Intermediate Measurement & Contract - Assignment Example

Intermediate Measurement & Contract a) During the tender period for a project, all tendering contractors are invited to visit the site for the works, and the Architects office. In most cases, intermediate measurement & contract is utilized in circumstances where the anticipated building works requires simple contents that entails the ordinary recognized basic trades and skills of the industry. This occurs mostly in absence of the building service installations which is complex nature or any other special work that is deemed complex. The said measurement and contract may also occur in circumstances where the works have been designed by the employers themselves or on behalf of them, and such situations arise where there is a comparatively detailed contract provisions that are necessary. In such situations the employed has an obligation of providing the contractor with the specifications pertaining to the project of the contract itself. Furthermore, work schedules and necessary bills attached to the contract which defines the scope, the quantity and quality of work are also provided by the employed under the said situations. Most importantly, intermediate measurement and contract heightens where the personnel administering the contract and the Quantity surveyor are supposed to oversee on the conditions under which the contract is to be undertaken. In such circumstances the contract has to be more detailed on the provisions under which it works under and also have a more significant control procedure compared to other contracts, for instance, minor Building contract. However, it is also anticipated to have fewer details in contrast to the standard building contract (Ivor & Winfield 125-130). When the Quantity surveyor is aware of the conditions under which the contract is based on, he is then under an obligation to publish the contract for tendering from the interested parties. The interested persons are thus required to forward their bids and the most considerate bid is accepted by the contractor. Before the tendering contractors are given the full mandate to work on the projects, they are required to make a visit to the site of the work and also the architect’s office. All these activities take place during the tender period for the project. Visiting the site of work and the architect’s office has a purpose as they are required to provide an outline on the forward to carry out the project. This entails what they hope to achieve in the course of the project/contract and also the impacts that the achievement may have at the end of the project (Ivor & Winfield 125-130). Making a pre-visit to the site of work is very essential during the tender period, as it helps the tendering contractor have considerate and signification cost estimations regarding the construction work. Tendering is mainly concerned with the profitable aspect of making bids and acquiring works by the interested companies. Measurement and correct estimations of the total cost of work is thus very crucial to delivering substantial cost information for both the construction business, the contractor, and may be the sub-contractor. The contractor is thus obliged to provide accurate and precise costs in order to have a quality compilation of the tender. In order to have a quality estimation of the costs required for the construction works, the tendering contractor needs to be acquainted with comprehensive knowledge of all the essential activities that ought to take place during the project. This enables the contractor to have a better projection of the relevant costs required of all the materials and labour. In this regard, the tendering contractor making a visit to the site of work and also to the architect’s house would enable him/her acquire all the information needed. Besides the tendering contractor being briefed on the comprehensive process that ought to take place during the construction work, he/she is also fed with fundamental information concerning the procedure that should be followed. This entails the precise description about the project, and the anticipated dates that the project should commence and also on the expected completion date (Ivor & Winfield 135-138). Of great significance that the tendering contractor is required to provide is the priced bill of quantities. The tendering contractor is given such a responsibility since it is believed that he/she is in a better position to judge the correct estimates. The estimates made are dependent on the construction equipments to be used and also on the methods that will be executed in the project. It is also during the tendering period that the priced bills are presented to the quantity surveyor for approval. Additionally, for a successful tendering project, the tendering contractor is required to comprehensively examine the project and if necessary implement all the recommendations that should necessitate that the contract works under an effective environmental system (Ivor & Winfield 139-143). The security system or simply the fire system should be a matter that should be discussed at length as this can have an impact on the nature and method used to execute the project. It is also during the tendering period, that the tendering contractor together with the architecture that they should pay attention to the various areas that surrounds the limits of their site of work. Any limits discovered should immediately be discussed and recorded in the tender documents. In this regard, both the tendering contractor and the architecture should ensure that the projects they have undertaken conforms to the conservation requirements on hand and the correct security procedures stipulated by the management are strictly adhered to. Therefore, the tendering period offers the tendering contractor an ample time to have an access to the copies of all the project regulations before beginning any work and the effect they may pose to the tender price. In this manner, the tendering contractors ascertains that proper billing is fixed and thus they would never be charged for any extra contractual costs which may arise from additional tasks or materials needed to conform with the project regulations (Willis & Trench 115-125). A visit to the site of work and to the architecture’s office ensures that all the necessary conservation and security guidelines and safety measures are to be enforced by the tendering contractors to their subordinates. The architecture illuminates some light on the fact that, should there be any added operations guidelines after the task has commenced shall be enforced within the shortest time possible. In case, the tendering contractor is not contented with the decisions arrived at by the architecture then he/she should submit any changes to the project manager. The changes might detail on the financial impact that the expected changes might have on the project. Such a procedure is different from other changes that entail the contractual work, since this must be agreed upon by the architect and the quantity surveyor (Willis & Trench 130-133). A visit to the architect’s office is essential as it puts a limelight between the