After Bids: Contract Administration at the Start of Construction

The contract documents provide a good description of what should be happening during this time. Specific steps and documents are described in the Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee's (EJCDC's) General Conditions of the Construction Contract and in related documents. My experience is that these steps are often ignored, especially on smaller projects. This is unfortunate, for all projects can benefit from rigorous attention to these matters.

Construction Start Date

Bids are received on a fixed date, but the start of construction is often a moving target. The date the contract is signed is not the construction start date. The General Conditions define the construction start date thus:

• 30 days after the effective date of the Agreement (i.e. when all parties have signed the Agreement);
• or on a date stated in a Notice To Proceed (if one is issued), which must be not later than 30 days after the effective date of the Agreement;
• but not later than 60 days after receipt of bids or 30 days after the effective date of the Agreement, whichever is earlier.

This is important for the contractor’s planning, to know the range of time when the contract clock will begin ticking.

Contractor's Early Submittals

Also during the preconstruction time, typically within 10 days of the Agreement signing, the contractor must submit to the design professional certain documents for review and approval. These are as follow:

• a preliminary progress schedule,
• a preliminary schedule of submittals, and
• a preliminary schedule of values (i.e., the contractor’s breakdown of the project into work items and quantities, upon which pay applications will be based).

These three schedules are important for all three parties to the construction contract, yet I find that they are often ignored, especially on smaller projects. The EJCDC has found that proper attention to these matters is an important start to the construction contract.

Preconstruction Conference

Shortly before construction is to start, a preconstruction conference is normally held. This is the time to review the contractor’s preliminary submittals and explain any needed revisions to those submittals, establish lines of communication, explain how shop drawings will be handled, discuss progress payments, iron out any uncertainties about work scope or intent of the drawings and specifications, verify how testing will be called for and performed, and many other items. These are all described in the contract documents, but an airing of them at this time can forestall future problems.

The time between bids and construction is a busy time. The contract documents indicate what all parties should be doing during this time. Even when a small project is done without the use of EJCDC documents, their requirements can help the project move forward.