Manual Notice: 2007-01

From: Thomas R. Bohuslav, P. E., Director, Construction Division

Manual: Construction Contract Administration Manual

Effective Date: October 01, 2007

Purpose

This manual notice transmits revisions to the manual and provides clarification and additional guidance for the policies and procedures of the Construction Division.

Changes

Changes include:

Throughout the manual, the section known as CST - Claims and Disputes changed to CST - Claims, Disputes, and Special Programs (CST-CDSP).

Chapter 2, Pre-bid Conference.

  • Section 1- ‘Showing the Project’
    • Under subhead, ‘Purpose and Process of Showing a Project,’ information added to define and process minor errors prior to letting. Information added to process errors that create the potential for an unbalanced bid.
  • Section 2 - ‘Pre-Bid Conference’
    • Under subhead, ‘Introduction’ the first paragraph was deleted and replaced with “Pre-bid conferences may be conducted to provide specific project information, explain any unusual aspects of the project and address any potential bidder questions.”

      The second and third paragraph were combined. Text “minutes may be written or recorded” was added in the first sentence of the revised paragraph.

      In the first bulleted item, text was revised to address late arrivals.

      An item was added to the end of the bulleted list to issue an addendum to correct a proposal.

    • Added new subsection, ‘Mandatory Attendance.’

Chapter 3, Post-Award Activities.

  • Section 3 - ‘Pre-Construction Conference’
    • Under subhead, ‘Purpose of Conference,’ the “written record of the meeting” was defined as meeting minutes.
    • Under subhead, ‘Conference Responsibilities and Make-up,’ added “(as required)” after bulleted items “news media,” “utility companies,” and “local governmental entities.”

      Added bullet item #6 “emergency entities. . .”

      Deleted paragraph after bulleted list referencing the Traffic Control Plan.

    • Under subhead, ‘Pre-construction Conference Agenda’ in the table by the same name under the column heading ‘Topic/Comments’ for ‘Agenda Item’:

      ‘Contractor’s Work Plan’ added two items to the end of bulleted list: “present the subcontractors proposed for the project and the work they will perform (DBEs discussed below)” and “railroad insurance, if required in the contract.”

      ‘Utility Adjustment’ in the second bullet, deleted “is responsible for” and changed to “should not.”

      ‘Traffic Control’ added three bulleted items: 1) explain the Traffic Control Plan (TCP) and its sequence during the course of the contract, 2) stress to the contractor that deficiencies noted during construction must be corrected as soon as possible, and 3) ensure the contractor provides the scheduled sequence of work to the respective utility owners.

      ‘Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE)/Small Business Enterprise (SBE)’ deleted “HUB” from the last bulleted item.

      ‘EEO, Training and Labor Compliance’ the subsection “Optional On-the-Job Training special provision” was deleted. The subsection “On-the-Job Training” was added. Under subsection “Payroll records,” time frame was defined as “within 7 calendar days” for submitting payroll records on federal-aid construction projects.

  • Section 4 - ‘Partnering Process’
    • Under subhead, ‘Procedure’ the last paragraph referencing the Partnering Handbook was deleted.

Chapter 4, Job Records.

  • Section 1 - ‘Importance of Accurate Records’
    • Under subhead, ‘Electronic Records’ added examples of software on the bulleted item “include adequate software programs and hardware dependency documentation”
  • Section 2 - ‘Public Information Act’
    • Under subhead, ‘Overview’ the term “public information officer” was replaced with “open records coordinator.” Two paragraphs added after second paragraph. Content describes the district open records coordinator responsibilities and procedures to follow for processing information requests.

      In the last paragraph, instructions were added to describe how to process information requests sent to individual departmental employee’s e-mail address.

  • Section 3 – ‘Traffic Control Plan (TCP)’
    • Under subhead, ‘Construction or Work Phase Requirements’ a description of the district traffic control coordinator’s (TCC) responsibilities was added to the end of the subsection.
    • Under subhead, ‘Formal Inspections and Procedures’ at the end of the first paragraph added information on when to use electronic and written entry.

