Last night, Governor Newsom issued a public health order in the form of
Executive Order N-33-20.
ACEC California believes that the critical infrastructure aspects of the order, and a subsequent post on the Governor’s website regarding construction and housing construction, exempt our industry from yesterday’s order and allow our member firms to remain open and operational.
That said, if you are running into problems locally with clients, please contact
Brad Diede
or
Tyler Munzing
to let ACEC California know, so that we in turn can communicate with the Administration if there are problems.
For your reference, here is the updated post from the Governor’s website:
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“The California State Public Health Officer and Director of the California Department of Public Health is ordering all individuals living in the State of California to stay home or at their place of residence, except as needed to maintain continuity of operation of the
federal critical infrastructure sectors
, critical government services, schools, childcare, and construction, including housing construction.”
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In addition, our membership also fits into a number of the
16 critical sectors
, depending on what work they are actually doing. When
reading the FAQs
,
it appears that it is up to the local governments and firms to prioritize and decide for themselves what is and is not essential to the emergency effort. So, we suggest that firms check in with their clients to all be on the same page.
One of our member attorneys also recommends the following:
Communicate to your clients verbally and follow up immediately in writing (email and letter, return-receipt requested or other affirmative confirmation) with a message specific to the status of and impact on your firm’s services to the project (if any) and response plan being implemented for each project. You also should inquire as to any impacts your clients expect to face, e.g., delay of processing your firm’s invoices and approval of deliverables. Examples of impacts on your firm may include:
- Site observations and review of construction progress payment applications for a project, are limited or even prevented due to travel restrictions, recommendations regarding social distancing, and/or requirements by local authorities that projects cease;
- Inability of the firm to complete documents for the project per the previously established in the project schedule due to limitations on access to your office;
- Your firm’s ability to respond to and process construction administration phase submittals may be restricted or delayed;
- Your firm’s ability to perform internal procedures including coordination and review of consultant services and documents may be delayed;
Your firm should advise clients of the anticipated impact to your firm’s components of the design and project schedule due to any service disruptions and seek your clients’ consultation, advice, and agreement for revisions to the design and project schedule.
With this clarification it should encourage our profession to continue working on critical infrastructure improvements essential during this time, including hospital construction and upgrades, building schools, ensuring our roads and bridges are safe for first responders, running water systems and much needed home construction should continue as well. Of course, the health and safety of our firms’ employees is and will continue to be of the utmost priority.
But to repeat, if you are running into problems locally with clients, please contact
Brad Diede
or
Tyler Munzing
to let ACEC California know, so that we in turn can communicate with the Administration if there are problems.
We also encourage you to join ACEC National for informational webinars. Go to this
ACEC CORONAVIRUS RESOURCE CENTER
for information on that and federal efforts. And as you or your firm engages in work that takes you above and beyond for your public clients during this challenging time, please relay that information to
Tyler Munzing
at an appropriate time.
Thank you for your continued support of ACEC California and our industry at large! We are all in this together, and ACEC California continues to work for you!
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