Use of Add Alternates 2

[Polyhedron]

I am involved with a project that was awarded based on the Contractor's base bid without selection of any add alternates. Approximately 40% into the project, the Owner decided to omit a portion of work included in the base bid(mutually agreeable between the Owner and Contractor). The Owner, now 80% into the project, has asked the Contractor to include the Add Alternates based on having the necessary budget due to the previous omission of work. The Contractor has stated that he is not interested in performing the alternates per the price stated and will complete only the scope of work included in the base bid. The Owner is under the impression that the Contractor is responsible for completing the work including the Add Alternates based on the schedule and fact that the total project cost will not exceed the original base bid.

I know this should have been clear in the contract documents, but in absence of such language who is correct?

 

[GeoPaveTraffic]

Absent the specifics of the contract documents, I would say that the Contractor is correct. The owner lost the ability to "require" the contractor to perform the alternates when the contract was awarded and executed.

 

[SlideRuleEra]

I have been an "Owner's Repesentative" on sophisticated construction contracts for most of my career. In the situation that you describe, concur with GeoPaveTraffic - the Contractor is correct.
The "best" that the Owner should reasonably expect is to negotiate a new (certainly higher) price to have the Contractor perform the work. Then the Owner can make a decision on whether to accept the negotiated price or to rebid the additional work.

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