Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

This is a broad overview of various administrative and management topics related to engineering projects. It is not an in-depth investigation of any item covered.

The student will be able to:

1. Articulate the interrelationships of the various players in an engineering project and describe how an owner procures the services of those players
2. Describe elements of various legal documents, along with conflict resolution methods
3. Use standard organization and style methods to prepare parts of a project manual including specifications
4. Prepare elements of engineering cost estimates
5. Plan and schedule portions of design or construction projects

Individual, small group, and full class discussion; homework; exams; team project deliverables; and peer evaluations may be used to assess outcomes. Specific evaluation procedures will be defined during the first week of class.

THEMES, CONCEPTS, AND ISSUES:

1. Owners, design professionals, constructors, construction managers, and other professionals create projects by working together, and their interaction must be coordinated and managed.
2. All parties involved in engineering projects must follow established rules of contracts and law.
3. Standardized methods of specification writing and organization exist and should be followed.
4. Accurate estimating following established procedures is critical to success of an engineering project.
5. Logical planning and accurate scheduling is critical to the success of an engineering project.
6. The value of money varies with time.

CONTENT:

1. THE ENGINEERING PROCESS
   1. Relationships of Owner, Design Professional, Constructor, and Construction Manager
      1. Conventional three-party format
      2. Design Build
      3. Construction management
   2. Procurement processes
      1. Constructor - public and private - including open bidding, closed invitations, negotiations
      2. Design Professional - public and private - including qualifications based selection (QBS)
      3. Stages of engineering projects
2. CONTRACTS AND LAW
   1. Reasons contract law and business law are of interest to engineering and construction firms
   2. Types of law and courts
      1. Statute law: Constitutional, legislative, international, administrative
      2. Common law: Court decisions
      3. Courts: Federal and State
   3. Elements of a contract
      1. Offer
      2. Agreement
      3. Acceptance
      4. Consideration
      5. Competent parties
      6. Legal form and content
      7. Possibility of performance
   4. Rules of, and legal problems associated with, procurement processes
   5. Conflict resolution including litigation, arbitration, mediation, disputes resolutions boards, and conciliation
   6. Bonds, insurance, warranties
3. SPECIFICATIONS
   1. Bidding and Contract Documents, and the parts of the Project Manual
      1. Bidding Requirements (Non-Contract Document)
      2. Contract
      3. Conditions of Contract-General/Supplementary
      4. Specifications
      5. Drawings
      6. Modifications-Addenda/Change Orders
   2. Types of bidding and contracts and how each influences the preparation of the Project Manual including the specifications
   3. How specifications and drawings are related, and determining the appropriate place for various technical items
   4. Categories of contract modifications (field orders and change orders) and how they impact contract timeand price
   5. CSI's 16 Division format for specification organization
   6. CSI's 3 Part Section format for individual specifications
   7. Specification language and appropriate writing styles
   8. Methods of specifying
      1. Prescriptive including Descriptive, Proprietary, and Reference
      2. Performance
4. ESTIMATING
   1. Construction cost estimating and the liability associated with the process
   2. Levels of estimating and ranges associated with each level in accordance with AACE/ANSI
   3. Life Cycle Costing
      1. Construction Costs
      2. Project Costs
      3. Life Cycle Costs
   4. Quantity takeoff methods and cost estimates associated with each
      1. Complete Takeoffs/Partial Takeoffs
      2. Square/Cubic Measure
      3. Unit of Use Measure
   5. Pricing methods and cost estimates using them
      1. In-house/consultants
      2. Vendor/subcontractor quotes
      3. Estimating manuals
   6. The bidding process
      1. To bid or not to bid
      2. Questions/Addenda
      3. Unbalancing
   7. Value Engineering
5. PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
   1. Planning and scheduling projects
      1. Bar charts
      2. Critical Path Method (CPM) networks
      3. Time scale arrow diagrams
      4. Computerized methods
   2. Scheduling reduction
   3. Resource allocation
6. ENGINEERING ECONOMY (Additional topic if time permits)
   1. Simple vs. compound interest
   2. Equivalence of various simple and compound interest payment plans
   3. Effective interest rates
   4. Compound interest tables/formulas
      1. Single payment present and future worth amounts
      2. Uniform series present and future worth and annuity amounts

COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS:
The student will be able to:

1. Describe the relationships between Owners, Design Professionals, Constructors, and Construction Managers
2. Define different methods of procurement for design professionals, constructors, and construction managers
3. List the stages of an engineering project
4. Provide examples of how impacts engineering projects
5. Give examples of legislative and administrative law related to engineering work
6. Define elements of a contract
7. Describe legal issues connected to procurement
8. Compare methods of conflict resolution
9. Define and describe bonds, insurance, warranties
10. List the various elements of bidding documents, contract documents, and the parts of a Project Manual
11. Indicate how bidding and contacting methods impact preparation of the project manual
12. Demonstrate the interrelationship specifications and drawings and knowledge of where various items are located
13. Use CSI's 16 Division format
14. Use CSI's 3 Part Section format
15. Write specification correctly from a language and style standpoint
16. Compare and contrast prescriptive and performance specifications
17. Describe reasons for liability associated with cost estimates
18. Utilize AACE/ANSI cost estimating ranges
19. Provide examples of costs throughout the life cycle of a project
20. Describe quantity take off methods
21. Use various cost estimating methods
22. Describe the bidding process
23. Define value engineering
24. Make schedules by hand and on the computer including bar charts, arrow networks, time scale diagrams, and software prepared charts
25. Demonstrate the connection between reducing schedules, changing critical paths, and increasing costs
26. Demonstrate knowledge of schedule reduction techniques