CONTRACT AND PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT
Part IIAn Environmental Impact StudyYou are a general contractor wishing to put up a modest sized cement production plant on the outskirts of town. The plant would operate on only one 10-hour shift per day and would produce about 400 cubic yards of output per day for six days per week. It is necessary for an environmental impact study to be undertaken before the county can issue a permit. The biggest issue is, of course, the air quality implications of cement production, but potential impacts on water quality are of concern as well. It is now October, and you want to start building the plant by the end of next summer, if possible. It is now time to issue an RFP to procure an environmental impact analysis. Studies of this type normally require about three months of concerted effort by a team of analysts.Assignment:Project Part 2 (PP2) entails completing the remaining sections of the Request for Proposal (RFP) that was selected and prepared for Project Part 1 (PP1).
The PP2 RFP should be prepared in aMS Word format suitable for electronic transmission. Any resources used beyond the textbook need to be cited in your document—including links to relevant websites. Be sure to include footnotes and bibliography.
Submission Details:All PP2 documents must be submitted no later than the end 09/28/2013
Clarification on Assignment:All questions of a clarification nature should be asked in the weeklyQ & AForum discussion topic.
Grading:Eighty percent of points will be for content (including proper use of the English language) and 20 percent of thepoints will be based following the instructions for the assignment.
RFP Content:Your RFP should utilize the best practices of the pre-award phase that apply to your project. You must choose the type of contract that you feel is most appropriate for this procurement. I will set the length limit at 10 double-spaced pages (12-point font) for the main body of the RFP. (Please do not feel obligated to reach that limit.) You may attach additional appendices if you wish, but these must be limited to clarifying material that has been borrowed from elsewhere or developed as an exhibit.
The first page of your overall submission must be a cover sheet that contains the project title (hopefully, not “PP2” or anything like it—be inventive), your name, your e-mail address, and course identifying information (e.g., “PROJ598 for this term” will suffice—obviously, use the correct term identifier). The second page will be a Table of Contents (TOC) listing the major RFP sections together with page numbers. Include on this page a listing of the references that you used in the RFP preparation, including websites, if any. The next 1-to-10 pages constitute the main body of the RFP. Appendix B contains a list of suppliers to whom you would send the RFP. These must be real bona fide contractors—not hypothetical ones. On that page, say how you chose these potential suppliers. The cover sheet, TOC/references page, and supplier list do not count toward the 10-page limitation.
The structure should, therefore be:
- Cover sheet (one page)
- Table of contents and references (one page)
- RFP main body (no more than 10 pages)
- Appendices (no page limit)
- Appendix B: Supplier list (one page)
Deadline:
PP2 is due by the end of Week 4.
Submit your PP2 assignment to the Week 4 Drop box.
Scoring:
Cover Page |
10 |
Table of Content and References |
15 |
RFP Main Body Section 1&2 |
20 |
RFP Main Body Section 3&4 |
20 |
RFP Main Body Section 5&6 |
20 |
Appendix A & B |
20 |
Document Organization |
20 |
Total Points
|
125
|
1.5. Pre-Bid Meeting. 10
1.6. Owner Contact for Questions. 10
1.7. Pre-Award Surveys. 10
1.8. Sealed Bid Requirements. 10
1.9. Basis for Bid Evaluation. 11
1.10. Ethical Standards. 11
1.11. Responsibility for Surety Bonds. 11
1.12. Proposal Format 11
1.13. List of Bidders. 11
1.14. Letter of Acknowledgment 11
2. DESCRIPTION OF WORK. 12
2.1. Engineering Contracts. 12
2.2. Construction Contracts 13
1.5. Pre-Bid Meeting Pre-bid meetings can be held after the RFP’s are issued and prior to the bid due date. Pre-bid meetings may be referred to with other titles in RFP’s such as a pre-proposal conference in government RFP’s. If an owner intends to have a pre-bid meeting, the Instructions provide the location, date, and time of the meeting. The Instructions may also describe the purpose of the meeting and how answers to questions from bidders will be handled. The answers to the questions from bidders are normally handled in a formal manner since they are a supplement to the information provided in the RFP. 1.6. Owner Contact for Questions It is important that an owner designate one individual to act as the contact person for questions from bidders during the bid period. This organizational approach assures that questions are handled in a consistent manner and that all bidders receive the same answers to questions. The answers to individual questions from bidders during the bid period that are not responded to at a pre-bid meeting are also important supplemental information to the original RFP. The procurement group representative assigned to a contract is often the designated contact person for an owner. The Instructions specify the name of the person in the owner's organization that is responsible for responding to bidder questions. The Instructions also specify the telephone number and address of the contact person. The Instructions define the procedure that will be used for providing answers to all bidders when one bidder asks a question concerning requirements in the RFP. 1.7. Pre-Award Surveys Certain owners perform pre-award surveys of specific bidders to obtain information on technical and management capabilities. These surveys are performed after the RFP is issued to the bidders and prior to award. The surveys can require detailed presentations from bidders regarding the technical and management approaches that they will take on a contract. The Instructions inform the bidders of the subjects that are covered at these meetings. The surveys are usually conducted at the bidder's facility since the adequacy of a bidder's facility is part of the survey. The timing of a pre-award survey is established on an individual bidder basis. 1.8. Sealed Bid Requirements Many RFP's require that bid proposals are sealed when submitted to an owner. This provides a measure of security that bids have not been altered after they were prepared. The Instructions define the sealed bid requirements. Requirements for addressing the bids to the proper party are defined in the Instructions. If the bids are not required to be sealed, the Instructions address the acceptability of telegraphic and facsimile bid proposals and bid proposal modifications. The Instructions specify the number of copies of bid proposals that are required. 1.9. Basis for Bid Evaluation There are advantages in defining the basis that an owner will use in evaluating bid proposals. If an owner intends to give significant weight in its bid evaluation to factors such as technical, quality and schedule control capability as well as quoted prices, the bidders should be aware of this fact.
