CPR Issues - Consistent, Predictable, Repeatabl

CPR Issues
Administration
 
1.Issue:  District X is requiring contractors to submit vehicle registration form prior to award/execution of the contract.
 Response:  The contractor's vehicle registration affidavit (Form 700-010-52) is due on the first working day of the contract (reference CPAM Chapter 5.2).  Also, reference section 7-23 of the standard specifications for roadway & bridge construction.
2.Issue: I have a problem with the Notice To Proceed(NTP) date which effects the start of time on a project.  Should I start counting the Lead-in time on the same day stated on the NTP letter or start counting on the following date?
 Response:  Response:  When calculating contract time make sure you allow the "Lead-in, Acquisition, Flex Start:" dates that your contract specifies.  Some contracts use 14 or 16 days other use 15 days or the Acquisition time maybe 30 days.  The standard contract (excerpt below) says that time begins on XX calendar day from the date NTP is issued.  So the date that the NTP is issued, is not counted as day 1 of the XX calendar days.  EXAMPLE: Contractor is issued an NTP dated January 15th and the contract says time charges begin 15 calendar days from the date NTP is issued, begin the 15 day count on January 16th and the Contract time begins on January 30th. EXCEPTION:  Design Build contracts states, "8-7.2 Date of Beginning of Contract Time: The date on which Contract Time begins is the date identified in the Notice to Proceed."  So the statement for the website should say, "EXCEPTION:  Design Build contracts, the contract time begins on the date identified in the NTP."
Screen shot of contract page.Screen shot of calendar.
3.Issue (From External Customer Email):  The Department needs to look suspension of work for Holidays as reducing impact on the traveling public during peak holiday traffic periods where possible as the purpose of the specification in the first place.  This goal is being compromised by the way the program is being administered.  (see attached)
1.   In some jurisdictions, all one needs to do is ask to work a holiday weekend, the request will be denied as a matter of routine (too much traffic), and the weekend days will be granted as additional time. 

2.   In some jurisdictions that rouse is not accepted and, if the contractor does not ROUTINELY WORK WEEKENDS, extra time for the weekend days will not be granted.

The difference is about 14-days per year in time available to perform the work.  Some contracts just do not have enough time to "give away" so much to accommodate Holiday work suspensions forcing the contractor to work more holidays than he would otherwise work.  That is the exact opposite of the purpose of this specification.
 Response:  The granting of time extensions for impacts caused by Holidays and/or Special Events of Specification 8-6.4 was recently discussed with the District Construction Engineers during the February 2013 meeting. You can access notes from that meeting which include the direction provided to the DCE's as to how these types of time extensions are to be addressed at the following link:  http://www.fdot.gov/construction/Publications/MeetingMinutes/DCEMeetings.shtm

 

Entitlement to a time extension for the effects of inclement Weather, Holidays and Special Events is addressed in Specification 8-7.3.2 as you have referenced. However, the specification goes on to establish that entitlement is only applicable when at least 50% of the normal work day on pre-determined controlling items of work is impacted by the Holiday and/or Special Event (I have pasted page 68 of the Specifications from project 40751-3-52-01 to illustrate this requirement).  In those instances when a work schedule shows that no controlling items of work are to be performed on a day that is defined as a Holiday and/or Special Event of 8-6.4, then no entitlement to a time extension for that day exists and the contractor is not to be granted a time extension.
Section of Specification Book

To demonstrate how this works, let's look at the upcoming Memorial Day Holiday and apply the specification to the referenced project.  The governing specifications for project 40795135201 define Memorial Day; the Saturday and Sunday immediately preceding Memorial Day, as the Holiday period.  If the contractor has an accepted schedule which demonstrates work is being performed on controlling items of work 5 days per week (i.e. Monday - Friday), then for the Memorial Holiday period, provided the contractor does not work on Monday, May 27, entitlement to a time extension would be warranted for only Monday, May 27. In this scenario, since the contractor was working under an accepted schedule which demonstrated that no work is being performed on controlling items on Saturday, May 25 and Sunday, May 26, then entitlement to a time extension for those days does not exist and a time extension is not warranted for Saturday and Sunday. 

Now, let's look at the same project and Memorial Holiday period in a little bit different light. In this scenario, let's assume that the contractor has an accepted schedule which demonstrates work is being performed on controlling items of work 7 days per week (i.e. Sunday - Saturday). For the Memorial Holiday period, provided the contractor does not work on Saturday, May 25, Sunday, May 26 and Monday, May 27, entitlement to a time extension would be warranted for all three days.

 

In both scenarios, the purpose of the specification (i.e. reducing impacts to the traveling public during peak Holiday traffic periods) has been fulfilled. Further, the contractor has been given a day for day time extension for delays caused by the effects of the Holiday suspensions of 8-6.4 which prevented productive performance on controlling items of work for those days when the contractor was unable to work at least 50% of the normal work day on pre-determined controlling work items.
  
4.Issue: For Design-Build Projects, how do you pay for Mobilization?
 Response: For contracts of 120 day duration or less, partial payment will be made at 50% of the Schedule of Values for Mobilization per month for the first two months of the Design phase.  For contracts in excess of 120 contract days duration, partial payment will be made at 25% of the Schedule Values for Mobilization per month for the first four months.  In no event shall more than 50% of the Schedule of Values for Mobilization be paid prior to commencing construction activities on the project site.  The remaining 50% will be paid when construction activities commence either in two monthly payments or four monthly payments based on the number of days of the contract.