Prince Lobel Construction Group Partner Michael Sullivan was quoted in a March 8, 2022 Law360 article. The article, titled “Painful Big Dig Memories Steel Mass. for Infrastructure Influx,” discusses the Commonwealth’s expected influx of federal infrastructure fund and the potential for fraud, especially considering the painful lessons learned during the troubled Big Dig project. The Big Dig was a massive tunnel project through the heart of downtown Boston that saw costs balloon to more than three times the initial $2 billion estimate and delays that pushed the date of completion back nearly a decade.
In February, the Commonwealth outlined its initial plan to use the $9.5 billion over the next five years to upgrade roads, bridges, public transportation, and environmental infrastructure. The article notes that “infrastructure fraud can take shape in a number of ways, from collusion by grant officers and misrepresentation by bidders to bribery, kickbacks and other types of conspiracies.”
The article continues: “Even if some of the issues that plagued the Big Dig do not dog major projects in the coming years, disputes are inevitable, says Prince Lobel Tye LLP partner Michael Sullivan. “You’re going to see more of the traditional types of disputes — someone doesn’t get paid, someone doesn’t do proper work — and, if they can’t deal with that, figuring out how to continue the project and maybe deal with the dispute later,” Sullivan said. “I think those are going to happen with greater frequency.”
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