      In the third paragraph, changed text on the project folder labelling. Changed the language for the department’s response requirement on Form 599 requests.

  • Section 4 – ‘Project Records’
    • Under subhead, ‘Notice of Beginning Work’ added bulleted item “CCSJ.”
    • Under subhead, ‘Progress Schedules’ more specific language was added to the end of the first paragraph under the bulleted list to describe the written clarification from the contractor.
    • Under subhead, ‘Project Diary’ content was added to describe the procedures for maintaining a project diary and for the correction of diary entries.

      In the bulleted list, added bullet, “approximate quantities of work.”

      In bulleted item added “and type” to “quantity and type of equipment and activity at the project site”

    • Under subhead, ‘Final Plans’ a bulleted procedural list was added after the last paragraph to describe how to develop final as-built plans sets.
    • Under subhead, ‘Required Reports and Forms’ the information for completing, processing, and retaining Form 2235*, Final Inspection of Federal-Aid Project, was revised. *Note: Form 2235 replaces FHWA-1446C.

      The instructions to process Forms 168, 181, and 1276 have changed. Districts are instructed to maintain these forms in the project file. No distribution outside of the district is required.

Chapter 5, Control of the Work.

  • Section 1 - ‘Project Authority’
    • In the third paragraph under subhead, ‘Authority and Duties of Inspectors’ deleted “Only the engineer may approve or accept the work or issue instructions contrary to the contract.”
  • Section 2 – ‘Work Documents’
    • Under subhead, ‘Traffic Control’ more specific language was added for removal and covering signs that restrict speed limit in a construction or maintenance work zone.
    • Under subhead, ‘Open Records Requests for Form 599’ in the first paragraph the label message was changed.
    • Subhead changed from ‘Working Data and Transition Plan’ to ‘Pedestrian and ADA Requirements.’

      The first paragraph under this subheading was added. It describes pedestrian elements and their accessibility.

    • Under subheading, ‘Document Disposition’ the label message was changed.
  • Section 3 - ‘Construction Surveying’
    • Under subhead, ‘Overview’ sentence referencing survey control documentation and the related memo dated January 12, 2006 was added to the end of the first paragraph.
  • Section 4 – ‘Inspections’
    • Under subhead, ‘Inspection by the Department’ the sentence “Document the inspection of survey work in the project diary.” was added to the end of the paragraph. Under the same subhead, in the second level subsection ‘Exempt Federal-aid Projects’ updated the date for the Federal Oversight Agreement to October 13, 2006.
  • Section 5 – ‘Post Construction Evaluation.’
    • Section deleted.

Chapter 6, Control of Materials.

  • Section 1 – ‘Material’
    • Under subhead, ‘Material Source Information’ at paragraph #5 added bulleted list of material with an established history of TxDOT use.
    • Under the bulleted list, added a new paragraph with a link to the TxDOT Material Producer List for NRMs that may be accepted without documentation of environmental suitability. Presents condition to use forms, CSTM-NRM-1 and CSTM-NRM-2.
  • Section 2 - ‘Material Testing’
    • Under subhead, ‘Forms and Reports’ in table ‘Forms and Reports Maintained in District Files,’ under the ‘Reference’ column, added content for Forms 311 Rev. and 596.
    • Subhead name changed from ‘Guide Schedule of Sampling and Testing’ to ‘Sampling and Testing.’
  • Section 3 – ‘Buy America’
    • Under subhead, ‘Overview’ added condition for use of Form 1818, Material Statement, to the beginning of the third paragraph.
  • Added Section 4 - ‘Buy Texas’

Chapter 7, Changes to the Contract.

  • Section 1 - ‘Change Orders’
    • Under subhead, ‘Policy,’ added “Unit prices that are comparable to bid prices for the same character of work are acceptable without additional justification.” to the second paragraph.
    • Under subhead ‘Change Order Preparation’ added bulleted item “adding new items of work.”
    • Under second level subhead, ‘Change Orders Requiring CST Review’:

      a) revised bullet #4, added criteria for when the use of “price justification” is not required and

      b) added bullet #7 “coordination with DES for pedestrian elements that exceed the TDLR $50,000 threshold.”

