PURPOSE
The purpose of this Chapter is to define the procedures used to prepare the Project Specifications and the Bid Proposal for all Bureau projects and to discuss the concept of Master Specifications.
REFERENCES
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RESPONSIBILITIES
Program Manager: The PM is responsible to check that the latest version of the General Conditions and the latest version of the General Requirements are used in all projects that enter the bid & award cycle. The latest versions are posted on the BOE website. Since changes occur frequently, it is important that these be checked just prior to incorporation into the final project documents. Based on the program scope and the similarities of projects within the program, the Program Manager may determine that advantages exist to develop a pre-edited version of the General Requirements and Technical Specifications. Whenever a series of similar projects are designed, using a pre-edited specification should be considered for minimizing any duplicative effort. For example, a program that focuses on a series of similar sewer line installation projects may find it repetitive for each PM to individually remove General Requirements and Technical Specifications that are not sewer pipeline related. The Program Manager has the opportunity to conserve that effort by pre-deleting General Requirements and Technical Specifications that are not sewer pipeline related. The PMs would then work from abridged General Requirements and Technical Specifications to develop the Project Specifications.
Project Manager (PM): The PM is responsible to assure that the latest version of the General Conditions and the latest version of the General Requirements are used in all projects that enter the bid & award cycle. The PM must designate a Project Engineer (PE) to coordinate all technical aspects of the project and to ensure that all Bureau design standards are complied with. When pre-edited specifications are available, the PM should confirm that the PE has incorporated the latest Master Specifications revisions before distribution to the Project designers. The PM accepts the completed design from the PE as “ready for construction and advertisement”. The completed project plans and specifications are forwarded to the Project Award and Control Division (PAC) for inclusion in the bid package.
Project Engineer (PE): The PE is responsible for interdisciplinary coordination and acts as the “technical design manager”. The PE resolves all technical issues and ensures that the Contract Documents are coordinated among all design disciplines. At the preliminary design stage, the PE formulates design guidelines for the Project that includes the format to be used for the Technical Specifications. During design, the PE supervises and coordinates the development of the Project plans and specifications with each design discipline and between specification sections. This applies whether the designers are in-house Bureau staff or consultants. The PE ensures that the project team uses the latest Master Specifications as the basis to develop the project specifications. All specification changes should be reviewed and approved by the PE for impact to other design disciplines and for conformance with Bureau design standards. When the project specification is complete, if the design was done in-house by Bureau staff, the PE places his or her engineer’s seal on the Project specification. If the design was done by a consultant, the consultant would seal the specifications. In both cases, the PE forwards the stamped document to the PM.
Engineer of Design: The Engineer of Design has lead responsibility for the maintenance and development of the Bureau’s Library of Specifications. For specifications following the CSI format, they are kept in the Bureau of Engineering Master Specifications Library. The Engineer of Design organizes standing subcommittees to develop, maintain, and update the various Divisions of this Library. The Engineer of Design coordinates these activities and brings proposed changes and revisions to the Executive Master Specifications Committee for final approval. Once approved, the Engineer of Design is responsible to see that the approved changes are uploaded to the Technical Documents Center on the BOE website.
Master Specifications Committee: The Master Specifications Committee acts as the clearinghouse for the coordinated development and updating of the Master Specifications. This Committee receives comments and suggestions from designers, inspectors, and contractors to help maintain the Master Specifications as living documents. This Committee also receives and responds to comments related to those documents, their effectiveness, and any suggested changes. Individual items are first distributed to the appropriate subcommittee. When applicable, the subcommittee will forward their recommendations to the full Master Specification Committee for consideration. The Committee will discuss and/or review the recommendation and prepare the final draft for consideration by the Executive Master Specification Committee. The Master Specification Committee is composed of subcommittee chairs, and is Chaired by the Engineer of Design. DSIG staffer serves as Committee Secretary.
Executive Master Specification Committee: This Committee makes the final approval of all specification revisions, as well as deletions, and additions of Specification Sections. Electronic copies of all versions of complete, reviewed, and approved specifications are available at the BOE Website, Technical Document Center. The Master Specifications Committee includes the Engineer of Design and two Deputy City Engineers.
Project Award & Control Division (PAC): PAC checks the General Conditions and General Requirements for consistency and conformance with the requirements being prepared for the bid package.
PROCEDURE
Introduction
Specifications are a written document that provides the administrative and technical requirements of the contract. Since the hierarchy of contract documents (General Conditions Section 00205) places specifications higher than plans, necessary attention to specifications is essential for project delivery. The Master Specifications concept establishes the platform that is used to generate all Bureau specifications. As the centralized repository for the specification effort, the reasons are the following:
A specifications library that is easily accessible by all staff designers;
A model that establishes the format and writing style of Bureau specifications in order to produce a consistent appearance;
A tool to facilitate efficient assembly of project specifications;
To pool specification writing resources from all Bureau Programs;
A staff training resource; and
To allow the systematic development of new construction specifications and updates.
