Some parts of UIHC clinic will use project labor agreement

IOWA CITY – Four bid packages totaling just more than $7 million will fall under a project labor agreement for the construction of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinic's new outpatient clinic at Iowa River Landing in Coralville.

But the remainder of the contracts - those that have yet to be bid or finalized - on the $72 million outpatient clinic will not use the project labor agreement, after Gov. Terry Branstad's executive order, issued in January, banned project labor agreements on public works projects in Iowa.

It took some weeks for regents officials to sort out what the executive order meant for the UI Hospitals and Clinics project at Iowa River Landing. But Regents Executive Director Robert Donley on March 11 sent letters to Doug True, UI senior vice president for finance and operations, and Scott Smith, president of the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Building & Construction Trades Council, outlining how the change affected the UI project.

Basically, any contract finalized before Jan. 14 will use a project labor agreement; contracts after that will not use the collective bargaining agreement that defines the terms and conditions of employment.

Donley on Thursday said budget and timeline on the clinic project remain on track. The $72 million total budget includes the building cost and furniture and equipment.

There are four bid packages already awarded, and those packages cover seven projects, including foundation work, elevators, site paving and landscaping. The total of those is $7.03 million.

The bid packages that have yet to be bid, which will not use the project labor agreement, are a hoisting package, a shell package and interior fit-out of the clinic.

The state Board of Regents had negotiated a project labor agreement for construction of the Iowa River Landing medical clinic with the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Building and Construction Trades Council. The regents approved using a project labor agreement for the first time on this project in August 2010 in a split 5-3 vote of the board.