Overview of Today Getting started Getting the Job –Contracts –Bidding Process.

EGNR 300

Getting Started andOther Preliminaries

--------------------------ENGR 300

Dept. of Computer Science and EngineeringUniversity of Bridgeport, CT 06601

Overview of Today

• Getting started

• Getting the Job– Contracts– Bidding Process

Getting Started - Organizing the Team

• Assign roles and responsibilities– May evolve over time

• Employ team building– “Can you afford to not to do it?”

• Develop performance review procedures and criteria

Getting Started - Assessment Background(taken from D. Woods, Problem-Based Learning: How to Gain

the Most from PBL)

• Assessment is judgement. We may:– equate it with exams– dread and avoid it– equate assessment of performance with assessment

of our own personal value

• Assessment can:– help us improve and grow– gives us a sense of accomplishment– removes uncertainty


the Most from PBL)

• To develop an assessment program:– Set explicit goals

• If you value a skill or behavior, express it as an observable goal

– Include measurable criteria– Goal and criteria should be achievable with the

recourses available– Collect evidence to show satisfaction of goal


the Most from PBL)

Yesterday Ted’s score was 85 for 18 holes. He was particularly frustrated because on the #12, par 3hole he had 7. Today Ted wants to improve his performance on #12. He wants par.

Goal?Criteria?Achievable?Evidence?

Peer Reviews: Growth Through Feedback(taken from D. Woods, Problem-Based Learning: How to Gain

the Most from PBL)

To improve, we need feedback. To function in a team, we need team/individual

accountability. A goal is to corral the tendency to judge; to learn how to respond to positive feedback; and to learn how to give

constructive feedback.

Giving Positive Feedback for Growth(taken from D. Woods, Problem-Based Learning: How to Gain

the Most from PBL)

• Identify 5 strengths for every 2 things you feel they might wish to change.

• Provide positive feedback, often, honestly, and as soon as possible after the noteworthy

• Responding to positive feedback– Thank you.

Giving Negative Feedback(taken from D. Woods, Problem-Based Learning: How to

Gain the Most from PBL)

• Why– Focus on the value it will be to the recipient rather

than on the power or release it provides

• What– Give the amount of information that can be

productively used (rather that the amount you want to unload).

– Focus on behavior and not personality• Separate people and personalities from the behavior



• What– Focus on descriptions of behaviors and not advice or

judgement– Focus on observations rather than inferences,

interpretations, conclusions.• Focus on what was said and not why it is said

– Show ownership of ideas, opinions– Cite a specific situation rather than the abstract– No recriminations for past events…here and now, not

there and then.



• How– Equality orientated rather than superiority

orientated– No shouting, table pounding, foul language or

personal attacks

• When– The recipient must be ready for it…Time and

place for everything.

Responding to Negative Feedback(taken from D. Woods, Problem-Based Learning: How to Gain

the Most from PBL)

• Give feedback assertively• Assume intent is to help you improve

– Thanks for your feedback. Resist the temtation to elaborate, justify, and rationalize.

• Take it with a grain of salt– The Can’t Please Everyone Rule:

• 10% are going to hate you no matter what• 10% will think you walk on water• Look at the feedback from the middle 80%.

1. Handshake Exerciseand 2. Work-Out Class Peer and Self-Evaluation Standards

Getting Started - Organizing the Team

• Set team standards– meetings– unacceptable and acceptable behavior– document standards

• Identify your resources– team member skills

• also useful in project qualification reports

– computers and software

• Incorporate performance incentives• Use some kind of TQM

Total Quality Control & the Small Project

“The more quality you build into anything, the more efficiency is improved, costs are reduced

and profits increased.” taken from the Manual for Special Project Management by

The Construction Industry Institute Publication

The TQM Process

• Quality is customer satisfaction (more than just conforming to req’ts)– External and internal customers

• Employee involvement– team approach to problem solving

• Employee empowerment– delegation of authority, responsibility and accountability

• No end to TQM– continuous improvement

The TQM Sub-Processes

• Strategic Planning– vision and game plan

• Delivery– implementing the strategic plans

• Improvement– data on past performance fed back into planning

Getting Ready to Get the Job

• Contracts– Key role in defining the rules by which the

construction industry operates– Three necessary elements to a contract:

• An Offer

• Acceptance

• Consideration

Contract Offertaken from S. Bartholomew, Construction Contracting

• Can be verbal or written, but must be sufficiently clear and definitive to be legally binding

“I’ll paint your house for a price of $3000 during the third week of September provided my other work will let me.”OR“I’ll paint your house for a price of $3000. My price includes scraping off all existing loose, flaking paint to bare wood, priming bare wood with Sherwin Williams exterior primer, and applying two coats of Sherwin Williams exterior house enamel, colors of your choice, one for the body and one for the trim. Glazing work or repair of downspouts and drains is not included. The work will commence in the …..

Contract Offer taken from S. Bartholomew, Construction Contracting

• In general, no format is required, except…

• Bids or Proposals– Made in response to an advertised notice called

an Invitation to Bid or a Request for Proposals– Usually requires a specific format– If not, considered a nonconforming offer

Contract Acceptance taken from S. Bartholomew, Construction Contracting

• A contract is not legally binding until and unless there is a meeting of the minds at the time the contract is formed

• Counteroffer: A form of acceptance that changes the offer in any significant respect.

