Jill Midkiff, 502/564-4240

FRANKFORT, Ky.— The Finance and Administration Cabinet has directed Messer Construction Company, contractor for the Transportation Cabinet Office Building, to immediately begin removing defective computer cables from the building.

The Cabinet notified Messer that it has 72 hours to provide a schedule for removing the defective cabling and replacing with cabling that meets the contract specifications and completes the construction project without further unnecessary delay. The commonwealth has reserved the right to approve the subcontractor chosen to perform this work.

In late August, EOP Architects of Lexington, the Cabinet’s architectural and engineering consultants, discovered some contract compliance issues with the computer wiring installed in the new Transportation building. Independent testing confirmed that some of the computer cabling installed in the building is not in conformance with the contract, which requires that “the contractor shall, at no cost in time or money to the owner, correct work rejected by the owner or by the architect as defective or failing to conform to the contract.”

Gordon Duke, Secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet, stated: “The specifications for the wiring were developed with both current and future needs in mind. We want to make sure that, when the employees move into this building, they have state-of-the-art technology to do their jobs.”

Construction on the 425,000 square foot office building began February 2002 and is to be completed in Fall 2003. The General Assembly approved the $115 million funding for the building, two adjacent parking garages and a separate central utility plant that will ultimately serve other state facilities in the downtown area.

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