The Revere City project committee voted to add a $1,000,000 owner allowance to the project’s site-work budget to fund expanded soil precharacterization and follow-up testing.

Brian Bridal, a project staff member who presented the amendment, said the allowance will allow the team to respond quickly when initial soil tests require additional work. “What we are proposing via Consigli amendment 7 is to award an owner's allowance in the value of $1,000,000 to the site work line,” Bridal said. He added that the costs will still be tracked on Consigli requisitions and that any unused money would “come back to the city.”

Why it matters: committee members said the allowance is intended to reduce the need for repeated small contract amendments that slow field work and add administrative overhead. “This is a great idea because that's gonna just prevent change order after change order after change order when they find more and more dirt that they didn't know about,” committee member Mike Picardi said in support.

How it will work: Bridal said the allowance covers additional investigative and reporting work performed by Sanborn Head, the licensed site professional, not the construction subcontractors. “The actual work is done by Sanborn Head, the licensed site professional,” he said. When Consigli submits a requisition that includes Sanborn Head work, the requisition will include the subconsultant invoice and be reviewed as part of the normal invoice process.

Committee members asked whether the allowance covers testing only or also removal and trucking of contaminated material; Bridal said material removal and transport are captured in the previously awarded site-work contract amounts and that this allowance is primarily for testing, analysis and follow-up reporting. The staff presentation noted the plan is to reconcile allowance use at the guaranteed maximum price (GMP) stage, anticipated around March.

The committee approved Consigli Amendment 7 by roll call. Staff said the amendment is included in the 90% construction documents estimate and is structured so unused funds revert to the city at reconciliation.

Next steps: staff will track expenditures against the allowance on future Consigli requisitions and present reconciliation information during GMP discussions.