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This article was featured in the June 2026 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In May of 2025, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”)…
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Construction contractors and their employees can face significant civil and criminal exposure under state and federal False Claims Acts (“FCA”), among other laws, for failing to appreciate the significance of, and nuances…
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This article was featured in the May 2026 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In an April 7, 2026, written memorandum for the United States…
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This article was featured in the April 2026 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . The Bid Unit of the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General…
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This article was featured in the March 2026 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . The Bid Unit of the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General…
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This article was featured in the February 2026 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In the waning weeks of 2025, a panel of the Massachusetts…
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This article was featured in the January 2026 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In December of 2025, the Bid Unit of the Massachusetts Office…
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This article was featured in the December 2025 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In November of 2025, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (“DPU”)…
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This article was featured in the November 2025 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In September of 2025, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”)…
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This article was featured in the October 2025 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In August of 2025, the Bid Unit of the Massachusetts Office…
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This article was featured in the September 2025 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In July of 2025, the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ")…
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This article was featured in the August 2025 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In the past, the Bid Unit of the Massachusetts Office of…
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This article was featured in the June 2025 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . Since taking office in January, the President’s Administration has made clear…
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This article was featured in the May 2025 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . More than 12 years ago, in June of 2012, a local…
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This article was featured in the April 2025 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently announced a $4.6…
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This article was featured in the March 2025 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In Massachusetts, public building construction projects under M.G.L. c. 149, construction…
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This article was featured in the February 2025 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . Imagine the following scenario: A public awarding authority in Massachusetts issues…
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This article was featured in the January 2025 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently announced a settlement…
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This article was featured in the December 2024 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . The Utility Contractors’ Association of New England, Inc. (“UCANE”) and its…
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This article was featured in the November 2024 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . Last September, we discussed a new Department of Labor (“DOL”) “Final…
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This article was featured in the October 2024 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . There is no single body of law or set of laws…
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This article was featured in the September 2024 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook. Last Fall, we wrote about a judgment entered against a local subcontractor…
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This article was featured in the August 2024 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook. Back in April of 2024, the Bid Unit of the Massachusetts Office…
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This article was featured in the June 2024 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook. Starting several years ago, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (“MassDOT”) began publishing annual…
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This article was featured in the May 2024 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook. In March of 2024, the United States Department of Transportation’s (“DOT”) Federal…
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This article was featured in the March 2024 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook. In late February 2024, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced…
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This article was featured in the February 2024 edition of the Construction Industries of Massachusetts, Inc.'s Construction Journal . Government contractors remain highly susceptible to cybersecurity attacks. In a recent press release,…
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This article was featured in the February 2024 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook. The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently announced that a former…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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, …
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As of June 27, 2022 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 …
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This article was featured in the June 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In a recent Webinar, we discussed a broad range of compliance…
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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…
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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, …
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This article was featured in the April 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . As many of you are aware, MassDOT revised its guidance concerning…
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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. Zaccardelli On April 4,…
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This article was featured in the March 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In a recent press release, the Office of the Attorney General…
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This alert was featured in the March 2022 edition of Construction Industries of Massachusetts's Construction Journal . The new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the “IIJA”) is expected to create new opportunities…
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This alert was featured in the February 2022 edition of Construction Industries of Massachusetts's Construction Journal . As you know, there are various mechanisms at the federal and state levels aimed to…
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This article was featured in the January 2022 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . In September of 2021, the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General…
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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.,…
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This article was featured in the December 2021 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . Supply chain and material escalation cost issues have hit the construction…
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This article was featured in the September 2021 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . As many of you are aware, the Massachusetts Attorney General established…
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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…
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This article was featured in the July 2021 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . The Bid Unit of the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General…
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This article was featured in the April 2021 edition of the Utility Contractors Association of New England, Inc.’s Construction Outlook . For those of you who may have missed the Webinar, we…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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 …
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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)…
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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,…
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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.…
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