• Negotiation: An exchange of offers and counteroffers.

• Acceptance may be written or oral– IFB’s, RFP’s, or local statue adopting the Uniform

Commercial Code: must be written

Contract Consideration taken from S. Bartholomew, Construction Contracting

• A rational reason for entering into the contract and

• An expectation of receiving something of value for performing the contract satisfactorily.

• Money or some other equivalent cash goods– I.e. discharge of an obligation

Getting the Job

• The Bidding or Proposal Process – Public-works contracts: formal process– Private: much more informal

Getting the Job - IFB’s or RFP’s

• Public: call for sealed bids through advertisements– issuing office, date of issue, date for receipt of bids and

time of opening of bids– brief description of work, location of project– major work items and quantities– where to get project information

• Private: Notice to Contractors - invitation for bids issued by owner to a pre-selected group of contractors

Getting the Job - Public Bidding Process

• Prequalification– Submission of intent to bid and qualifications of

bidding company

• Selection of bidders– Pre-proposal meeting

• Preparation and Delivery of Proposal• Proposal Guaranty:

– Guarantee that bidder will execute the contract if awarded

– Certified check for % of the bid

Getting the Job - Bidding Process

• Private:– No formal procedure - at the discretion of the

owner– Bid securities not required– Instruction to Bidders

• preparing and delivering the proposal

Getting the Job - Contracts taken from S. Bartholomew, Construction Contracting

• Two broad classes of contracts – Establishes the method of payment– Defines the risk of performance– Cost-reimbursable or fixed-price terms

• Cost-reimbursable contracts– Performed on owner’s funds, provider has little to

no funds tied up in the contract• Owner periodically reimburses the provided for incurred

costs

Cost-reimbursable Contract Forms taken from S. Bartholomew, Construction Contracting

• Cost plus percentage fee– also known as cost plus or time and materials– many A/E design firms operate on this form– owner reimburses for:

• the costs incurred by the provided plus • a fee equal to a stipulated fixed % of the incurred

costs.

– Potential abuse great• the more money spent, the more earned.


• Cost plus fixed-fee– Used where firm pricing is not feasible

• project not definitive enough for firm pricing

– Owner reimburses all of provider’s costs plus a fee fixed at the beginning

• fee will not change unless scope of work is expanded by a change order.


• Target Estimate Terms– also known as cost plus incentive fee– agreed upon estimate of costs for services plus– a fee based on the target estimate– contract parties will share in under-runs or

over-runs according to some predetermined split


• Guaranteed Maximum Price– similar to CPIF

• GMP = initial estimate of costs + fee, BUT• GMP is the owners maximum financial exposure

– once the owner has paid out the GMP, the provider must continue to perform at his expense until all agree-upon services have been provided.

– Popular in commercial & residential construction• encourages inflated prices (over actual estimate of

costs) to “protect” the provider.

Fixed-Price Contractstaken from S. Bartholomew, Construction Contracting

• owner pays a stipulated fixed price regardless of what costs the provider is incurring– financial risk borne by the provider

– greater risk = greater profit potential

• the traditional form that today’s construction contracts have evolved from– “what you bid & what you thought” v. “what you did and what you

got”

• requires a definitive understanding of the scope of services to be provided– complete, accurate set of plans and specifications

2 Forms of Fixed-Price Contracts taken from S. Bartholomew, Construction Contracting

• Lump-sum– lump-sum price for the job as a whole

• paid in intervals (I.e. monthly) as work progresses

• sum of payments = lump sum unless a change in work scope through a change order is made

2 Forms of Fixed-Price Contracts taken from S. Bartholomew, Construction Contracting

• Unit-price or schedule of bid items– work broken down into bid items of discrete elements

• name, estimated quantity, unit of measurement, agreed fixed unit price, total price

• example: BI 21 - Powerhouse Structural Excavation 10,200 cy @ $12.25 per cy = $124,950

• determined by competitive bidding or negotiation prior to contract formation

– monthly contractor payment based upon• the units of work completed as measured or counted times unit price

– differences between stated (during bidding) and measured quantities of actual work creates many problems


• Standard forms of fixed-price, competitive bid prime contracts– Federal government construction contract– American Institute of Architects (AIA) Standard Form

• most widely used in public and private sectors

– Associated General Contractors (AGC) Standard Form– State highway department contracts

• similar in format among the states– influenced by the Federal Highway Administration

• Special provisions will vary from project to project and state to state


• Typical documents in a fixed-price, competitive bid prime contracts – Located in the Specifications:

• Bidding documents

• General Conditions of the Contract (boiler-plate)

• Special Conditions (project-specific)

• Technical specifications

– Drawings

– Reports of investigations of physical conditions• geotechnical studies

Overview of Today Getting started Getting the Job –Contracts –Bidding Process.

Documents

Transcript of Overview of Today Getting started Getting the Job –Contracts –Bidding Process.