Specifications Review Checklist Items

Specifications Review Checklist Items Matrix
Specifications Review Checklist Items
Scope of Work
  • What is included and what is excluded under this item of work?
  • What is the extent and limit of this item of work?
Submittals
  • For each item of work, what items are specified for submittal?
  • Are submittals for informational purposes, or do they require approval?
  • Are samples required?
  • If not an electronic submission, how many copies are required?
  • What is the required review process by the Contractor before submission? Is there a unique stamp and/or certification that must be provided?
  • Must the Contractor have a professional engineer review the submission?
  • When does the review of the submittal start (upon upload to a portal or upon a paper handoff)
  • Ensure you understand the turnaround time on Engineer review and integrate this period into the schedule (contracts are often silent on a required review time – this answer will be in the “front end” of the specifications, not in the individual technical specification)
  • Confirm with your vendor whether they require an approved submittal from the Engineer before releasing it for fabrication.
Standards
  • Various governing bodies have published standards that guide fabrication and installation, including ACI, AIA, ANSI, ASCE, ASTM, NEC, NFPA, PCA, and USACE. Ensure you understand these requirements.
  • For each item of work, which standards are to be referenced?
  • Consider owning applicable copies of these standards to ensure compliance.
Products and Materials
  • Per item of work, what are the specified materials and products?
  • Substitutions allowed? If so, what are the contract requirements (proof of performance, project credit)?
  • New, like new, or recycled products permitted?
  • Sole source vendor?
  • Are brand name lists or equal products permitted?
  • Are materials still available, or has the product been discontinued or upgraded?
  • What are the delivery times for varying materials? What is the delivery requirement for your project?
Named Responsible Party
  • In some cases, a product must be obtained from a specific pre-approved manufacturer.
  • In some cases, the responsibility of testing and sampling is specifically assigned to the contract owner or may be designated as the contractor’s responsibility.
  • Regarding the item of work, who is responsible for conducting the required field testing?
  • Even in cases where the owner is responsible for field testing and sampling, it is worth noting that the contractor may be responsible for paying for these services.
Construction Requirements and Quality of Workmanship
  • Preparation
  • Construction methods (processes) the Contractor is to use during construction.
  • For each item of work, what are the main work tasks indicated in the specification, if any?
  • Field testing and inspection. Per item of work, what field testing is specified?
  • Maintenance and protection of work
  • Demonstration
  • Training
  • Cleaning up
  • Does the installer have to be certified by an agency or by a manufacturer?
  • If welding, is there a requirement for a certified welder?
  • Is a prequalification submittal required before commencing work?
  • Is there a mock-up requirement ahead of the work that requires the architect to visit the site?
  • Does the manufacturer’s representative have to be present during installation?
Quality Control
  • Is there a required system of controls that requires meetings or documentation before, during, and after the installation process?
  • Is there a required number of hours or days before the work in which the Owner’s quality control manager must be notified?
  • Is a 3rd party testing agency required? Can testing be done in-house?
  • Per item of work, what field tests are required?
  • What is the turnaround time between taking a test on-site and receiving the result (which may determine the production rate of the installation)?
  • What must be physically viewed by another party before you can “close it up” (i.e., bury the work or enclose it within a wall)?
  • Are there specific tools that need to be procured to perform certain tests?
  • Do test results need to be submitted daily, weekly, or monthly?
  • Do submissions of quality control data need to be submitted in paper form or uploaded to a portal? Who provides the portal – the Owner or the Contractor?
Off-Site Fabrications
  • For each item of work, are there any items that must be fabricated offsite? If so, which items?
  • Does the offsite facility have specific labor requirements, such as union or non-union status?
  • Does the offsite fabrication facility require a specific quality designation or certification?
  • Are there temperature or elevation requirements for the fabrication facility?
  • Must the facility carry a specific security clearance?
  • Is there a requirement for a 3rd party inspection at the offsite location?
  • Does the fabricator carry necessary insurance at their place of business and in delivery transport in case of an accident?
  • Will the Owner permit payment for the material when fabrication is complete and the material is properly stored?
Activities (Work Tasks)
  • What is the surface preparation (whether for a roadway subgrade or for a wall to receive paint)?
  • Are there pre-installation requirements such as temperature or humidity?
  • Must measurements be taken ahead of time (survey measurements for beams or blackouts for windows/doors)?
  • For each item of work, what unique and unusual tasks are required that may have cost and time implications?
Coordination
  • Often, different disciplines of drawings (civil, mechanical, electrical, structural, etc.) have not been fully coordinated. This usually falls on the contractor. Take necessary action to account for the cost of this coordination in the bidding stated. Acquire necessary software during construction to coordinate trades and avoid clashes.
  • If you are working within an existing facility, coordination with the facility operators may be required.
  • Per item of work, what item by which third party will require coordination – if any?
