Opinion ID: 2675239
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Superior Contract

Text: Under the Superior contract, Agra was required to pay Central States the “Cost of the Work” plus a fee of 12% up to a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) of about $11,900,000. Agra agreed to make monthly progress payments based on the labor and value of the materials provided during the time period covered by each monthly pay application. If Agra caused a delay in Central States’s performance or Central States encountered unforeseen increased costs in performing the work, Central States was required to send Agra a notice and claim. 2 Central States could then ask Agra to modify the Superior contract, but any changes in the payment amounts, additions or deletions to the work, or changes to the completion date could only be made by a change order that was executed and authorized by Agra’s Project Manager and one of Agra’s officers. App. 3253. Agra had five days to approve or reject a change order once Central States submitted it. If the change order was not accepted or rejected within that time period, Central States was to continue 2 The contract had specific notice and filing deadlines. If Agra caused a delay in Central States’s performance, Central States was required to send Agra a “delay notice” within three days of the inception of the delay or Central States’s discovery of the delay. App. 3256. After giving Agra notice of the delay, Central States then was required to file a “delay claim” within twenty-one days of the occurrence of the delay. App. 3369. Central States waived its right to an extension of the subcontract time if it failed to give timely notice of the delay. Central States was also obligated to give written notice of additional costs within twenty-one days after the occurrence of an event Central States believed involved additional costs and to submit a claim within thirty days of the event’s occurrence. -4- within the original scope of the work. The contract required that “Work performed by [Central States] that exceeds the scope of the work in the Contract without a Change Order shall be at the expense of [Central States].” App. 3369. In sum, Central States was required to follow three steps to obtain a valid extension of time to complete work, change the materials used, change the scope of work, or seek reimbursement for increased costs: (1) give notice; (2) submit a claim; and (3) obtain an approved change order. Agra was required to “expedite written responses” to Central States’s change order requests and claims and notify Central States of any changes in the construction or submittal schedules. App. 3248.