105.13 Maintenance of the Work (Sec 105.13)

Refer to Sec 105.13 for information regarding the contractor’s responsibility to maintain the work until accepted for maintenance.

When contract items within the limits of a construction project are damaged prior to acceptance, the contractor is responsible for repair or replacement at the contractor's expense. Placing an item on a pay estimate does not constitute acceptance (refer to Sec 107.12). For example, if a guardrail end treatment is damaged by traffic before it has been accepted, the contractor must replace it without cost to the Commission. The only exceptions to this are when the damage is due to unforeseeable causes beyond the control of, and without fault or negligence on the part of the contractor such as the extreme and far reaching affects of a 500-year flood as occurred in 1993.

The contractor may also be directed to repair permanent facilities of the Commission damaged within the project limits. For example, if a run of guardrail is damaged by traffic on a pavement repair project, the Commission could direct the contractor to make the repair and recover the cost from the responsible third party even though guardrail was not a part of the contract. If the contractor documented that the cost could not be recovered after a good faith effort, the Commission would reimburse the contractor (refer to Sec 104.7.7).

The Commission would normally make repairs on portions of the project on which the contractor has not mobilized. For example, if the contract involved pavement repair on a portion of dual lane, divided roadway and the contractor was working on one side only, the Commission would make repairs on the other side until the contractor mobilized over to it. Once work begins, the contractor is responsible for repairs to the work in that area.

The Commission may make repairs within the project limits to damaged items that pose an immediate threat to the safety of the traveling public if the contractor cannot make them in a timely manner. If the damaged item was part of the contract work and had not been accepted, the cost of such repairs would be the contractor's responsibility.