State construction experts admitted the nine-month delay in construction of a new $41 million psychiatric hospital caused by a design flaw will create up to a $5 million deficit to finish the project.

Ted Kupper, director of the Division of Public Works, Design and Construction in the Department of Administrative Services, told the Executive Council that a $9.9 million settlement the state reached with an architectural and engineering firm over that flaw won’t be enough to complete the job.

“It’s complicated but definitely doable,” Kupper said.

The liability insurance company for SMRT Inc., the Portland, Maine, engineering firm, agreed to cover the settlement to address what happened when the state and designer discovered the concrete foundation for the proposed two-story building had i

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