Preserve Specific Claims When Requesting More Time on a Public Contract

Reviewed September 7, 2026.

A time-extension request can also waive claims if the contract requires detailed reservations. In Matter of LAWS Construction Corp. v. Contract Dispute Resolution Board, 145 AD3d 523 (2016), the First Department upheld determinations that a broadly worded list in the sixth extension request did not adequately preserve the claims at issue.

The contractor could not rely on the City's treatment of earlier requests to overcome the contract's anti-estoppel provision and the general limits on estoppel against government entities. The court also upheld treatment of one claimed cost increase as delay damages barred by the contract.

Review the request before it is sent

Identify each reserved claim, its factual basis, affected work, dates and requested relief with the detail the contract requires. Check for releases in extensions, change orders and payment applications. A general reservation of “all rights” may not satisfy a specific requirement.

Keep the notices, supporting documents and proof of submission together. Seeking more time, preserving a compensation claim and pursuing the prescribed dispute procedure can involve separate obligations and deadlines.

Kushnick Pallaci PLLC assists clients throughout New York with public construction contracts and procurement. Contact 631-752-7100 or vtp@kushnicklaw.com.

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New York State Comptroller Bid Protests: Agency Appeals and Direct Protests

Reviewed September 7, 2026.

The Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) reviews protests concerning awards subject to its approval. Identify the procuring entity's procedure and the applicable deadlines immediately after an adverse decision.

The current OSC protest guidance distinguishes two routes:

• Agency determination appeal: generally file with OSC's Bureau of Contracts within ten business days after receiving the agency's protest determination. Deliver the required copies to the agency, successful bidder or original protester as applicable, and other participating parties.
• Direct protest: available in the circumstances specified by the rules, including lack of notice of an agency protest procedure or facts that could not reasonably have been known earlier. The stated deadline is ten business days after award notice or five business days after a requested debriefing, whichever is later. Where no award notice is provided, the guidance permits filing after award and before the Comptroller's final action.

These procedures do not govern every public contract. Preserve agency deadlines, debriefing requests and any separate judicial-review deadline; do not assume a protest automatically extends another remedy's time limit.

Kushnick Pallaci PLLC assists clients throughout New York with public construction procurement and bid protests. Contact 631-752-7100 or vtp@kushnicklaw.com.

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Six-Month Construction Claim Deadline Enforced in Dart Mechanical

Reviewed September 7, 2026.

In Dart Mechanical Corp. v. City of New York, 121 AD3d 452 (2014), the First Department enforced a six-month contractual deadline and dismissed a contractor's delay-damages claim against the City.

The deadline ran from the agency chief engineer's letter establishing substantial completion under the contract. The court found the period reasonable on that record. Payment-documentation procedures were independent of the delay claim and did not prevent the contractor from suing within the deadline.

Read the trigger, not just the number of months

The original headline could suggest the City lost a late claim; the decision instead barred the contractor's claim against the City. It does not establish that every six-month limitation is enforceable in every setting.

Review the executed agreement for substantial-completion certificates, termination notices, final-payment triggers, claim reservations and mandatory dispute steps. Record the actual triggering documents when received. A pending payment application or dispute over closeout documents does not automatically postpone a separate lawsuit deadline.

Kushnick Pallaci PLLC assists clients throughout New York with public construction contract disputes. Contact 631-752-7100 or vtp@kushnicklaw.com.

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Federal Miller Act and New York Public Payment Bonds: Different Deadlines

Reviewed September 7, 2026.

A payment bond can provide a recovery route when a contractor or supplier is unpaid on public work. First identify the public owner, the governing law, the claimant's contractual tier and the actual bond.

Federal projects

Under 40 USC § 3133, qualifying unpaid claimants generally must wait 90 days after their last covered work or materials before suing. A claimant contracting directly with a subcontractor, but not with the bonded contractor, must give that contractor the required notice within 90 days. Suit generally must begin within one year after the claimant's last labor or materials. Notice and suit are separate requirements.

The current FAR 28.102-1 generally requires payment and performance bonds for covered federal construction contracts exceeding $150,000, subject to its exceptions; smaller contracts may require alternative payment protection.

