Advice is sought to ascertain if a change order be issued or not to the contractor. This refers to the marine barriers to be installed on the seaside for King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to counter any possible intrusion on the western shores.
 
The related paragraph from the Project Proposal/ Bid package is as follows;
 
Installation of vessel barriers at all possible entry points for boats towards KAUST shoreline. Vessel Barriers are floatation devices that are crash rated against all types of sea vessels that may attempt to breach its formation. The detailed engineering design package must be able to provide proper anchoring of each vessel barrier formation to keep it afloat at its assigned location. Both vessel barrier assembly and its anchoring should be able to deter any unauthorized attempt to breach its formation – thereby providing a first line of defense against all threats posed by any sea vessels approaching the KAUST shoreline. Also, The detailed engineering package shall also provide a mechanism for a means to open or move the vessel barrier to allow passage of authorized sea vessels.       
 
During the detailed design phase three possible entry point locations were earmarked and a technical submittal was sent to KAUST for concurrence in January 2014 (Letter L-451/14 attached). The design included providing gates at two locations and the third location was to be fixed without any entry options as requested by KAUST. The fixed barrier was suggested because of a NAVAL base on the northern shores of KAUST. KAUST provided comments and asked for some clarifications on February 02, 2014. (Letter 14-0011 attached). PMT closed the comments and provided clarifications on February 05, 2014. Based on the above, an IFC was submitted in April 2014 and all KAUST comments were incorporated in May 2014, with no objection on proposed vessel/ marine barrier configurations.
 
The above correspondence was outcome of various meetings between KAUST and PMT to finalize the design and place orders for this custom manufactured long lead item (8 months) from Whisperwave (http://www.whisprwave.com/tag/maritime-security-barriers/). The items are on site now and installers from KAUST approved offshore vendors are assembling the marine barriers according to the agreed design. Moreover, all equipment to install the floating barriers in the sea have been mobilized.
 
KAUST has recently developed the King Abdullah Monument, which is located at the northern shores of KAUST. The intention is to make the Monument attractive to visitors and provide marine sports, whereby creating the need to have a gate in the (third) northern marine barrier. Due to the reason KAUST has requested to make the change in the design. The contractor has refused to make the change unless a change order is issued. The reasons given by the contractor are as follows;
 
1.	The marine barriers have been transported on 30 long bed trucks from Dubai and the carriage has been negotiated as a lump sum cost which the subcontractor has paid to the manufacturer.
2.	The waiting time for custom manufacturing and shipments for items required by new design is 3 months, which means the installation teams and marine equipment/ divers/ barges etc will have to demobilize after completing the current works.
3.	“Openingâ€ option is much more expensive as compared to “movingâ€ option, and the vendor has already provided two opening options, and is willing to provide the moving option for the third location at a negligible impact, which KAUST does not agree and requires all three barriers with opening options.
4.	Providing and installing the opening option during new installation will cost around 1.6 million SAR, whereas dismantling the fixed barrier later on to provide/ install the gate will cost 2.6 million.
5.	The subcontractor intends to airship the new parts from another project to complete KAUST requirements at a cost of 1.6m approximately and ensures that if a change order is provided, the work can be completed in 2 weeks.
 
Under the circumstances, and to avoid any delays and additional costs to the project, PMT proposes that 2 out of the 3 locations with frequent sea traffic can be provided with the open-able option via gates, whereas the third location with relatively minimum traffic can have the movable option. KAUST has rejected the PMT suggestion so far and thus PMT refers to the law department to advise if the contractor shall be awarded with a change order or not. Your assistance is appreciated and if you need more info please call me on the numbers below.
