As stipulated under Article 8.6 “Failure to Complete Work on Time”,

of the

Standard Specification

, the time established for completion of the work is an essential element of the contract. If a Contractor does not complete the work within the contractual number of working days, continue charging working days. For each day over the contracted time, damages will need to be assessed in accordance with the contract.

Liquidated damages are calculated costs based upon the Department’s contract administration expenses for managing a contract beyond the calculated contract time. Liquidated damages are not a penalty, but a method for recovering the Department’s costs and damages due to the additional time needed to complete the project. These costs are reevaluated periodically to stay current. The rate of liquidated damages has typically been included in 2014 contracts by Special Provision pertaining to, “Schedule of Liquidated Damages”. As stated in this Special Provision, the rate of liquidated damages to be used in a given contract is based upon the original bid value of the contract; if the value of the contract changes, the value of the liquidated damages does not.

Additional Project Specific Liquidated Damages (APSLD), when applicable, are typically identified within a contract’s General Notes, are calculated using the Road User Cost (RUC) Excel Calculator and may be associated with the timely completion of project milestones or may be applied at the end of a project determined to have a significant impact on the traveling public as an additional disincentive to help ensure timely completion. Each year, the Department issues updated road user costs for use in A+B bid contracts, incentives/disincentives for milestones and project substantial completion, and projects with lane rental provisions. , “Determination of Additional Project-Specific Liquidated Damages,” should be used to evaluate APSLDs for all projects except Preventative Maintenance (PM) and Non-Freeway Resurfacing or Restoration (2R).