JS Case Study

Question 1

Why did you not do a two stage design and build and within the first stage undertake the enabling works?

Answer 1

Risk Management - Easier to manage risks when separate from the main works , reducing impact on the overall project

Procurement - Client’s preferred contractor was a specialised enabling works contractor, allowing for a greater focus on the difficult construction required

Question 2

Why was the decision taken to split the enabling works from the main works? What advantages and disadvantages did this bring to the project?

Answer 2

Allow for infrastructure of main works
Start on site whilst main works finalised
Disadvantage - two contractors, two contracts, risks and liabilities

Question 3

For the enabling works, what was the basis of your advice to negotiate the project costs rather than tender.

Answer 3

An initial meeting was set up that I was party to but was lead by my partner, who asked to reduce their risk allowance, however, they said they only would if they put a cap of depth of responsibility. This lead to issues around contractual provisions

Question 4

Why would competitive tender take longer than negotiated?

Answer 4

Longer tender process - 4 weeks compared to 6-8 weeks.
More tenders to analyse
Direct communication with the contractors rather than on an e portal

Question 5

How did you quantify the cut and fill

Answer 5

I took the area of the site, which was measured off the drawings and multiplied it by the difference between the existing ground levels and proposed ground levels. I separated out each area where the levels allowed me, rather than doing a generic cost /. m2. The rates were benchmarked against other projects which had a cut and fill element

Question 6

What did you include in your tender documents for this project?

Answer 6

ER’s – design, spec, preliminaries, contract particulars, amendments
Surveys
PCI
ITT

Question 7

In key issue one you mentioned considering recommending a list of contractors to tender on the enabling package. What process would you follow to ensure that the contractors you are recommending are competent for the job?

Answer 7

PQQ – ask them experience, policies, case studies, insurances, turnover to get to a short list

Question 8

You mentioned that the client wanted to transfer all the ground risk to the contractor. What are some of the problems associated with doing this?

Answer 8

Provisional sums – cost uncertainty
Risk allowances – end up paying more
Could have instructed some ground investigations and surveys prior

Question 9

How did you quantify the risk for the budget considering it was stage 2?

Answer 9

It was a properly thought out exercise, using risk workshops to identify risks and EMV to calculate these risks

Question 10

What are the risks when pricing substructure?

Answer 10

Unexpected ground conditions, contamination, water table, surrounding trees effecting foundations, ground obstructions, excavation, antiquities

Question 11

how do you ensure all of your VE proposals lead to savings for the client?

Answer 11

They don’t- VE can also work to improve building function/reduce programme which can be costly

Question 12

Given that you would be splitting responsibility for the works across 2 main contractors, how did you deal with risk and liability and ensure the clients interests were protected.

Answer 12

There were collateral warranties put into place by the Client for each other contractors to ensure there was a level of liability passed between the two parties

Also the contractual agreements within the contract clearly stated responsibilities and liabilities

Question 13

Why would competitive tender take longer than negotiated?

Answer 13

Longer tender process - 4 weeks compared to 6-8 weeks.
More tenders to analyse
Direct communication with the contractors rather than on an e portal

Question 14

On second key issue, is there a reason that your VE options were focused on the main works only and did not seem to cover the possibility of value engineering the enabling works?

Answer 14

I took the area of the site, which was measured off the drawings and mutlipied it by the difference between the existing ground levels and proposed ground levels. I seperated out each area where the levels allowed me, rather than doing a generic cost /. m2. The rates were benchmarked against other projects which had a cut and fill element

Question 15

You mentioned that you were involved in producing estimates and feasibility studies throughout this project? What was the process you followed, and how did they change as the design got more developed?

Answer 15

Feasibility studies – based on a model / m2 rates from benchmark information from similar projects.
Cost estimates – elemental breakdown measures individual works items

Question 16

Did you include inflation allowances in your cost plans? Where did you get the information from?

Answer 16

I excluded inflation in my order of cost estimates, but once I had a programme, I was able to use the BCIS to obtain inflation indicies

Question 17

What did you include in your tender documents for this project?

Answer 17

ER’s – design, spec, preliminaries, contract particulars, amendments
Surveys
PCI
ITT

Question 19

In key issue one you mentioned considering recommending a list of contractors to tender on the enabling package. What process would you follow to ensure that the contractors you are recommending are competent for the job?

