SECTION 69. Design and construction contingency reserve account

The governor's and the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance capital facility budget shall include provision for establishment of a design and construction contingency reserve account, the purpose of which shall be to provide monies for the design and construction of capital facility projects by state agencies which, because of unforeseeable circumstances, not within the contemplation of the using or the administering agency, and for justifiable reasons, would cause the project cost to exceed the sums then appropriated or authorized therefor. Allocation of monies from such reserve account shall be made according to section 62. Priority in the allocation of monies from such account shall be given to projects for which the delay in seeking monies through the normal capital budget process provided for by this chapter would cause a serious loss in use of the capital facility if it were unavailable when needed or cause a percentage increase in total project cost substantially larger than that for other projects at a comparable stage of progress.

In no case shall a request for monies be made or monies be allocated for projects for which a similar request is currently being considered according to the capital budget process for the current fiscal year provided for by this chapter, or which was so considered during the capital budget process for the previous fiscal year and failed to receive an appropriation or authorization. Further, in no case shall a request for monies be made or monies be allocated if as a result of the review provided for by section 62 the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance finds (a) that the proposal for use of such monies will result in a substantial deviation from any study or program for the project most recently approved by him or from any design for the project most recently approved by the administering agency or (b) that the proposal for use of such monies will result in a cumulative increase in the number of gross square feet to be constructed in the project in excess of 10 per cent of the number most recently specified in an appropriation or authorization for the project.

Requests for monies from the design and construction contingency reserve account may be made by state agencies which are the using agencies of those projects.

In establishing priorities and procedures for allocation of monies from the design and construction reserve account pursuant to section 62, the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance shall establish specific limits for the amount of money which may be allocated from the account for any particular project, the amount which may be allocated for the construction of any particular project excluding price inflation contingencies, and the amount which may be allocated for the construction of any particular project for price inflation contingencies. In no event shall the cumulative amount allocated from the account to any one capital facility project exceed 10 percentum of the total cost specified by the appropriation or authorization for that project.