The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is choosing a new general contractor to complete the diverging diamond interchange at Interstate 75 and Florida State Road 56, one of seven central Florida roads project unfinished when D.A.B. Constructors shut down in July.
The deadline for receiving new bids for what had been a $33 million project closed the third week in August.
The contractor defaulted on more than $200 million in contracts in FDOT’s District 7, including Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties.
The Tampa Bay Times reported that all seven road projects, which amounts to tens of millions of dollars in unfinished construction, will now be completed through the various surety bonding companies on each job. FDOT is dealing with each individual contract separately, while also addressing specific issues on job sites left behind when D.A.B. shut down its operation.
D.A.B. told Engineering News-Record that the company walked away from its ongoing projects after FDOT defaulted it from the I-75/FL 56 interchange project and allegedly failed to reimburse the contractor more than $10 million in costs on a separate $31.8-million contract.
D.A.B. officials also blame the state for design problems that prevented them from finishing the job.
On July 28, the state received letters from D.A.B. “informing us that it was financially unable to perform or complete the performance of the work as prime contractor, which constitutes a voluntary default by the contractor.” As a result, on Aug. 3, the department declared D.A.B. in default for the other six projects, said FDOT spokesperson Kristen Carson.
Carson told the Times in an email that FDOT is currently in conversations with the bonding companies to take the next steps to prepare to bid each of the projects.
She said that timing on the other projects will be based on original job timelines with an emphasis on timely completion “as they are still subject to delay penalties.”