Project control

The following suggestions for contractual project control should be covered within the contract for project schedules that are prepared and maintained by the contractor. The suggestions are presented as contract clauses.

Scope

The contractor representative shall attend planning, scheduling and coordination meetings to interface with the [Company] and other contractors to identify and resolve critical scheduling issues.

Proposed revisions to previously agreed schedules shall be submitted to the [Company] at least 48 hours prior to the meeting where they are supposed to be discussed.

These revisions shall be accompanied by complete documentation related to the proposed variations. The meeting shall be held at the work site or as designated by the [Company] representative. 

 

Schedule

Project milestone schedule

The contractor shall submit to the [Company], within 60 days of contract award, for its review and approval, a proposed project milestone schedule showing definitive plans for execution of the contract.

This approved schedule shall be the contractor project milestone schedule and shall be used to plan, organize and execute the work, record and report actual performance and progress, and show how the contractor plans to complete all remaining work as of the end of each progress report period.

The schedule shall be in the form of an activity oriented time scaled network diagram (critical path method) and the principles and definition of the terms used herein shall be as set forth by THE INTERNATIONAL COST ENGINEERING COUNCIL (ICEL). Subcontracted activities shall be identified by the name of the subcontractor.

The project milestone schedule shall identify critical milestones mentioned in other part of this contract. The project milestone schedule shall be updated and reissued on monthly basis.

The project schedule shall reflect working within operating plants and the construction sequencing, tie-ins and the shutdown as generally described in the job specifications.

Summary schedule

The contractor shall develop an Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) summary schedule within 60 days of contract award. These schedules will establish the control points reflected in the project milestone schedule referred to in a paragraph above. The format for the EPC summary schedule shall be that of a time-scaled network containing 75-100 lines and 200-500 activities. Major restraints and interdependencies shall be shown.

As a minimum the following should be identified:

  • Start and completion dates for each engineering discipline and release of critical drawings for procurement and construction.

  • All long lead critical material, major equipment and bulk materials, showing the procurement of these items and how they support the construction schedule.

  • The contractor site mobilization and start and completion dates for all major construction activities.

  • All activities to be performed by subcontractors including the contract award dates.

  • Man-hour weightings against each line item and man-hour weightings for engineering, procurement and construction works

  • The EPC summary schedule shall be updated monthly.

EP schedules

Engineering/Procurement schedules by major facilities shall be prepared to expand activity detail represented in the project milestone schedule and other schedules.

Construction mobilization schedule.

The construction mobilization schedule shall be prepared 60 days prior to arriving at jobsites. The plan shall consist of a full layout of all temporary facilities and the utilities required.  Manpower and equipment required to complete mobilization shall be identified. In addition organizational charts are required for key personnel along with appropriate experience CVs.

Construction summary schedule

A construction summary schedule shall be submitted at least 60 days prior to arrival at jobsite to cover the overall duration of the construction segment of work and show the interface with engineering, procurement and fabrication via issue of drawings and delivery of equipment. The construction summary schedule shall be time-scaled and shall be developed within the parameters of the milestone schedule and the engineering /procurement/ fabrication/ construction schedules

90-day construction schedule

The construction 90-day schedule shall be prepared from the criteria established by the construction summary schedule. It shall be prepared as a time-scaled bar chart format with major restraints shown. It shall be inclusive of work planned in a geographical area during the time span designated. The 90-day schedule indicates all resources required meeting the plan, including manpower allocation by craft, heavy equipment, materials, equipment deliveries and engineering drawing interfaces.

Construction weekly work plans

The weekly work plan (WWP) shall be prepared in detail for all the resources required and quantities of work to be completed to achieve interim milestone dates. The activities on the weekly work plan shall be consistent with those on the 90-day schedule.  The forecast work for the week is broken down by day, showing the total weekly quantity and total manpower required.

Each week a construction meeting shall be convened to discuss the upcoming week’s work and review progress of previous week. The weekly work plan shall form the basis for all discussions and therefore shall be presented in a bi-weekly format.

Construction equipment schedule

The contractor shall prepare a construction equipment schedule identifying each type of major equipment and the quantity by month over the life of the contract. The submission shall be correlated to each activity of the construction summary schedules. The construction equipment schedule will be updated monthly by the contractor and include equipment actually used as of the report period and the equipment required to complete the remaining work.

Equipment shall adhere to jobsite safety requirements and any required certificates shall be recorded with each piece of equipment.

Tie-in schedule, Hot-Tap schedule and shutdown schedule

The contractor shall prepare detailed schedules showing how these activities will be accomplished. These schedules shall be submitted for [Company] review four weeks prior to commencement of work activities.

 

Progress

Each progress report should include a minimum of the following:

  • Highlights of significant accomplishments during the report period, expressed in relation to the total of work to be done in each category.

  • Current status of the work, Project progress information shall be provided in the form of a monthly project update report as instructed by the [Company] representative and graphs showing actual versus scheduled progress for:

    • Detailed engineering;
    • Requisitions issued;
    • Materials commitment;
    • Materials received at site; and
    • Field construction

  • Explanation of deviations from the target schedules, their consequences and corrective actions to be initiated shall be given.

  • Problems, along with actions taken to solve them.

  • Highlights of significant work items anticipated to be completed in the succeeding month.

  • Execution of action items as identified for the reporting period.

  • Status of subcontracts

  • Photographs of the site to indicate construction progress.

  • Status of claims

  • Input for manpower reports.

  • Areas of concern

Management review report

The management review presentation should cover the up-to-date status of the project scope, schedule, project interface, detail engineering, procurement, construction, pre-commissioning and start up. The presentation should be depicted graphically and shall include a minimum of the following:

Major milestones and major milestones schedule
These two charts highlight the overall schedule. The major milestones chart is a listing of the project milestone with a tabulation of the scheduled, actual and forecast dates for each. The major milestones schedule chart lists the key engineering, procurement and construction activities and duration required to support the milestone.

