Court Facility Projects – Funding and Contracts
Last Updated: March 11, 2010
**Court Facility Projects – Funding and Contracts **
The money that currently is financing the acquisition of land and contracts with architects for the $5 billion court facility improvement program remains threatened in the Legislature. Some judges and the court employee unions are asking the Legislature to divert the money to the court system general fund to offset budget cuts. The AIACC is a part of a coalition to protect the capitol improvement money. The coalition includes other design professional associations, contractor and sub?contractor groups, construction unions, and the Administrative Office of the Courts.
The AIACC also is working with the AOC in an attempt to change the indemnification clause in the AOC’s standard contract for architectural services. The indemnification clause the AOC is asking architectural firms to sign is particularly worrisome to architectural firms: it would require the architectural firm to pay the defense costs of the AOC for any claim that the firm is at fault, a liability the firm has even if the firm is later found not to be at fault. AIACC staff and representatives from RA&MCO, Victor O. Schinnerer, Terra, and Travelers met with AOC staff to discuss this clause, and The AIACC sent the AOC recommended changes to that clause. The AIACC is keeping firms recently selected for AOC projects aware of our discussions, and invites firms with an interest in the AOC contract negotiations to contact Mark Christian, AIACC Director of Legislative Affairs, for more information. Mark can be reached at .
