3720 - Board of Claims

eturn to the site when they left in mid-October of 2001 without touching Sections Two or One.
Instead, he ignored Intercounty’s problems for six months.
When questioned at hearing as to why he failed to act during this time, Mr. Pilosi
testified, inter alia, that he acted on this job in accord with his general practice. Specifically, he
noted that contractors on other jobs would frequently “cry wolf” when they experienced utility
delays. Accordingly, when he heard Intercounty's complaints, he deliberately took no action in
the early months of the Project.
Mr. Pilosi also testified that he did not take any action to contact the Utilities during the
first six months of the Project because he felt it was not his job to call the Utilities after the
Project began. He instead insisted, at hearing, that it was Intercounty’s responsibility under the
Contract to handle the Utilities directly once work began. This position, espoused at hearing by
Mr. Pilosi and argued by PennDOT, will be addressed further below. We would note, however,
that this position is nonetheless contradicted in fact by Mr. Pilosi’s statements at the June 11 prejob
meeting; Mr. Sebastianelli’s actions during the Project; and Mr. Pilosi’s actions after January
2002 when the pole relocation was already badly delayed. Starting in January 2002, Mr. Pilosi
reversed his earlier behavior and became active in calling the Utilities to meetings, urging the
Utilities to come to the site, requesting their work schedules and seeking resolution of the
ongoing "guy wire problem" on the Project.
Although we can understand why Mr. Pilosi may not have felt the need to act for the first
few months of the Project, and would have taken some comfort that the Utilities were at least
working on site between late August to mid-October 2001, we find little merit in Mr. Pilosi's
rationale that he was justified in ignoring the utility pole relocation problems on this Project for
the entire six months because other contractors on other projects often "cry wolf." Moreover, we
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