New York state and local projects

State Finance Law § 137 uses different rules, including a 120-day notice requirement for specified lower-tier claimants and a suit deadline tied to completion and acceptance of the public improvement, with a stated statutory exception. Do not import federal deadlines into a New York bond claim. Obtain the executed bond and preserve all potentially applicable deadlines promptly.

Kushnick Pallaci PLLC assists clients throughout New York with payment-bond claims and disputes. Contact 631-752-7100 or vtp@kushnicklaw.com.

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The Wicks Law Debate: Thresholds and Public Contracting

Updated September 7, 2026. New York's Wicks Law debate concerns the benefits and costs of awarding certain public construction trades separately. Whether separate contracts are required depends on the public owner, project, cost and applicable statutory exceptions.

Municipal building projects: the basic thresholds

General Municipal Law § 101 addresses specified building work undertaken by political subdivisions and their districts. Subject to statutory exceptions, the separate-specification requirements apply when the entire project cost exceeds:

• $3 million in New York City's five borough counties;
• $1.5 million in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties; or
• $500,000 in the other counties.

The specified trades are plumbing and gas fitting; heating, ventilation and air conditioning; and electrical work. The statute provides for separate bidding and awards for these categories. It expressly recognizes exceptions, including the provision in Labor Law § 222. Different rules may apply to a state agency or other public entity, so § 101 should not be treated as a universal description of every public project.

Section 101(5) also addresses sealed subcontractor lists when separate specifications are not required, including public-owner approval of later changes based on a legitimate construction need. Falling below a threshold does not eliminate every procurement requirement.

Why separate contracting remains debated

Supporters emphasize trade-contractor participation and direct competition for specialized work. Critics focus on the owner's coordination burden and the potential for schedule disputes among separate contractors. Those concerns should be evaluated against the actual procurement structure, scope assignments and project-management resources.

What bidders and owners should check

Identify the governing procurement statute and any authorized exception before organizing bid packages. Confirm who coordinates the trades, handles interface work, manages schedule changes and bears responsibility for delays. Review the bid documents together with the proposed contracts, rather than relying on a general description of Wicks Law.

Kushnick Pallaci PLLC assists with public construction contracts and procurement and construction contract review.

This overview focuses on General Municipal Law § 101 and provides general information, not a determination that a particular procurement method is authorized.

New York Public Payment Bonds: Completion and Acceptance Matter

Reviewed September 7, 2026.

This article originally reported a 2011 amendment. The current text of State Finance Law § 137(4)(b) generally bars a statutory payment-bond action brought more than one year after the public improvement has been completed and accepted by the public owner, except as provided in Labor Law § 220-g.

Completion alone and a claimant's last day on the job are not interchangeable with this statutory trigger. Obtain the agency's completion and acceptance records, identify what improvement the bond covers, and record the applicable suit deadline.

Earlier notice obligations still apply

The completion-and-acceptance rule does not eliminate § 137(3)'s separate notice requirements. Certain claimants with a direct contract with a subcontractor but no express or implied contract with the bonded contractor must give the prescribed notice within 120 days after their last covered labor or materials. A claimant should not wait for project acceptance to investigate that obligation.

Confirm whether the bond is statutory, private, federal or otherwise governed by different terms. Sending a demand, negotiating with a surety or filing a lien should not be assumed to extend the bond-action deadline.

Kushnick Pallaci PLLC assists clients throughout New York with public payment-bond claims. Contact 631-752-7100 or vtp@kushnicklaw.com.

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SCA Disqualification Challenges: Timing and Exhaustion in Surton

Reviewed September 7, 2026.

In Matter of Surton Construction Contracting Corp. v. New York City School Construction Authority, 81 AD3d 654 (2011), the Second Department affirmed dismissal of a contractor's Article 78 proceeding on procedural grounds.

The SCA had permanently disqualified Surton from further SCA work based on findings of repeated false or misleading prequalification submissions. Surton's challenge to that final determination was filed outside the four-month period. Its request for reconsideration did not extend or toll the deadline.

The separate challenge involving NYCHA was premature because Surton had not exhausted available administrative remedies and had not shown that doing so would be futile.

Protect both the submission and the challenge

Prequalification disclosures must be accurate and supported by records. If disqualification occurs, identify when the determination becomes final and binding, what administrative remedies remain, and when judicial review must begin.

