County Courthouse Expansion Preconstruction Management

Published September 18, 2024

Estimated at $44 million dollars, the county courthouse expansion project is a high-visibility capital project that has been anticipated for over twenty years. The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the County in managing the courthouse expansion capital project prior to commencing construction. The focus was on cost estimates, procurement practices, project management techniques, and benchmarking against other capital projects.

What was found:

Estimated costs aligned with other Oregon courthouse construction projects. However, the final cost of the courthouse expansion will be known only after the structure is fully finished and occupied.

While the Facilities Department followed many best practices in project management, the project experienced delays to reach key preconstruction milestones. These delays could have been better anticipated and managed more effectively if the department had adopted a structured framework, policies, and procedures.

Cost control is crucial to ensuring the County maximizes the value of its investment in large capital projects. Undefined cost-control provisions in the construction contract decreased confidence that the County will fully optimize its future spending.

Although the department’s requests for proposals emphasized the initiatives to support under-represented businesses, contract language did not reflect the commitment.

What was recommended:

We recommended that the Facilities Department:

• Implement a project management framework.
• Develop written policies and procedures using the framework.
• Improve contract and general condition templates for future construction contracts.

Recommendation Update:

Nine months later, the Department implemented all the recommendations and is in a better position to ensure that large projects are delivered on schedule and on budget. The Department developed a Construction Manual with improved practices for risk assessment and oversight. It also took steps towards improving construction manager/general contractor contract language to hold the contractor accountable and control costs.