Publication
This article was featured in the November 2023 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.As you know, the construction industry remains a major target for OSHA inspections and enforcement.No.1.2.3.4.5.
Publication
This article was featured in the October 2023 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.In September, the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General (the “AGO”) released its eighth annual “Labor Da…
Publication
This article was featured in the September 2023 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.On August 8, 2023, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) unveiled a new “final rule” intended to �…
Publication
This article was featured in the August 2023 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.As you know, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (“DPU”) oversees investor-owned electric power, natu…
Publication
This article was featured in the Vol. 114, July 2023 edition of the Construction Industries of Massachusetts, Inc.'s Construction Journal.Believe it or not, it has been more than 3 years since the Commonwealth of Massachusetts declared a state of emergency…
Publication
This article was featured in the July 2023 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.In May of 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced the criminal sentencing of …
Publication
Generally speaking, bid protests challenging an awarding authority’s determination of bidder responsibility among the most difficult to win. While M.G.L. c. 30, § 39M requires an award to the “lowest responsible and eligible bidder,” the public work…
Publication
As many of you are aware, the Federal False Claims Act (FCA) is a powerful tool that is often applied against construction contractors. Under the FCA, a person that “knowingly” presents to the government a false or fraudulent claim for payment faces li…
Publication
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) continues to aggressively enforce workplace safety standards and issue citations and penalties for alleged violations. Those in receipt of an OSHA citation have an opportunity to contest the …
Publication
This article was featured in the April 2023 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.The Massachusetts Appeals Court closed out March of 2023 with a decision discussing a commercial general liability (“…
Publication
This article was featured in the March 2023 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.Those of you who work on private projects within the Commonwealth may be interested in a recent Massachusetts Superior …
Publication
This article was featured in the January 2023 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.As many of you are aware, the National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB”) published a notice of proposed rulemaki…
Publication
This article was featured in the September 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.On September 5, 2022, the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General (the “AGO”) released its annual “Labor…
Publication
This article was featured in the August 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.We often write about issues of legal compliance and the Commonwealth’s aggressive enforcement of laws, including tho…
Publication
This article was featured in the July 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.By: Christopher W. Morog, Alexandra A. Gordon and Robert T. Ferguson, Jr.As many of you are already aware, the Massachus…
Publication
On June 24 the Appeals Court amended a critical sentence of recent IRIV v. Tocci decision, leaving open the possibility that failure to make payment on a requisition which has been “deemed approved” under the Prompt Pay Act results in the waiver of all…
Publication
This article was featured in the June 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.By: Christopher W. Morog and Robert T. Ferguson, Jr.In a recent Webinar, we discussed a broad range of compliance issues…
Publication
This article was featured in the May 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.In a recent press release, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) announced that it is initiating…
Publication
A version of this article was featured in the May 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.By: Christopher W. Morog and Robert T. Ferguson, Jr. and Eric F.On April 21, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme…
Publication
This article was featured in the April 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.By: Christopher W. Morog and Robert T. Ferguson, Jr.As many of you are aware, MassDOT revised its guidance concerning t…
Publication
This alert was featured in the April 2022 edition of Construction Industries of Massachusetts's Construction Journal.By: Christopher W. Morog, Robert T. Ferguson, Jr., and Lisa A.On April 4, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) issued…
Publication
This alert was featured in the March 2022 edition of Construction Industries of Massachusetts's Construction Journal.By: Christopher W. Morog and Robert T. Ferguson, Jr.The new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the “IIJA”) is expected to create n…
Publication
This article was featured in the March 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.By: Christopher W. Morog and Robert T. Ferguson, Jr.In a recent press release, the Office of the Attorney General (AG) …
Publication
This alert was featured in the February 2022 edition of Construction Industries of Massachusetts's Construction Journal.By: Christopher W. Morog and Robert T. Ferguson, Jr.As you know, there are various mechanisms at the federal and state levels aimed to i…
Publication
This article was featured in the January 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.By: Christopher W. Morog and Robert T. Ferguson, Jr.In September of 2021, the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney Ge…
