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Tag: Timothy O’Brien

Audit Finds Denver Oversight Failures Added Millions to 16th Street Project
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Audit Finds Denver Oversight Failures Added Millions to 16th Street Project

By Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette Surprise historic sewer discovery delayed completion a year, cost $18M The Denver Auditor recently found significant oversight and contracting problems with the $175.6 million 16th Street Improvement Project, including an $18 million contract increase and a nearly one-year extension that bypassed City Council review. The report also found that inadequate planning for historic brick sewers contributed to the overruns, even after one of the three qualified contractors withdrew from bidding because of utility risks. The city proceeded without fully investigating those risks, which later contributed to the $18 million increase and nearly yearlong delay. “Because the city did not consider the sewer while planning...
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A change order, not an amendment: How Denver moved $18 million past City Council
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

A change order, not an amendment: How Denver moved $18 million past City Council

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice A contractor digging up 16th Street hit a brick sewer the city hadn't mapped. The cost of Denver's signature downtown project jumped by $18 million, the finish line slid back nearly a year, and City Council found out after the deal was done. That sequence sits at the heart of a new audit from Denver Auditor Timothy O'Brien, released Aug. 20. The report walks through how the 16th Street Improvement Project grew from a $149 million council approval in 2021 to a final cost of about $175.6 million, and how the single biggest change along the way never came to a council vote. How $18 million skipped the council The Department of Transportation & Infrastructure (DOTI) hired PCL Construction Services to rebuild the roa...
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