This gives them the opportunity to emphasize the strengths of their technical and management programs. They may propose stronger programs in these areas if they believe that this will improve their chances of contract award. The Instructions should define the basis that an owner will use to evaluate the bidders for contract work. 1.10. Ethical Standards Many owners include ethical standards that the owner and the supplier or contractors are required to follow in their relationships with one another prior to and after the award of a contract in the Instructions. These standards often come from corporate procurement policies. They include such items restrictions on gifts and entertainment from suppliers and contractors to owner personnel. 1.11. Responsibility for Surety Bonds If another section of the RFP does not specify the exact requirements for surety bonds for a contract, the Instructions clarify the types of bonds required and the cost responsibility for providing the bonds. 1.12. Proposal Format If the RFP requires that bidders prepare detailed proposals describing how they will accomplish contract work activities, the Instructions define the format required for the proposals. Limits may be placed on the length of different sections in the proposal to assure that overly lengthy proposals are not received from bidders. 1.13. List of Bidders Many RFP's include a list of the companies in the Instructions section that have been asked to bid on the contract. This approach has the advantage of making the bidders aware that they are involved in a competitive bidding process.
Note: A place is provided in Appendix B for a detailed list of bidders.
1.14. Letter of Acknowledgment It is important that procurement groups receive feedback as early as possible from companies that receive RFP's regarding their intent to bid the work. If one or more companies on the list of bidders for a contract decline to bid, there may be insufficient bidders to satisfy competitive bidding requirements. It may be necessary to send RFP's to additional bidders to obtain the desired number of bid proposals. To obtain this feedback in a timely manner, the Instructions often include a Letter of Acknowledgment that requires bidders to state whether they intend to submit bid proposals. 2. DESCRIPTION OF WORK Service contracts require a Description of Work in the RFP's. Certain large engineered materials and equipment contracts can also require Description of Work sections in their RFP's. The Description of Work has other titles such as Statement of Work or Scope of Work in RFP's used by different companies and government agencies. Other companies include the Description of Work in the technical specifications for a contract.
The purpose of the Description of Work in the RFP is to define the scope of work for a
contract. Other sections of the RFP for a contract such as the Specifications and Drawings and the Special Conditions also provide information that describes the work scope for bidders. The Description of Work references the other RFP sections as required. 2.1. Engineering Contracts The Description for an engineering contract RFP contains an overview of the technical features of a project. Other general information such as the location of the project, existing facilities at the project site, and responsibility for licensing and permits is defined. If there is more than one engineering contractor on a project, the scopes of the other engineering contracts are defined in sufficient detail for the bidder to understand its role in the design of a project.
If there is a performance specification in the engineering contract RFP, the Description references the specification for details concerning the technical requirements for the design of the project. If there is not a performance specification included in the RFP, the Description contains the owner's design performance requirements. If the performance specification includes design areas that are not in the scope of an engineering contract, the Description explains which items in the performance specification apply to the contract.
The division of responsibility between the owner and the engineering contractor is explained in the Description. If an owner intends to perform design functions such as establishing design criteria for certain systems, these functions are defined. The division of responsibility indicates which design documents and procedures produced by the engineering contractor require owner approval. The division of responsibility also establishes the materials and equipment that are procured by the owner and those that are procured by the engineering contractor. The division of responsibility defines whether the engineering contractor or a supplier is responsible for the detailed design of engineered materials.
The type and duration of the support that the engineering contractor is required to provide to other project groups such as licensing, procurement, construction or manufacturing, and testing is addressed in the Description. If the engineering contractor is required to provide liaison personnel at the project site to clarify design requirements, this program is defined in the Description.
The quality, schedule, cost, and other management programs required to manage the engineering contract work can be defined in the Description. An alternative approach is to include the management requirements in the Special Conditions. It is not significant which section of the RFP includes the management requirements as long as they are well defined. 2.2. Construction Contracts The Description for a construction contract RFP contains an overview of the technical features of a project. It also provides the location of the work, existing facilities at the project site, and the responsibility for obtaining permits and licenses for a project. If there are multiple construction contractors working on the project, the scope of work of each construction contractor is described in the Description.
If the construction contract pricing approach is fixed price or unit price, there is a separate section of the RFP that contains technical specifications and drawings. The construction contractor's responsibilities for performing the work in these specifications and drawings are defined in the Description. In cases where the specifications and drawings include work performed by more than one contractor, the specific responsibilities of each contractor are defined in the Description. If the specifications and drawings are not complete when the RFP is issued, the degree of completion is defined in the Description.
The division of responsibility between an owner and a construction contractor is defined in the description. If the construction contractor will be responsible for detailed design functions, these functions are delineated in the division of responsibility. The division of responsibility specifies the materials and equipment that are furnished to a contractor by an owner. It also specifies the materials and equipment that are procured and installed by the contractor. The division of responsibility defines the responsibility for testing the systems and components installed by a contractor.
The construction contractor's responsibilities for providing services such as clean up, scaffolding, temporary office buildings, and warehousing, temporary electrical, temporary heat, security, and construction equipment are described in the Description. If an owner elects to provide services to a construction contractor, the services are defined in the Description.
The support that a construction contractor is required to provide to other project groups is defined in the Instructions. The contractor can be required to provide as built drawings to the engineering group for final design validation. The contractor may have to provide construction personnel to the testing group to support testing activities. The contractor can be responsible for providing scaffolding for access for inspections by owner quality personnel.
The quality, schedule, cost, safety, environmental, and other management programs required to control the construction contract work can be addressed in the Description. They can also be addressed in the Special Conditions.