The goal of the Master Specifications is to standardize the Bureau’s construction documents, organize the documents, compile the best features from the various programs and eliminate the need to routinely write and rewrite similar documents. By using the Master Specifications, designers start with the Bureau’s best collective knowledge and experiences. This benefits the Construction Management team, Contract Administration, and the Contractor with a shorter learning curve because the same construction documents are presented in the same manner with consistent technical requirements and with the same contractual terms and conditions.
An important facet of the Master Specifications concept is formation of the Master Specifications Committee whose prime directive is maintaining the specifications with timely revisions, updates and other improvements. Having a committee oversee the Bureau’s Library of Specifications creates an organized effort to identify better and better specifications for the designers to use.
For every project, the designers should begin with the latest version of the Master Specifications. The contract documents consist of the Bid Proposal, General Conditions, General Requirements, Technical Specifications, project plan sheets, and documents included such as geotechnical reports. The Bid Proposal is generally developed by PAC with input from the Project design team. The General Conditions must be used as-is. Most Articles of the General Requirements must also be used as-is and these are noted by appropriate “Notices to Specifier.” However, some Articles can be modified for the particular project. As approved by the PE, the format and content of the Technical Specifications can be modified for the particular project.
Included within the Master Specifications are “Notices to Specifier.” These serve either as an important reminder to the designer or to indicate that options exist for further consideration. The “Notice to Specifier” itself is not appropriate in the final Project Specification and must be removed. If the “Notice to Specifier” offers alternate language that is desired, insert the language into the specification but delete the Notice itself.
Bid Proposal
The Bid Proposal is the written document that a contractor uses to provide the terms of their offer (bid pricing information). The Bid Proposal includes instructions to bidders, project information, bidding requirements, notices, and forms for the bidder. The Bid Proposal is modified for the particular project by PAC with input from the Project Manager.
General Conditions
The General Conditions (GCs) are often referred to as the “boiler plate” of the contract. All BOE projects must be bid with the latest Master GC version. Absolutely no changes are allowed to any wording in the GCs. The GCs represent the terms and conditions of the contract awarded by the Board of Public Works and cannot be changed without approval of the Office of the City Attorney.
General Requirements
The General Requirements (GRs) set forth specific conditions applicable to a particular project, group of projects, or program. They detail the manner in which the Bureau will administer a particular project or program. Some Articles within the GRs are optional and should be reviewed to determine their applicability to a specific project. Other Articles are mandatory and the wording cannot be changed. These are noted by appropriate “Notices to Specifier.” Other Articles are mandatory but the language can be changed as appropriate to the project. Again, these are identified by “Notices to Specifier.” Still other Articles contain options that need to be selected for the particular project. One example is Article 01321 that addresses scheduling requirements. Four options are provided and one needs to be selected for the project. Once an option is selected, the wording of that option should be used without change unless a change is approved by the Program Manager.
Technical Specifications
The Technical Specifications describe particular materials and their installation. These provisions describe the expected quality, performance, detail, tolerances, quality control, installed elements and installation procedures. One of two options is used for all projects to describe the written requirements and technical aspects for a particular project.
“Building Format” or “Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) Format” which is generally better suited for public buildings, treatment plants and other complex projects. The PE oversees the modifications of these specifications to suit the particular project. As the need arises, requirements are made for conformance to the “Greenbook” as modified by the “Brown Book”.
“Engineering Format”. This format presents a list of requirements which typically identify modifippcations or special provisions to a model specification. This format is more commonly used for street and bridge projects where the majority of the work is in the public right-of-way. Examples of this approach include the following:
Reference to Greenbook as modified by the Brownbook.
Special Provisions/Technical Specifications that modify the Brown Book which in turn modifies the Greenbook.
Special Provisions/Technical Specifications that modify Caltrans’ Standard Specifications.
In the application of these two formatting options, the most common referenced documents are the following three:
Brown Book
Published by the BOE and incorporates City of Los Angeles changes to the Greenbook.
Takes precedence over the Greenbook.
Always used in conjunction with the Greenbook.
Based on proposed changes by multiple City departments.
The City Engineer may issue revisions as the need arises for the particular Greenbook edition it modifies.
Greenbook
A commonly used Technical Specification for typical Public Works construction that encourages uniform requirements.
Standardizes the procedures to introduce a new material or method to the area.
The Board of Public Works formally adopts the Greenbook and its supplements.
Always used in conjunction with the corresponding edition of the Brown Book.
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Standard Specifications
In general, the base document used for State Funded Highway Projects, projects on State highways, and bridge-structures related projects.
ALTERNATE DELIVERY METHODS
With the advent of alternate project delivery methods (PDM 2.1 and 2.3) beyond the traditional Design/Bid/Built, a new format for specifications is required. For example, Design-Built projects typically require that “Bridging” documents be prepared as a means of communicating to potential project partners what the Owner/Agency has in mind as the project documents. Due to the unique nature of these documents, bridging specifications are prepared on a project specific basis.
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