District official says architect errors drove South Campus change orders; district preparing to seek recoupment

Miguel Gautier Jr., the New London School District’s executive director of district operations, told the School Facilities & Program Design Committee on April 7 that he believes architectural design errors by Perkins Eastman have produced significant change-order costs on the South Campus high school project and that the district intends to seek to recoup those sums, potentially through litigation.

Gautier said the South Campus is a $108 million project and that the district has drawn down $97,903,709.81 to date, with $74,406,818.18 reimbursed by the state. He said recorded change orders amount to $366,879.40 and that $654,942.00 of change-order costs have been identified by the district as errors and omissions attributable to the architect. According to Gautier, the district first raised these concerns in 2022 and has sent letters to Perkins Eastman; the firm has replied that the items are not covered under errors-and-omissions provisions.

Mr. Gautier told the committee he believes those amounts should be recouped from the architects and noted that, per the contract, architect liability is generally limited to about 1% of the total construction budget; he said the district’s documented errors approach roughly double that cap. He said project managers Colliers and CREC have not resolved the issue in meetings and that he plans to bring the matter to the School Building and Maintenance Committee for further action.

No formal motion was made on the recoupment question during the committee meeting. The committee did approve the January 13, 2025 minutes by a 3-0 vote and adjourned at 6:49 p.m.

Next steps as described at the meeting: district staff will continue correspondence with Perkins Eastman, pursue recovery options while tracking contract limits, and raise the matter with the School Building and Maintenance Committee; Mr. Gautier said litigation is a possibility but gave no timetable.