August 11, 1998

                                                 DESIGN

The design is governed by codes and WSDOT Design policies (BDM, AASHTO).

The Bridge and Structures Office designers have latitude to exercise innovation within the design policies during the design phase.

                                                 THE CONTRACT

Once the contract is awarded, the contract administration responsibility is totally in the hands of the Project Engineer, Region Construction Office, and the FOSSC Construction Office.

The contract governs both the contractor and WSDOT. It is a binding agreement between WSDOT and contractor for the construction described in the contract documents. The precedence of the separate contract documents is established in Section 1-04.2, which is;

Addenda,

Proposal Form,

Special Provisions,

Contract Plans,

Amendments to the Standard Specifications,

Standard Specifications, and

Standard Plans

This means, for example, that if there is a conflict between the contract plans and the special provisions, the special provisions would govern.

(Note: The courts have established that the contractor is entitled to "reasonable" interpretation of the contract. This means that if there are two or more ways of reasonably interpreting the contract, the contractor is entitled to the lowest cost reasonable interpretation of the contract.)

                                              1. A contract can be revised by a properly documented and executed change order;

A change order is not bad - it is simply a documentation of a contractual modification.

Only the Project Engineer, Region Construction Office personnel, or FOSSC Construction Office personnel can authorize and execute a change order. Personnel from the Material Laboratory and the Bridge and Structures Office should not use the works "change order." If a design modification is required, the revision should be suggested to the proper personnel (start with FOSSC Construction Office).

The FOSSC Construction Office is the only office within the State that has the authorization (other than some minor structural revisions) to approve material substitution, specification revisions or violations, work method changes, changed conditions, structural repairs, and problems requiring input from other disciplines (hydraulic and geotechnical). The BTA has authorization to approve minor structural revisions only (minor is defined in the Construction Manual).

Once the revision authorization is obtained, the execution of the Change Order may be by the Project Engineer, Region Construction representative, or by a FOSSC Construction Office representative. The Construction Manual defines each level of authority based on a maximum monetary value and working day extension.

                    If a change order is not properly authorized or improperly executed, FHWA

                    participation may be denied. Improper work authorization can lead to added financial liability for the State.

                    A change order is suppose to be executed before any of the revised work can

                    be done. The Department and FHWA recognize that this can not always be done and, for these rare incidents, has established a mechanism                       called a "Verbal Approval." This is a written document and, once issued, work may progress before the C.O. executed. Without the "Verbal                      Approval, " any work done before the C.O. execution is not part of contract and is considered to be non participatory by FHWA. The Bridge                      and Structures Office does not have authority for verbal approvals. Many of the present specifications and special provisions have been                      developed through a cooperative effort with the industry and should not be changed without their concurrence. In addition, many sections are                      dictated by federal and state law.

A Unit payment item is set up to pay for the actual items of estimated work that has been performed. These items are expected to vary somewhat but if the item quantity varies more than +/-25%, Section 1-04.6 of the Standard Specification requires that the unit price be negotiated (above the 25% generally decreases the cost per unit, below the 25% generally increases the cost per unit).

A Lump sum item is the bid price for an element of described work and has no provision for and increase or decrease quantity. Generally, and lump sum bid item is one that is well-defined.

A Force Account item is an item of work with the price established by the cost of the material, the equipment, and the personnel actually used to perform the required work (allowed mark ups outlined in Section 1-09.6). This method of payment is the least desirable of the three because of the time required to administer it. Someone has to be resent at all times to document the activity. Likewise, contractors do not like force account, claiming that they actually loose money (no profit). A Force Account item should only be used when the associated work cannot be defined or estimated within a (+/-)25% accuracy.

This manual contains WSDOT policy and is not part of a contract.

This manual outlines contract administration authority and procedures. Most of these policy rules are at FHWA request and approval. They also include Associated General Contractors (AGC) input.

The chapters in the Construction Manual (CM) essentially coincide with the Standard Specification sections; for instance, Chapter 6 of the CM covers most of the structures items contained in Section 6 of the Standard Specifications.

                    Some contracts, usually very large complex projects, are selected to have a Dispute Review Board (DRB) for conflict resolution.

The DRB is made up of three individuals; one selected by the contractor, one selected by the state, and one selected by those two members.

The DRB meets on a scheduled determined by the members, usually once a month.

If there is a dispute, both the State and the Contractor present their arguments to the DRB in writing.

A site visit is scheduled and the DRB conducts a meeting asking for clarifications from each party.

Based on the stated facts and the contract language, the DRB makes a ruling in writing. This ruling is not legally binding but can be used in any court litigation.

Section 1-09.13(3) of the Standard Specifications provides for binding arbitration for claims valued up to $250,000.

The Administration Engineer in the FOSSC Construction Office participates in the settlement negotiation of all disputes and claims that are not resolved by the Region contract administration personnel.

A BTA is a bridge designer assigned to a specific project by the Bridge and Structures office. This assigned individual is listed on the BTA assignment list with the supervisor listed as a back up BTA. The auditors use this list to verify proper authorization and execution of change orders.

An authorized BTA can approve a minor structural revision only.

The BTA authorized structural revisions must be minor(rebar revisions, dimensional clarifications, etc.) a defined by the CM. The CM defines "minor" as a revision that is resolved by the BTA on site.

Once a minor revision is accepted structurally by the BTA, signed documentation should be provided to the Project Engineer, With this documentation, the Project Engineer can initiate a change order to implement the minor contract revision.

If there is no signed documentation, the lower right hand corner of the Change Order can be stamped and signed by the BTA. This signature assures everyone that the minor revision is structurally acceptable.

A BTA should never discuss issues one on one with the contractor.

There is a trend developing where some field personnel (both State and Contractor) telephone a designer directly (usually by getting the name off a plan sheet).

Information conversations are not discouraged, but Bridge and Structures personnel should make it clear at the beginning and end of the conversation that the conversation is INFORMATION only. There have been cases in which a change order was initiated based on one of these conversations. As discussed previously, this would not be an authorized Change Order and, therefore, would be non participatory by FHWA.

Contractor working drawings, falsework and formwork drawings, shop drawings, and other contractor submittals that are reviewed by the Bridge and Structures Office are reviewed to determine if the associated work is in conformance with the contract documents. If the submittal is not in conformance with the contract documents and is not structurally acceptable, it can be "returned for correction", "not approved", or "approved as noted" (the notes used would have to bring the submittal into conformance with the contract documents if the submittal is "approved as noted"). We can approve a submittal that is not in conformance with the contract documents if the submittal is structurally acceptable and the phrase "structurally acceptable but not in conformance with the contract" is added as part of our review comments. This would leave it up to the WSDOT Project Engineer to either request that the contractor comply with the contract or initiate a change order for the non-conforming (but structurally acceptable) element.

If, during the review of a contractor submittal, we determine that the contract documents need to be changed ( a problem or error in our design), we need to initiate a request for a revision to the contract through the FOSSC Construction Office. This will require making a revised plan sheet (or revised special provision), getting it approved and signed, and sending it to the FOSSC Construction Office for processing. Minor dimension changes, clarifications, or bar size corrections do not require an entire new plan sheet, but can be taken care of through the asbuilt process by the Region Construction Project Office. Once the new mylar sheet is signed, 11x17 copies are made and forwarded to the FOSSC Construction Office along with the associated approximate quantities. The new (full size) signed mylar goes to the Bridge Plans Technician in the Construction Support Unit for asbuilt record keeping. We should notify the FOSSC Construction Office by phone or e-mail of the proposed change before we initiate the revision process.