Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Works topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commission subcommittee flags high post-bid change orders; will analyze sample projects
Summary
A CIP subcommittee reported significant discrepancies between initial engineer estimates and final project costs, often driven by subsequent appropriations and change orders; commissioners asked staff to expand the sample and return with detailed project-level analyses and documentation of change-order authority and bidding practices.
Members of the commission's CIP subcommittee reported on meetings with public works staff and identified recurring discrepancies between initial engineer estimates and final project costs on completed projects. The subcommittee's initial review found many projects had substantive subsequent appropriations and change orders that together accounted for a large share of final project costs.
One subcommittee member said most change orders appeared to be for unexpected discoveries during construction (for example, larger-than-anticipated excavation), while another commissioner reviewed several completed projects and concluded that in a number of cases the project scope expanded significantly for reasons other than emergency work. Those expansions, the commissioner said, were sometimes added when additional funding became available and were then processed as change orders rather than re-bid as a new scope.
Public commenter Jim Mueller told the commission that, based on data he reviewed, subsequent appropriations and change orders accounted for roughly 80% of total cost on completed projects in 2025 and raised concerns about the procurement incentives that result when contractors keep receiving work without new competitive opportunities.
Public works staff and subcommittee members explained that original bids include itemized price lists and that change-order pricing is typically held to the original contract's unit prices, but commissioners pressed for data to determine how frequently scope expands and whether re-bidding would yield savings or unacceptable schedule delays.
The subcommittee agreed to expand its sample to two or three additional projects (Anita Street & PCH improvements and Manhattan Beach Boulevard/Inglewood intersection were discussed) and to return with project-level detail, change-order documentation and the rationale for subsequent appropriations. Commissioners said they may recommend procurement code changes or outside review if the deeper analysis shows systemic weaknesses.