Answer 19

PQQ – ask them experience, policies, case studies, insurances, turnover to get to a short list

Question 20

You explain how you ended up recommending to negotiate with a contractor that the client has use previously on a similar project. But how there was a risk of not getting competitive pricing? What was one thing you could have done to overcome this issue?

Answer 20

Open book tendering, schedule of rates

Question 21

You mentioned that the client wanted to transfer all the ground risk to the contractor. What are some of the problems associated with doing this?

Answer 21

Provisional sums – cost uncertainty
Risk allowances – end up paying more
Could have instructed some ground investigations and surveys prior

Question 22

What were some risks around Utilites

Answer 22

Getting power into the site and existing diversions

Question 24

What Utilites were going in?

Answer 24

Gas, Water, Telecoms, Electricty

Question 25

What are the risks when pricing substructure?

Answer 25

Unexpected ground conditions, contamination, water table, surrounding trees effecting foundations, ground obstructions, excavation, antiquities

Question 26

What was the £/m2?

Answer 26

£2250/m2

Question 27

What other procurement options were considered?

Answer 27

Traditional wasn’t an option, CM or MC was considered due to the programme benefits, however, the client wanted some cost certainty at contract

Question 28

Since you already know Option 1 is not the client preferred option, this should not form part of the option for consideration. Technically, you are only down to Option 2 – the only option. Why this is a key issue?

Answer 28

I wanted to highlight to my client that this was an option, even though they had preferred the negotiation, I advised my client that a competitive tender could be possible and listed the pros and cons of each.

Question 29

While option 2 is to go directly to a single contractor for a negotiation, did you consider more than one client preferred contractors (with similar experiences) for price competitiveness in the negotiation process. If not – why

Answer 29

Yes, I also spoke to a separate enabling works contractor who I visited site with. Once they had looked around and looked through their design, their programme and indicative cost was way above what we had anticiapted. They were a very well recongised sub contractor in the industry and said this was the best case.

Question 30

What were some of the packages?

Answer 30

Site Clearance and Cut and Fill
Utilites provided a mutli service
Secuirty and Site Fencing
Access and Egress
Road surfacing and paths
Groundworks

Question 31

Why did you select design and build?

Answer 31

Time - Allow for potential overlap of the construction and finalising the design

Responsibility - Client wanted the contractor to take on more responsibility

Cost - Lump sum fixed cost was required.

Question 32

What were some amendments?

Answer 32

Payment Dates - 14 - 21

Variations - Stated variation had to be in writing for it to be applicable

ERs take precedent

Loss of profit amended out

Question 33

What are some of the risks of cut and fill

Answer 33

Ground contamination and not being able to use - allowed for an extra 10% uplift

Question 34

When cut and filling, what do you need to consider within your costs?

Answer 34

Ground contamination - allow for additional % uplift.

Transport costs assosicated with this.

Question 35

What are the time differences between neg and competitive tendering?

Answer 35

8 weeks for negotiation

12 weeks for a competitive

Question 36

You mention that the contractor carries all risk, how did you ensure this was the case? Was it all the ground risk? Up to a certain level?

Answer 36

The risk allocation was clearly defined within the contract conditions, specifiying that the contractor is responsible for all risks.

There was also a ground condition warranty, which warranted that the contractor had fully investigated and understood the ground conditions and accepted all risk

Question 37

What were some cost exclusions you had in your cost plan

Answer 37

Protection and works to neighbouring forest area
Land Acuqisition costs
Planning and permitting fees
Diverting of exisiting services if required
Site Remediation including ground water and soil

Question 38

What were some assumptions within your cost plan?

Question 39

What were some of the risks you highlighed to your client for a negotiated tender

Answer 39

Cost competition

Selecting contractor on past relationship doesn’t mean they are suited for this project.

Question 40

When was the PC date for the enabling works due?

Answer 40

22nd November 2024

Question 41

When was the SOS date for the main works

Answer 41

End of September 2024

Question 42

You mention inflation increases and challenges, what were these?

Answer 42

Inflation was 4%

Industury was still seeing cost increases due to the Russia and Ukraine conflict