 
Deficiencies Contract Modifications
AE Contract
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CONSTRUCTION
QUALITY CONTROL PLAN
The personnel at
Spencer Engineers, Inc. (SEI) believe that the contract documents that we
prepare are only an instrument required for the first step toward construction
of a facility, which is normally our final objective. The Engineers with SEI
are very experienced at performing construction contract administration to
assure that the contractor performs the work defined by the construction
contract. We provide construction contract administration, construction
monitoring, create and maintain daily log of the construction operations, shop
drawings, respond to RFI (requests for information), prepare contract change
order documentation, prepare cost estimating for field change orders, prepare
weekly construction reports, prepare monthly payment vouchers, review and
maintain contractor's project schedule, document the construction with digital
photographs, supervise and check laboratory sample testing, prepare
documentation for field change orders, conduct periodic jobsite meetings,
conduct or supervise training O&M personnel, prepare or supervise preparation of
O&M documentation, conduct or supervise start-up and commissioning, prepare
as-built drawings, provide home office support for large design contract
modifications, provide project start-up & commissioning. SEI personnel are also
experienced with assisting the COR (Contracting Officers Representative) or COTR
(Contracting Officers Technical Representative) with the construction contract
administration of federally funded Construction Contracts for the U S Army Corps
of Engineers, NASA, U S Navy, NIMA, and the USPS. The SEI personnel are very
experienced at performing the construction contract administration for The
Methodist Hospital - Houston, Exxon, The M. D. Anderson Cancer Center - Houston,
and all of our private corporate clients. These projects have been as large as
$10,000,000.00. We are available to perform contract administration during the
construction of our projects for the Government. We are willing to be appointed
as COR or COTR. The
SEI professional liability insurance carrier does not allow us to perform
inspection services, but does us to perform Construction Contract Administration
for our AE designed construction projects. (I think that these services are
identical to the Inspection services that we previously performed.) The Legal
Civil Courts system has determined that performing inspection services implies
day-to-day control and responsibility of each and every operation of the
contractor. When a personal injury on the project occurs, the AE has been found
partially responsible and liable if he is performing inspection services. Our
Contract Administration Services that we provide are essentially identical to
the Inspection Services that we provided until about fifteen years ago. SEI
normally performs the Contract Administration (CA) for all of our privately
funded projects. SEI normally assists the Government Contracting Officers
Technical Representative (COTR) with the Contract Administration (CA) for most
of our federal government funded projects. SEI is available to perform the
Contract Administration (CA) for your projects if requested. Our Construction
Contract Administration services generally consist of the following:
1.
CONSTRUCTION SUPERVISION:
We provide construction contract
administration, construction monitoring, create and maintain daily log of the
construction operations, shop drawings, respond to RFI (requests for
information), prepare contract change order documentation, prepare cost
estimating for field change orders, prepare weekly construction reports, prepare
monthly payment vouchers, review and maintain contractor's project schedule,
document the construction with digital photographs, supervise and check
laboratory sample testing, prepare documentation for field change orders,
conduct periodic jobsite meetings, conduct or supervise training O&M personnel,
prepare or supervise preparation of O&M documentation, conduct or supervise
start-up and commissioning, prepare as-built drawings, provide home office
support for large design contract modifications, provide project start-up &
commissioning.
2.
FIELD OFFICE:
During construction, the CA (at the home office for small projects and at the
jobsite for large projects) will be the initial contact point for both the
Construction Contractor and the Government to communicate with the AE.
Temporary Jobsite Offices (Trailer) will be set-up at the Jobsite. This field
office will have the full support of the home office technical design staff of
Spencer Engineers, Inc. on call at all times. We believe that the project
designers should also be utilized as much as possible as field inspectors. This
home office support would be available to provide interpretations of the
drawings when requested. This home office support would be available to prepare
any major field change orders. Home office personnel would be on call as
required to perform regular periodic project site visits as scheduled and/or as
requested either by the government and/or our field inspector. The services of
the field office would also include the inspection of the construction,
documentation of the daily progress of the construction, and the preparation of
periodic field reports for distribution to the Government, the Contractor and
the home office.
3.
CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT ADMINISTRATOR:
The prime purpose of the Construction Contract Administrator (CCA) is to
personally assure that the contractor is complying with the construction plans
and specifications and with the other contract requirements. A Registered
Engineer will always be permanently assigned as the project Contract
Administrator. The Government will be advised (in writing) when this personnel
assignment is even temporarily changed (for Vacation, Sickness, etc.) The CCA
will always be available for communications with the Government and/or the
Construction Contractor. The CCA will periodically visit the project jobsite to
support and monitor the Construction Monitor.
4.
CONSTRUCTION MONITOR:
During construction, the CCA will appoint a Construction Monitor (CM) to keep a
daily project log, and to be at the field office on the jobsite every day to
observe construction operations and report directly to the CCA. The CCA retains
responsibility for the actions of the CCA.
5.
