A. All Change Orders and Contract Modifications shall be in writing. When the total of Change Orders, Contract Modifications or price adjustments on any Contract of $30,000 or more exceeds ten percent (10%) of the original Contract amount, approval of the Liaison Committee in charge of the Using Agency and the Finance & Audit Committee is required. Upon approval, it shall be the responsibility of the requesting department to obtain a Resolution from the County Board authorizing such price adjustment before such price adjustment shall be effective.
B. When a Change Order or series of Change Orders authorize or necessitate an increase or decrease in either the cost of a Contract by a total of $10,000 or more, or the time of completion by a total of 30 days or more, the authorized Employee or official shall make a determination in writing that:
1. the circumstances said to necessitate the change in performance were not reasonably foreseeable at the time the Contract was signed, or
2. the change is germane to the original Contract as signed, or
3. the Change Order is in the best interests of the County and authorized by law.
4. the written determination and the written Change Order resulting from that determination shall be retained in the Contract File which shall be open to the public for inspection.
C. When any Change Order or series of Change Orders for any public works Contract authorizes or necessitates any increase in the Contract price that is fifty percent (50%) or more of the original Contract price or that authorizes or necessitates any increase in the price of a subcontract under the Contract that is fifty percent (50%) or more of the original subcontract price, then the portion of the Contract that is covered by the Change Order must be resubmitted for bidding in the same manner for which the original Contract was bid.
D. The foregoing paragraph A. does not apply to Division of Transportation Contracts relating to the planning, design, Construction and maintenance of highways, bridges, and culverts, so long as the Change Orders, in the aggregate, do not exceed the total dollar amount previously approved by Resolution of the County Board; however where a Change Order will result in the aggregate of all Change Orders exceeding the total dollar amount as previously approved by the County Board, such Change Order shall be subject to the procedures contained in paragraph A. above.
E. The Director of Purchasing or designee retains the right to get County Board approval to sign all Change Orders and to consent to Contract assignments. All such Change Orders shall be approved in writing by the head of the requesting department before execution of the Change Order by the Director of Purchasing. No Change Order may exceed the threshold set for Sealed Bids and cannot exceed a County Board approved Resolution. Additionally, the Director of Transportation/County Engineer is authorized to sign Change Orders for projects relating to planning, design, Construction and maintenance of highways, bridges, and culverts.
(Ord. 7741, passed 7-16-2019)