  • Section 2 - ‘Change Order Approval Authority’
    • Under subhead, ‘Policy’ in the table ‘Change Order (CO) Signature Authority’ under column ‘Change Order Category’:

      Added “Bilateral” descriptor to “CO less than $50,000” and “CO less than $300,000”

      Added item “Unilateral CO less than $300,000” and corresponding “DE” for ‘Signature Authority.’

      Added “regardless of amount” to the end of ‘CO changing project limits.’

      Added item “CO that resolves termination cost to contractors” and corresponding “AED, EO” for ‘Signature Authority.’

      Added item “CO that changes limits or roadways on district-wide CSJ projects (i.e., CCSJ: 09xx-00-xxx)” and corresponding “AED, EO” for ‘Signature Authority.’

    • Under table ‘Change Order (CO) Signature Authority’ added “While the signature authority listed above may not be delegated further, the district delegation allowed is at the discretion of the DE.” after the first sentence.
    • Under subhead, ‘Federal Letter of Authority (FLOA) Federal-Aid Projects’ added conditions for approval of major COs on FLOA projects for federal participation.

      Added content on approval requirements for minor COs and work on all FLOA COs.

    • Under subsection, ‘State Letter of Authority (SLOA) Federal-Aid Projects’ second level subhead, ‘Federal Participation,’ the introduction to the second bulleted list changed from “FHWA may grant retroactive participation if” to “Federal-aid participation may be granted if.”
    • Under subsection, ‘State Funded Projects,’ added new subsection ‘Extending or Adding Project Limits to the Contract.’
  • Section 3 - ‘Force Account and Interim Adjustments to the Contract’
    • Under subhead, ‘Change Orders Involving Contractor Force Account Work,’ in the paragraph under the bulleted list, changed the “COs for force account work less than” dollar amount from $5,000 to $10,000.
  • Section 4 – ‘Supplemental Agreements’
    • Under subhead, ‘Policy’ deleted 3 items:

      1) Bulleted item “change the terms or conditions of the contract, such as, extending the limits or adding a new project.”

      2) Sentence “A SA may be used to settle disputes.”

      3) “Note: Do not use COs to change the terms and conditions of the contract. COs are used only for changes to the work.”

    • Under subhead, ‘Policy’ reworded bulleted item under “Use a SA to:” from “dispute settlements involving a surety” to “settle disputes involving a surety”
  • Section 5 - ‘Terminations’
    • Under subhead, ‘Procedures’ added sentence to the beginning of the first paragraph, “Coordinate with CST-FE to process contract terminations.” Added “CST-FE will” to the second sentence “provide written notice of termination. . .”

Chapter 8, Disputes and Claims.

  • Section 1 – ‘Disputes’
    • Under subhead, ‘Policy’ added sentence under bulleted list “Notify FHWA when a dispute is submitted on a FLOA project.”
  • Section 2 - ‘Claims’
    • Under subhead, ‘Claims’ added sentence to the end of the third paragraph, “Notify FHWA when a claim is filed on a FLOA project.”

Chapter 10, Prosecution and Progress.

  • Section 4 - ‘Subcontracting’
    • In the first paragraph added “a hauling firm hauling only from a commercial source to the project” to the definition of subcontractor according to Article 1.128 of the Standard Specifications.

Chapter 11, Measurement and Payment.

  • Section 2 - ‘Issues Affecting Payments’
    • Under table, ‘Item and Description Codes for Tracking Incentives/Disincentives with RUC,’ added new subhead, ‘Retainage for Wholly State Funded Contracts.’
    • Under subhead, ‘Retainage for Wholly State Funded Contracts,’ changed 4 first level subheads to second level subheads. “Retainage on” was deleted from the front of each of the first three subheads;

      a) the revised subhead changed from ‘Retainage on Contracts with Recycled Materials’ to ‘Contracts with Recycled Materials’;

      b) the revised subhead changed from ‘Retainage on Contracts without Recycled Materials’ to ‘Contracts without Recycled Materials’; and

      c) the revised subhead changed from ‘Retainage on Contracts with Vegetative Establishment, Maintenance or Performance Period (VEMP)’ to ‘Contracts with Vegetative Establishment, Maintenance or Performance Period (VEMP).’