DAILY LOG:
The services of the field office would consist of maintaining a daily log of the
construction operations as observed by and documented by the CM. This would
include photographs and narrative descriptions of the daily operations. The
entries of the daily log shall be copied and transmitted to the home office on a
daily basis.
6.
SHOP DRAWINGS:
The field office would also maintain a log of the shop drawings submittals from
the contractor, forwarding the shop drawings to the home office and to the
government for approval, information, modifications, or rejections in the field
office. Two copies of each submittal would be transmitted to the government for
comments, with one copy transmitted back to the field office with comments
before release of the shop drawings to the contractor. The field office would
be the primary responsible office for the maintaining the status and knowing the
location of all shop drawings submittals from the contractor at all times.
Copies of the final checked shop drawings with all comments from the Government,
the home office and the consultants would be transcribed onto the required
number of record shop drawing sets and distributed to the contractor, to the
Government and to the home office. Dual shop drawing records would provide
extra security in the event of a fire or other disaster at either office.
7.
RFI
(REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION):
The field office
would also maintain a log of the RFI requests submitted from the contractor and
will forward the RFI to the home office for clarification if the CM cannot
provide the answer to the request. RFI's will be submitted in a numbered
sequence and identified by the sequence number. The CM shall submit one copy
without answers to the government for information, and one copy with answers to
the government. The government may comment if desired. One answered copy will
be transmitted back to the field office, and the field office shall provide the
contractor with a copy of the answered RFI. The field office would be the
primary responsible office for the maintaining the status and knowing the
location of all RFI's from the contractor at all times. Copies of the final
answered RFI's would be on file at the jobsite and at the home office. Dual RFI
records would provide extra security in the event of a fire or other disaster at
either office.
8.
WEEKLY CONSTRUCTION REPORT:
The CM shall
generate a weekly report that will describe the construction progress the
previous week, the results of any materials testing, and any unusual
occurrences.
9.
MONTHLY PAYMENT VOUCHERS:
The CM shall review
the contractor's monthly payment vouchers and forward these vouchers to the CA
for approval. The CA will have the other various design disciplines visit the
site for additional verification of the construction partial payment when the CA
is not positive that partial payment is justified. SEI will always strive to
withhold sufficient funds to allow the project to be completed in the event that
the contractor declares bankruptcy and abandons the project. The CA assumes
ultimate responsibility for the validity of the partial payment to the
contractor.
10.
CONTRACTOR'S PROJECT SCHEDULE:
The CA and the CM will monitor the contractor's progress schedule on a weekly
basis and determine the adherence to the project schedule. SEI personnel are
familiar with several CPM software programs and some times create CPM programs
for delivery to the contractor as a starting point for scheduling the work of
the contract. The SEI architects and engineers are construction oriented and
have a good opinion of the time required for various construction operations.
11.
PHOTOGRAPHS:
Digital photography has allowed us to take a multitude of pictures during
construction without having to consider the cost pf photographic development.
We deliver these photographs on CD-ROM's to our clients for future reference.
These photographs will fully indicate all concealed utilities and concealed
construction features, and will hopefully minimize (eliminate) demolition
required for solutions to future maintenance problems.
12.
SAMPLE TESTING:
The CA would be responsible for taking concrete and other construction material
samples for testing. Local testing laboratories will be utilized if possible,
or one of our materials testing consultants can perform these services.
13.
FIELD CHANGE ORDERS:
The field office would have the capability of providing design and documentation
of small field change orders. SEI home office would be available for design and
documentation of larger scale field change orders if necessary.
14.
JOBSITE MEETING SPACE:
A jobsite office will consist of one office plus a conference room with a
conference table, folding chairs and a telephone dedicated for use by the owner
and/or architect. This facility will be supplied by the construction
contractor. This will be used for jobsite conferences and meetings. The
contractor may use the conference room when the AE and the Government
representatives are not on the project site.
15.
TRAINING O&M PERSONNEL:
The field office could be expanded with a small cadre of key home office
personnel to be the base of operations to furnish preliminary training for the
Government O&M personnel that might be newly assigned to the project.
16.
O&M
DOCUMENTATION:
The field office could be expanded with home office personnel to be the base of
operations to furnish O&M documentation services to the Government if required.
17.
START-UP AND COMMISSIONING:
The field office could be expanded with home office personnel to be the base of
operations to furnish plant start-up and commissioning services to the
Government if required.
18.
CONTRACT CHANGE ORDERS:
SEI prepares
construction contract field change orders to our construction projects for a
variety of reasons. User agencies requesting building changes to meet changing
mission or building function requirements can create contract modifications.
Sometimes facilities are constructed to house equipment that has not yet been
designed, and contract modifications are required to meet the equipment space
and utility requirements. AE contract drawings can have errors and omissions
that prevent project completion. Sometimes change order requests are created to
spend the entire contingency funding at the end of the project, rather than
return the funding. When we prepare change orders for our projects, we also
prepare independent construction cost estimates to establish a monetary amount
due the contractor for each contract modification.
19.