The decision does not establish that every disqualification bars all future work for every public agency. It illustrates the serious consequences of inaccurate submissions and of pursuing review at the wrong time.

Kushnick Pallaci PLLC assists clients throughout New York with public-contract eligibility and procurement disputes. Contact 631-752-7100 or vtp@kushnicklaw.com.

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Late Public Payment-Bond Notice: Brer-Four and the Claimant’s Contractual Tier

Reviewed September 7, 2026.

In Brer-Four Transportation Corp. v. Zurich American Insurance Co., 78 AD3d 875 (2010), the Second Department dismissed a payment-bond claim because the required notice was late.

The claimant worked for Fleet, which performed trucking work under purchase orders on a New York City public project. The record established that Fleet was a subcontractor, rather than merely a material supplier. The claimant had no direct contract with the bonded general contractor and undisputedly failed to provide notice within the applicable 120-day period under State Finance Law § 137(3).

Identify the contracting chain early

Describe what each company actually undertook to do, and collect its agreement or purchase orders. A label such as supplier does not settle the legal classification. Record the claimant's last covered work and determine who must receive notice, what it must contain and how it must be delivered.

This is a New York statutory public-bond decision. Federal Miller Act bonds and private bonds can impose different requirements. The surety's response period is also a different issue from the claimant's notice deadline.

Kushnick Pallaci PLLC assists clients throughout New York with payment-bond claims. Contact 631-752-7100 or vtp@kushnicklaw.com.

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New York Mechanic's Lien Filing: A Preparation Checklist

Updated September 7, 2026. Before preparing a New York mechanic's lien, assemble the project records and identify the procedure that applies. A county clerk's acceptance of a form does not establish that the claim is enforceable.

Identify the project and claimant

Confirm whether the improvement is private or public, the owner's legal name and interest, the property description, your contracting party and your place in the contracting chain. Check any applicable local licensing requirements. Corporations and partnerships should address the business-identification requirements in the applicable statute, including the requirements for a foreign corporation.

Prepare an accurate claim file

Gather the contract, change orders, invoices, delivery records, payment history and first and last qualifying work dates. Reconcile credits and payments before calculating the amount. Separate amounts supported by lienable work or materials from other contract damages.

Lien Law § 9 specifies the contents and verification of a private-improvement notice, including claimant and contracting-party information, work or materials, unpaid amount, dates and property identification. Do not assume every clerical error automatically invalidates a lien: some issues involve substantial compliance or amendment under § 12-a. Equally, do not assume an expired or substantively defective lien can always be repaired.

Calculate the filing deadline separately

Under § 10, most private-improvement liens have an eight-month filing period measured from the relevant last work or materials. The usual period for a single-family dwelling is four months. These are calendar months; four months is not a fixed 120-day period.

The single-family definition excludes certain developer-owned dwellings in a subdivision filed with the municipality, where the statutory ownership and common-development-plan conditions are met. Section 10 also provides a 90-day period after retainage was due to be released for a lien for retainage. Evaluate those provisions against the actual project rather than assuming an exception applies.

A public-improvement lien uses different filing offices and requirements. Under § 12, it may be filed before the improvement is completed and accepted, and within 30 days after completion and acceptance. Do not substitute the date of your last invoice for that statutory event.

Plan service and proof before filing

For a private lien, § 11 addresses service on the owner within five days before or 30 days after filing. § 11-b requires certified-mail service on the specified contracting party and, for certain lower-tier claimants, the contractor. File the required proofs of service within 35 days after filing the lien. Public liens have their own service procedure under § 11-c.

Calendar the next step immediately

A private lien generally lasts one year unless properly continued. Under § 17, a first non-single-family extension may be filed; further extensions require court action. Single-family extensions require a court order. Foreclosure, notices of pendency and liens discharged by bond or deposit have additional requirements. Negotiations do not automatically keep a lien alive.

Kushnick Pallaci PLLC assists with mechanic’s lien preparation and disputes and lien foreclosure and defense. Call 631-752-7100 or see the firm’s current contact information.

The firm provides further information on filing a New York mechanic's lien and extending a lien.

This checklist is general information, not a completed filing or a deadline calculation for a particular claim.