ASSIGNMENT
You are the Project Manager on an estimated $80 million multi trade construction project that is publicly funded. You are four weeks away from advertising the project for bid. The Owner wants to add a new scope of work to the project that will take about six months to design, but does not want to hold up the bid schedule. Also, the project includes relocating some overhead electric lines and the project includes making structural repairs to a bridge deck. The extent of the structural repairs will not be evident until the layer of existing asphalt is removed from the bridge.
How would you address the following items through the bid phase of the project?
- The additional scope that the Owner wants to add to contract.
- Relocating the electrical lines
- The structural repairs.
Respond to the following students
Student #1
In this project there is 4 weeks, or 1 month, until the the project is advertised for bid. With this being said, the work for the project most likely will not begin for several months after the project is advertised for bid. However, the new scope of work that has been requested by the owner needs to be taken into account. It is said that this additional work would take about 6 months to design. Therefore if this is going to be included in the work that is to be bid on, contingency measures should be put in place. In addition to the contingency within the bid package, this entire aspect can be included as a change order as needed further into the project. The change order is not ideal for work that is to be done in the early stages of construction, however work done towards the end of the project can be accounted for in a change order.
Overhead electric lines are to be relocated in this project. My suggestion for this specific work would be to install the poles when construction is underway and any pavement is milled and relocate the overhead lines after the completion of the project. This allows for the poles to be installed without having to disturb the ground a second time.
Another line of work for this project involves making structural repairs to the bridge. Although these repairs are done after the existing bridge deck is removed, investigations should be done before this. Investigating the structural integrity of the bridge will allow for proper planning to complete the work in the most efficient manner. This also will reduce the risk of coming across unforeseen issues causing the need for a change order.
Student # 2
Since the Owner still wants to go to bid with the additional scope still taking 6 months to design the key element that would need to be added is a contingency cost that is built in. Due to the large nature of the changes, there are bound to be things that may need to be edited along the way among those changes, so the best way for the owner to cover for themselves would be to build in a contingency cost larger than they may normally build in. In addition, it should be noted in the bid release that the contract will not be starting for an additional 6 months, which would potentially change the plans of the contractors, as some contractors may be booked now but would be more available in the future, allowing the owner to choose between more bids. Contrarily, some contractors may not want to take the work due to the aforementioned contingency, since they do not know the full scope of the designs yet they may not want to assume the job if it is something that they would not feel comfortable doing.
Regarding the electrical lines, the bid promotion would need to ensure that the contractor has the capabilities and is aware of the need to relocate the electrical lines. They would need to ensure to minimize the effect of moving the lines regarding outgoing power to residents or businesses. Finally, with the bridge repairs, it may be best to once again add in additional contingency costs or extra value to the project. The other option would be to do that portion of the project on its own basis and make it a unit price project since no one is quite sure of the conditions, so a lump sum project would be risky for all sides. A unit price contract allows the contractor and the owner to simply pay as they need depending on how good or bad the condition of the bridge is in