    • Two new subsections were added: ‘Zero Retainage for Federally Funded Contracts’ and ‘Effect of Zero Retainage on Payment Items.’
  • Section 3 title, ‘Prompt Payment,’ changed to ‘Prompt Payment - Wholly State Funded Contracts.’
    • Under subhead, ‘Policy,’ two paragraphs, detailing conditions for subcontractor payment, were moved to newly added Section 4, ‘Prompt Payment - Federally Funded Contracts’ under subhead ‘Policy.’
  • Added Section 4 - ‘Prompt Payment - Federally Funded Contracts’
    • New content added under existing information moved from Section 3, ‘Prompt Payment - Wholly State Funded Contracts,’ under subhead, ‘Policy.’
  • Section 5 - ‘Force Account,’ was formerly Section 4 - ‘Force Account.’ No content change.

Chapter 14, Business Opportunity Programs.

  • Section 2 – Title ‘Contract Monitoring Requirements’ changed to ‘Contract Reporting Requirements.’
    • Subhead, ‘Commercially Useful Function (CUF) Reviews,’ changed to section heading for newly created Section 3 by the same name. The first paragraph under the subhead was also moved to Section 3 under subhead, ‘Overview.’
    • Added new subsection, ‘DBE Commitment Procedures.’
    • Added new subsection, ‘Use of Joint Checks’ under subsection, ‘DBE/HUB Subcontractor Approval Requests.’
  • Added new section, Section 3 - ‘Commercially Useful Function (CUF) Reviews.’

Chapter 15, Contractor Workforce.

  • Section 2 – ‘Labor Requirements’
    • In the last paragraph under the second level subhead, ‘Payroll Review,’ added “Document in the project file the review results, review date and reviewer name.”
  • Section 3 – Title changed from ‘Optional On-the-Job Training’ to ‘On-the-Job (OJT) Training.’ The content under this section has been updated and rewritten to follow the FHWA approved OJT program manual.

Chapter 16, Local Government Contract Oversight.

  • Section 2 – ‘General Requirements Checklist’
    • Under subhead, ‘Bid Document Components,’ in the table by the same name, changed the information under column heading ‘Office of Primary Responsibility (OPR),’ for ‘Bid Document Component’ items “Claims,” “Liquidated Damages” and “Prevailing Minimum Wage.”
    • Under subhead, ‘Contract Execution,’ in the table, ‘Federal Requirements - Contract Execution,’ changed the office from “CST” to “BOP” under column heading, ‘District Monitoring Responsibilities,’ for “Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE)” and “Small Business Enterprise (SBE).”
    • Under subhead, ‘Contract Administration,’ in table, ‘Federal Requirements - Contract Administration’:

      Changed contact phone number for CST-L&CA under column heading, ‘District Monitoring Responsibilities,’ for ‘Requirement’ item, “Change Orders”

      For ‘Requirement’ item ‘Final inspection and acceptance’ updated the date for ‘Reference’ item ‘FHWA/TxDOT Oversight Agreement’ to 10/13/06.

      Changed responsible branch from CST-L&CA to CST-FE under column heading, ‘District Monitoring Responsibilities,’ for ‘Requirement’ item “Prompt payment to subcontractors/vendors (See Disadvantaged Business Enterprises).”

Chapter 17, Forms and Guidance Documents.

  • Section 1 - ‘Forms and Guidance Documents’
    • In table, ‘Contract Administration Forms and Examples,’ deleted forms/guidance documents: Optional Training Schedule (Example), Registration for Optional OJT Program, OJT Weekly Report, and Quarterly Trainee Interview Report.
    • In table, ‘Contract Administration Forms and Examples,’ added forms: Form 2201, Contractor OJT Enrollment Request Form and Form 2202, OJT Weekly Reporting Form.

Contact

For more information or questions regarding the manual update, please contact Renee Frisinger, Labor & Contract Administration Branch of the Construction Division.

Archives

Past manual notices are available in a pdf archive.

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