  • Coordination of subcontractors and suppliers is a Contractor’s core responsibility. Failure to coordinate these parties will rarely result in relief by the Owner.
Regulations
  • Safety – worker protection in confined spaces, oxygen-deficient environments, fall protection, silica dust, hydrogen sulfide gas, shoring, and general personal protective equipment requirements must be followed.
  • Per item of work, what new and unusual regulations are called out in the specifications?
  • Environmental controls in the way of lead, asbestos, chromium, diesel, polychlorinated biphenyls, and general soil and water contamination must be adhered to at all times.
Access Restriction and Constraints
  • What windows of time during the year cannot be worked due to bird migrations, mating seasons, nesting, or other protected events?
  • Is burning for clearing not permitted at certain times?
  • Are there holiday traffic shutdowns on public roads?
  • Can work at a school only happen during summer and vacation months for students?
  • For retail work, must the work be off-hours?
  • Are work hours between morning and afternoon rush hours?
  • Does your stadium have to open by opening day?
  • Does work need to stop to let a train go by, or have a chemical delivered monthly to a treatment plant?
  • Is there a winter shutdown for the asphalt plant because it’s too cold?
  • From what date to what date is access to creeks or other bodies of water restricted?
  • Per item of work, what access restriction and constraint issues will be of concern?
Related Sections
  • The Contractor is required to comply with related sections of work. Related sections listed in this section of the specification are reminders but can be very important during construction.
  • Examples may include the referencing of the galvanizing section within the coating section or the project record section in every technical section. These references are made to ensure that the Contractor understands that the specifications are to complement one another.
  • Per item of work, what other items of work must be strictly coordinated together?
Contract Pay Item
  • This relates to making sure that the reviewer understands if an item of work is listed as a pay item or if the item of work is not a pay item but incidental to a pay item.
  • Per item of work, is this item a pay item?
Incidental Work
  • This work can be found in the specification and sometimes on the face of the proposal. If it is missed in the estimate, it can be catastrophic for a project. For example, some owners consider rebar to be incidental to the unit price for concrete. Some owners have rebar paid by the pound. Another example is for sewer manholes – is the lining of the manhole with industrial coating paid in coatings pay item, or is it “incidental” to the manhole? Do not forget to include the cost in your estimate!
  • ***Note – this section of the specification can be especially damaging if an estimator does not carry all incidental costs in an item. In the manhole example in the previous paragraph, imagine if the interior lining of the manhole was carried in another item (like the laying of the sewer pipe). And then the Owner wanted four more manholes at the price listed in the proposal – the Contractor would not be getting reimbursed for this industrial coating!
  • Per item of work, is this item incidental to a pay item?
Measurement and Payment
  • This is equally important at bid time and in the field. When actual construction requires the work to go outside of the “pay limits” shown in the drawings, the estimator must account for this cost in the unit price bid. Some examples follow below
  • Is payment based upon actual soil excavated or just the limits that are defined in the plans (for trenches, this is usually something like 1’ outside the outside diameter of the pipe, or for buildings, it may be 2’ outside of the edge of footing)?
  • Is the pipe paid from the center of the manhole or the face of the manhole?
  • Are piles paid or the entire length of the pile or just from the cutoff elevation at the top of the pile to the tip depth far below the footing?
  • Is asphalt paid by the ton or by the square yard?
  • What work is a direct pay item, and what work is incidental?
  • Is work paid when installed or only after it has been tested and deemed satisfactory?
  • Is the unit of measure by the foot or lump sum? A lump sum can mean that the work is only paid upon 100% completion.
  • Per item of work, how is this work measured and paid for – if work is a pay item?
Commentary – Construct if Included in the Contract
  • The fact that standard specifications have a description of an item of work does not mean that the item of work exists in the contract or is incidental to the contract. Review the pay items, consider what could be incidental to the pay item, and verify what is in the drawings.
Commentary – Make No Assumptions
  • Do not assume that you know enough about what is in the scope just because the title of an item of work reads similar to what you have seen on another project. For example, the California State DOT slope and channel protection item of work includes the following items of work:
  • Rock Slope Protection
  • Concreted-Rock Slope Protection
  • Small-Rock Slope Protection
  • Concrete Slope Protection, Gutter Lining, Ditch Lining, and Channel Lining
  • Broken-Concrete Slope Protection
  • Slope Paving
  • Gabions
  • However, this list of items will differ from project to project based on the particular project needs – these required components will be found in the drawings. Be aware that another state DOT may have these same work items in separate sections of their specifications. A prudent Contractor will, both at bid time and at the time of execution, study the specifications in full.
Commentary – Or Equal
  • Many projects list that material should be brand XYZ Co. or equal. When a job is bid using the brand XYZ Co., but during the construction process, ABC Co. provides an “equal” product at half the cost, a Contractor will naturally procure the cheaper product. Be sure to understand the “or equal” clause. This product may have had to have been pre-approved as an equal product before bid.