COST ESTIMATING:
SEI personnel prefer
the 12 Part systems estimating format proposed by the Department of State. SEI
personnel also use the CESWF (Corps of Engineers, Southwestern Division, Fort
Worth District) M-CACES (Minicomputer Aided Cost Estimating System) to derive
anticipated construction costs, current working cost estimates and final
government cost estimates. SEI personnel also use the NAFAC (U S Navy) CES
(Cost Estimating System) to derive anticipated construction costs, current
working cost estimates and final government cost estimates. We can also prepare
construction cost estimates using the NASA Format and Criteria. Using a
computer program to estimate or analyze costs helps to eliminate mathematical
errors and saves time. We have prepared the final government cost estimates for
all federally funded projects for the past 20 years, about 30 estimates per
year. All SEI designers are normally the construction cost estimators for their
projects. This keeps our designers abreast of current construction costs. We
prepare the "Final Government Cost Estimates" that are used at the project bid
openings in accordance with the FAR & DFAR. We also have the designers perform
construction contract administration for projects that they design to assure the
constructability of their designs.
20.
AS-BUILT DRAWINGS:
SEI normally
specifies that the contractor keep two sets of blue-line prints on the jobsite
for as-built record keeping as a part of the construction contract
requirements. The contractor will be contractually required to mark each hidden
feature and/or utility with an exact dimension so that these features may be
located for repair and/or addition after the construction is complete. The AE
will normally furnish the contractor with a set of CADfiles for the contractor
to up-date the drawings, or the marked-up blue lines will be given to the AE and
the AE will up-date the CADfiles and designate these files as the "AS-BUILT"
drawings
21.
HOME OFFICE SUPPORT:
We stress contractor control to insure that the project is constructed in
accordance with the contract requirements as defined with the contract
documents. We always have the actual designers involved in the contract
administration to check all of the shop drawings and be available for
consultation as a minimum involvement in the construction. Our designers
perform on-site construction progress observation visits (previously called
inspections) and prepare written reports that document the progress of the
construction and document any deficiencies in the construction that need to be
corrected. We require that the contractor’s questions documented through the
RFI (request for information) process. The original designers are normally
assigned to reply to contractor questions presented through the RFI process for
that particular discipline. The designers are also consulted for evaluation of
partial payments to the contractor during the construction process. Large
projects will have a “clerk of the works” furnished by SEI serving full time as
Construction Monitor (CM). Most Federal Agencies normally appoints a
Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) or a COTR to furnish daily jobsite
CA. The COR normally calls upon the AE for interpretation of the Contract
Documents.
22.
project START-UP & commissioning:
SEI describes
commissioning of a project as construction completion; energizing the systems;
loading the systems; starting all equipment; certifying that the systems operate
within specified contractual requirements; training of the operations personnel
to the point that they are understand the equipment and are comfortable
operating the equipment; and training of the maintenance personnel to the point
that they are able to safely maintain the equipment. SEI has been preparing
written documentation and conducting training sessions for the start-up,
operation, maintenance and commissioning of non-standard systems such as space
simulation systems, cryogenic circulation systems, VOC aeration systems, and
other special and complicated systems since 1965 at NASA-JSC. We normally
coincide user operating & maintenance personnel training with the start-up &
commissioning. We have performed commissioning duties for most of our major
construction projects.
22.1.
mechanical commissioning:
We provide our
mechanical engineers on-site for the equipment start-ups, water balancing, air
balancing, and operational testing for the commissioning of the HVAC systems.
This includes the certification of the air distribution system balancing, air
flows, water circulation system balancing, chiller capacity, boiler capacity,
controls, Utility Control/Energy Management System function/program/operation,
and thermal systems. We will include flow, temperature and pressure
measuring devices as required for accurate determination of operating conditions
into the contract drawings. We can provide all or part of these services
with the construction contractor providing all or part under the direction and
auspices of our contract administration services. We normally supply all
portable calibrated instrumentation equipment for field measurement of
temperatures, voltages, amperes, temperatures and flows when we are to certify
the performance of these systems. All test data measurement acquisition
will be performed and certified by one of our Registered Professional Engineers.
We normally coincide user operating & maintenance personnel training with the
start-up & commissioning. We have performed commissioning duties for most
of our major construction projects.
22.2.
electrical commissioning:
We provide our
electrical engineers on-site for the resistance certifications, equipment
energizing, load start-ups, phase balancing, power factor balancing, and
operational testing for the commissioning of the Electrical systems. This
includes the certification of the controls, Fire Alarm System, Nurse Call
System, Utility Control/Energy Management System function/program/operation, and
other systems. We can provide all or part of these services with the
construction contractor providing all or part under the direction and auspices of our contract
administration services. We normally supply all portable calibrated
instrumentation equipment for field measurement of temperatures, voltages,
amperes, temperatures and flows when we are to certify the performance of these
systems. All test data measurement acquisition will be performed and certified
by one of our Registered Professional Engineers. We normally coincide user
operating & maintenance personnel training with the start-up & commissioning.
We have performed commissioning duties for most of our major construction
projects.
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