architect and the tendering contractor that, having taken the contractual task, the contractor cannot at any given moment sublet any part of the task without a written permission. Failure to act as stipulated by the contractual terms and conditions may render the contract nullified and thus not holding, meaning, the contract can be assumed back by the company. In one month or so depending on the contractual agreements, if the company accepts the tender, the project is presented to the project manager. This is now submitted as a project quality plan in form of manual and procedural frame-work. Finally, after all the necessary equipments, procedures and methods of executing the task have been discussed and their costs ascertained and with the final agreement from the project manager and recommendation from the architect is agreed upon, the final pay to the tendering contractor is tabled. The payment to the tendering contractor excludes the amount that might be required in covering the deficiencies. Lastly, the tendering contractor is now handed over the project, and from time to time minor deficiencies are corrected and commissioning is also executed during such instances (Ivor & Winfield 167-171). (b) An American Developer for a proposed office block on a prime city centre site in Glasgow has written to the architect questioning the validity of procuring a quantity surveyors services for the project. It is an indispensable contractual procedure in relation to the construction procurement that a fixed price consultation contracts should be tendered on a competitive framework. The validity of procuring quantity surveyors services to oversee a particular is varied and they apply depending on the nature and type of construction work. In this regard, the American Developer will have to question the validity of the procuring the surveyors service basing his argument on the different types of procurement procedures. According to the contracts provided by the public bodies, it has identified four types of procurement procedures that ought to be adhered to by any architecture, developer, surveyor and even a contractor (Willis & Trench 200). Open procurement procedure The procedure is followed when only a request for tenders has been published and also an advertisement or simply a contract notice has been made at the same time. Once published, the tenders that are submitted are first evaluated and taken through a qualification process, and if in case a certain tender is able to meet the criterion required then this is considered. This is very essential to the client since he/she is assured of having quality deliverables since the procurement has been verified (Willis & Trench 210). Restricted procurement procedure For the above procurement to be valid, it undergoes a two stage process. During the first stage, a request of expressions from the tenders is availed in public. Any resulting expression from interested parties is subjected through a qualitative assessment. The evaluation is to assess the competitive aspect of various tenders and at the same time to determine on the qualification factor of the tenders. Having passed through the process is a proof that any services offered to the public by the procurement officer is authenticated and its validity determined. The second stage is request for tenders and this is presented to suppliers that have qualified, through which the tenders are evaluated and the contracts granted (Willis & Trench 215). Negotiated (exceptional procedure) In validating the quantity surveyors services, the company business/ contracting body bargains on the services to be offered by a surveyor and also on the fees for the services to be offered. The process is carried out on a number of service providers that are competitive and also those that are non-competitive. In a competitive aspect, the procedure is availed only to specified complex contracts. In this aspect, the open and restricted procurement procedure does not apply. In most cases, this procedure is never used in construction related activities and instead the restricted procedure is the one that is used in almost all cases pertaining to construction services (Willis & Trench 220). EU rules and national guidelines The named procedures are used occasionally. Furthermore, the validity of the procuring a quantity surveyors services and at the same time safeguarding the interests of the client, have been stipulated by two set rules that are used to govern the conduct of public procurement. One of the EU rules, as stipulated by the Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC, denotes about the contract services in which the value of the service is anticipated to fall above the threshold value. The second EU rule relates to any other contract for services. As mentioned earlier, the procurement rules or the guidelines relating to a certain contract is dependent on the nature contracting authority. Moreover, the value of the service contract and/or the anticipated value of the contractual project are also fundamental for the procurement procedure to hold (Willis & Trench 245). Validating procurement services offered by a quantity surveyor also falls under a governmental policy referred to as a preferred option (Willis & Trench 142-143). This is only utilized making procurement for construction based services for the capital projects. Unless there arise some exceptional reasons that can be justified, the preferred option is substituted for restricted procurement procedure. Open procurement procedure can also be used in such instances, while as the negotiated procurement procedure can only be used in extraordinary cases as discussed below. The negotiated procurement procedures will only be applicable under the following circumstances; In situations where the costs of construction (ex VAT) are/or anticipated to fall below €500,000 In outstanding circumstances as stipulated in the Article 30 of Directive 2004/18/EC. Where s free will in choice of either Open, Restricted or Negotiated procedures has been permitted. In cases of a contract that adheres to the design competition as defined the EU rules (Willis & Trench 245-254). In order to ascertain the value of contract to be accepted and thus whether or not the appropriate threshold is achieved; the quantity surveyor has an obligation of aggregating the significance of the services that he/she ought to provide during the delivery of the project. In broader terms, where quantity surveyors in a project tender for professional services as independent firms, and consequently signs a contract with a contracting party to deliver a service, the significance of their contract is aggregated in order to ascertain if the threshold is achieved. In a nut shell for the American Developer to question the validity of procuring quantity surveyors’ services he/she must base his/her objective on the above report (Willis & Trench 145-147). Works Cited Andrew, Willis & William, Trench. Practice & Procedure for the Quantity Surveyor, 9th Ed.Chicago: Blackwell Science Publishers, 1998. Ivor H. Seeley & Roger, Winfield. Building Quantities Explained, 5th Ed. Chicago: MacMillan Publishers, 1998. Read More