Executive Summary
8.0 Risk Assessment
There are always risks involved with any project, and a project
of this magnitude is no exception. These risks can be broadly
described as risks that could impact the project schedule and/
or the project budget. By identifying these risks ahead of time,
steps can be taken to mitigate them.
Risks to Schedule
Design / Pre-Construction Phase
The Town of Palm Beach will be dependent on FPL, Comcast
and AT&T to produce detailed design documents for their
respective electrical and communications networks. From
these plans, the Town’s design team led by Kimley-Horn
prepares the bid documents used by the Town to procure the
contractor to construct the work. The risks inherent with
work being produced by entities not directly contracted under
the Town is the Town’s limited control over the activities
of those entities. For example, in the event of a significant
weather impact, resources from each of the affected utilities
may be reallocated to assist with the recovery efforts. Utility
owners prioritize the provision of service to existing customers
over design work. In such an event, the design work could be
TOWN-WIDE UNDERGROUNDING OF UTILITIES PROGRAM
MASTER PLAN DOCUMENT
delayed under recovery efforts are complete. Therefore, this
would have a negative schedule impact.
The Town will need to secure the required equipment
easements prior to construction. Over the life of this project,
hundreds of easements will be required from property owners
in the community. The negotiation process to procure these
easements can take time, especially with absent or unwilling
property owners. As a last resort, the eminent domain process
can be employed but this too can be time consuming and
could lead to delays in beginning the construction.
Risks to schedule are also present during the bid phase.
If the plans are unclear, or assign too much risk to a bidding
contractor, undesirable consequences may result. Bid prices
may be submitted that are higher than expected to account for
the ambiguities or perceived risk, or qualified contractors may
choose not to bid on the project. The latter is especially true
in a robust economy where there is plenty of work in the local
market. The re-bidding a project in an effort to receive more
competitive bids would have an undesirable schedule impact.
Construction Phase
The project schedule could be delayed during the construction
phase due to a number of factors including, but not limited to
the following:
y y Contractor’s ability to complete the work in the desired
time frame due to staffing, equipment or sub-contractor
issues
y y Difficulty in coordinating the various utility owners to
perform those work elements that cannot be performed
by the Town’s contractor in a timely manner. For example,
AT&T will not allow any forces other than their own to
install their cabling and equipment.
y y Unforeseen sub-surface conditions can result in project
delays while alternate designs are performed to deal with
the unforeseen condition
y y Difficulty in coordinating the overhead to underground
service conversion with absent or unwilling property
owners. Communication service swaps can sometimes
require attic access and must be performed by the utility
company. Absentee or unwilling owners can make this
access very difficult to obtain.
y y Property owners whose service entrance equipment does
not meet the National Electric Code (NEC) will need to
have these service entrances replaced prior to conversion
y y Difficulty in coordinating the various utility owners
to perform the aerial cabling and utility pole removal.
This work must be performed by the utility owners and
cannot be started until all services are converted to the
underground system.
y y Adverse weather events during construction, such as
tropical depressions or storms, hurricanes or extended
periods of rain. Utility owners prioritize the provision
and restoration of service to existing customers and will
abandon a conversion project until recovery efforts are
complete.
Risks to Budget
Design / Pre-Construction Phase
The risk of cost overruns in the design phase is relatively
small. Cost overruns in the design phase could result from the
Town adding scope to the project.