Mandy Schermer's practice focuses on the representation of owners, design professionals, developers, and contractors throughout the construction process. Her experience includes contract drafting and negotiation, contract administration, and litigation or alternative dispute resolution of claims for delay, impact and acceleration, design or construction defects, and mechanics lien foreclosures.
Most recently, Ms. Schermer has worked in the field with a large utility client on a multi-billion dollar complex construction project including contract negotiation, contract management and administration, project execution, claim avoidance, and dispute resolution through on-site assistance with the client's day-to-day review of contracts, change orders, and other commercial issues. Additionally, her experience includes assisting regulated utilities develop a prudence strategy for rate making regulatory proceedings. Ms. Schermer's experience includes the following areas:
Procurement/Contract Negotiation. Ms. Schermer has negotiated multi-million dollar construction contracts utilizing various contracting methodologies (Engineer, Procure and Construct ("EPC"), Time and Material, Unit Price, Fixed-Price, and Target Price arrangements). Her experience includes all aspects of the procurement process including assisting clients to develop Request for Proposal documents, planning and executing pre-bid meetings, assisting the project team in responding to bidder questions, analyzing legal and commercial aspects of bid responses, and contract negotiation. Additionally, Ms. Schermer has assisted clients in revising form contract documents and procurementrelated processes and procedures that address the project's needs, the client's needs, and industry best practices. She also has experience providing training to project engineers, contract managers, and procurement personnel regarding procurement-related policies and best practices for project documentation and contract administration.
Contractor Claims/Dispute Resolution. Ms. Schermer advises owners of long-term projects regarding claim avoidance strategies and resolution of contractor claims and disputes in a timely manner to eliminate or mitigate any disruption to the project. She has worked on-site with an energy client’s procurement team regarding change order analysis and contractor claim resolution, reviewing and tracking all formal inbound and outbound commercial correspondence, providing written reports and contract analysis regarding commercial issues, and providing legal advice to the project team on a daily basis.
Regulatory Consulting. Ms. Schermer has experience supporting and advising a regulated utility regarding the recovery of construction costs in a ratemaking proceeding. This includes assistance to the project team and corporate executives regarding appropriate documentation for project costs including budget variances, executed change orders, and contractor claim settlements. Ms. Schermer also advises utility owners regarding witness preparation, attorney-client privilege issues, confidentiality of commercially sensitive project documentation and related regulatory testimony/filings, drafting written testimony for state regulatory proceedings, and drafting and responding to data requests.