resolves delay‑related claims the county had identified and that PSI has cooperated in negotiating the settlement. Commissioners approved the amendment unanimously.
The action follows earlier, related approvals at the meeting, including a separate license for temporary storage of courthouse furniture and a county appropriation for consulting services (both approved by the board).