Engineering percent complete
This chart represents the engineering progress by month.  It is a series of ‘S’ curves denoting scheduled, actual and/or forecast progress.

Status of major engineering office functions.
This is a bar chart presenting the status of the following items:

  • Drawings production;
  • Material requisitions issued for bid; and
  • Purchase order placed.

Procurement status
This chart represents, in percentage, the status of material requisitions issued for bid and purchase orders placed. It is a series of ‘S’ curves denoting schedule, actual and/or forecast progress. Progress should reflect design, manufacturing, and transportation activities or stages of material procurement.

Fabrication and construction status
This is a bar chart representing the key fabrication and construction activities and duration. The activities included are major disciplines e.g., civil, structural, piping, electrical and subcontracts.

Overall plan/progress/forecast for engineering, fabrication and construction.
This chart represents the total project plan. It relates engineering to construction progress and indicates the major milestones. It is a series of ‘S’ curves denoting schedule, actual and/or forecast progress.

Contractor concerns.
This chart is a listing of contractor concerns regarding the contractual responsibilities such as: scope variations, man-hour/manpower control, productivity, schedule variations/delays/recovery, etc.

Manpower requirement forecast

The contractor shall prepare a construction manpower requirements forecast in the form of a series of graphics displays depicting manpower by the following categories and in accordance with the construction summary schedule:

  • Non-manual;
  • Manual;
  • Manual and non-manual summary; and
  • Manual by craft.

The graphs shall display the number of men by month, over the life of the contract. This submission shall be correlated with the manpower assigned to each activity of the construction summary schedule.

A computerized analysis is required unless the contractor can demonstrate to the [Company] representative’s satisfaction that a manual system will give acceptable control. The manpower requirements forecast will be updated monthly by the contractor and include manpower actually used by trade as of the report period and the manpower required to complete all remaining work.

Schedule variation approval

A: Revisions to the project milestone schedule shall only be made to reflect the impact of variation orders and addenda. All proposed revisions to the project schedule shall be clearly identified and highlighted, and the reasons for each revision proposed shall be detailed by the contractor.

All such proposed revisions shall be subject to approval by the [Company] representative. The [Company] representative shall review and approve or disapprove any request for such a revision within ten (10) days after submission of a documented request by the contractor.

B: When variation orders or addenda impact the project milestone schedule, or delays are experienced by the contractor, the contractor shall submit to the [Company] representative a schedule analysis depicting the influence of each such variation order, addendum or occurrence of delay on the critical milestone date(s) and the schedule completion date.

Each analysis shall include a network demonstrating how the contractor proposes to incorporate the variation order or addendum into the project milestone schedule and how delays no directly attributable to a variation order or addendum is proposed to be overcome by the contractor.

The analysis shall demonstrate the time impact based on the:

  • Date the variation order is issued, the addendum agreed or delay encountered;
  • Status of the work at that point in time; and
  • Event/time computation of all affected activities.

This shall agree with the latest update copy of the contractor’s detailed progress report. Networks of proposed revisions which result from variation orders and addenda and which are approved by the [Company] representative shall be incorporated into the project schedule during the first revision after agreement is reached.

C: If a variation order does not set forth the agreed time impact of a variation because this impact is “to be negotiated”, the contractor shall use its best efforts to estimate the time impact in its proposed revision to the project schedule and, subject to [Company]’s representative concurrence, the contractor’s estimate shall be used on a provisional basis for project scheduling purposes. 

However, such use shall not constitute agreement as to the definitive time impact of the variation, and shall in no way prejudice the right of either the [Company] representative or the contractor to negotiate the agreed time impact for that variation thereafter.

Schedule control 

A monthly analysis of the project milestone schedule shall be made by the contractor and submitted to the [Company] representative with particular emphasis on the critical and sub-critical paths. The conclusions of this analysis shall be covered in the monthly progress report to be prepared by the contractor and this report shall, as a minimum include:

  • Narrative highlights of any variations over the status of the previous month;
  • Special actions recommended or being implemented to maintain or improve schedule; and
  • Outlook for activities to be started or finished.

In addition with the reports outlined above, the contractor shall maintain progress curves (planned versus actual performance) for each engineering discipline (project, process, instrument, electrical, piping, civil, etc.) and for each field craft (millwrights, pipefitters, welders, etc.) by major area of work.

Progress shall be measured by physical measurements of work completed. The progress curves shall be available for review by the [Company]’s representative on request.

Schedule submission non-compliance

If the contractor fails to submit the project schedules or manpower requirements forecasts, or revisions thereof within the required time, the [Company] shall be entitled to withhold payments otherwise due until the contractor submits the required information. 

Schedule coordination 

The contractor shall coordinate work under this contract with other contractors working in the same general area.

Prior to developing the schedule and continuing throughout the time frame of the work, the contractor shall plan and coordinate all work activities directly with all other contractors and determine concurrent activities which may impact the work. The contractor shall throughout the performance of the work make every effort to coordinate activities so as to minimize interference and delays.

The schedule and all revisions thereto shall clearly indicate such areas of interference and/or delays which have not been resolved between the respective contractors.

The contractor shall submit with the schedule an analysis of alternatives, cost estimates of each interference and/or delay situation, and complete documentation demonstrating impact on present schedules, future work events and on other contractors as well as sequence sketches illustrating the problem areas. These documents shall include minutes as approved by the [Company]’s representative of all meetings between contractors whereby the situations and their alternatives were discussed.

 

Thanks to Ignacio Manzanera for providing this book

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