Publication
A version of this article was featured in the February 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.By: Lisa A. Zaccardelli, Robert T. Ferguson, Jr., Christopher W. Morog, Mark D.Last month, we reported …
Publication
This article was featured in the December 2021 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.By: Christopher W. Morog and Robert T. Ferguson, Jr.Supply chain and material escalation cost issues have hit the co…
Publication
This article was featured in the September 2021 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.By: Christopher W. Morog and Robert T. Ferguson, Jr.As many of you are aware, the Massachusetts Attorney General es…
Publication
Powerful compliance programs create systems that identify smaller infractions before they escalate and include ongoing education on best practices for employees. When compliance processes are working well, they touch all parts of your organization, from re…
Publication
This article was featured in the July 2021 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.By: Christopher W. Morog and Robert T. Ferguson, Jr.The Bid Unit of the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General (Bi…
Publication
This article was featured in the April 2021 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.By: Christopher W. Morog and Robert T. Ferguson, Jr.For those of you who may have missed the Webinar, we outlined impor…
Publication
First and foremost, we hope that you and your families remain safe and healthy during this uncertain time. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bid Unit of the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General (the "Bid Unit") has continued to investigate bid issu…
Publication
More and more it seems that no Massachusetts public procurement is complete without some bid error or discrepancy. And because disappointed bidders are constantly looking for ways to invalidate a low bid, the chances are fairly high that they may spot an i…
Publication
The Massachusetts Supreme Court issued a 29-page opinion at the end of May that will be of interest to contractor-employers working public projects in Massachusetts. The article discusses two of the various issues addressed in the court's opinion: (1) the …
Publication
When a bid issues arises, disappointed bidders usually have few options. Sometimes, raising an issue directly with the awarding authority can lead to resolution of the issue. More often than not, bidders will have to decide whether to pursue a bid protest …
Publication
In any given week, you could run a few searches and find recent news articles about fraudulent or criminal contractor conduct in the world of construction. For example, in April of 2019, a branch manager for an insulation contractor pleaded guilty to bid-r…
Publication
Hear from our construction attorneys about what can be learned from the first decision of 2019 from the Bid Unit of Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, based on a case that they defended.Read more on page 21 of The Construction Outlook magazine.
Publication
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) closed out August with a decision concerning contractor exposure to Chapter 93A claims for unfair and deceptive trade practices. A divided court concluded that a Chapter 93A claim was subject to the 6-…
Publication
In May’s issue, we discussed a bidder responsibility decision of the Bid Unit of the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General (the “Bid Unit”). In that case, the awarding authority rejected the low bidder as allegedly “difficult to work with.
Publication
Despite the prevalence of termination for convenience clauses in construction contracts, there has been little caselaw in Massachusetts addressing such provisions. That needle moved on May 2, 2018, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court discussed …
Publication
The competitive bidding statute for public works projects (M.G.L. c. 30, § 39M) generally requires an awarding authority to award to the lowest eligible and “responsible” bidder on large projects. Because awarding authorities have discretion when …
Publication
In 2015, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (“MassDOT”) issued Supplemental Specifications to its Standard Specifications for Highways and Bridges. One of the changes in the Supplemental Specifications was the addition of a percentage cap t…
Publication
An awarding authority has discretion when it comes to waiver of non-statutory bidding requirements. However, as illustrated in a recent decision of the Bid Unit of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (the “AGO”), that discretion does not en…
Publication
On August 1, 2017, the Bid Unit of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (the “AG”) issued a first-of-its-kind decision concerning MassDOT’s use of minimum unit price requirements. The AG’s well-reasoned opinion invalidates MassDOT’s mini…
Publication
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (“AGO”) closed out February 2017 by announcing substantial False Claims Act penalties against two contractors. In addition to damages and civil penalties, the AGO barred the contractors from bidding on …
Publication
On February 24, 2017, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (“AGO”) announced sweeping penalties against two contractors for violations of the Massachusetts False Claims Act. According to the AGO, a General Contractor (GC) and its subcontract…
Publication
This article was featured in the January 2024 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook.You are undoubtedly familiar with various types of business email compromise scams, likely because you probably recei…
Publication
This article was featured in the October 2023 edition of the Construction Industries of Massachusetts, Construction Journal.The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) continues to announce results of its enforcement efforts. Invariably, many of th…
Show More Publications