SCHEDULE REQUIREMENTS

Preparation of the schedule requirements for RFP’s for engineered materials, equipment, and service contracts is an important management task. The schedule requirements for standard materials often consist of only a required delivery date for the materials.

The preparation of the schedule requirements for RFP’s is affected by the type of contract pricing that is selected for a particular procurement item.

SCHEDULE COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS

• Engineered Materials Contractsà can require a substansial amount of detailed design work prior to beginning fabrication of the materials.
• Engineered Equipments Contractsà since most engineered equipment specifications provide performance requirements, the supplier is responsible for the preparation of the detailed design documents required to manufacture the equipment.
• Engineering Contractsà major engineering contracts involve the preparation of a large number of specifications and drawings
• Construction Contractsà the start of the activities performed by a construction contractor are restrained by the award of the construction contract, obtaining the required construction permits and licenses, completion of design specifications and drawings for the contract, and delivery of materials and equipment procured by other project groups.
• Design and Construct Contractsà projects that have one contractor responsible for the design, procurement, construction, and testing of the project delegate much of the management responsibility or schedule performance to the contractor.

SCHEDULE MONITORING REQUIREMENTS

·        Engineered Meterial and Equipment Contractsà most engineered material and equipment suppliers produce schedules that define the activities and durations required to complete their work on a project.

·        Engineering Contractsà have their own scheduling programs that they use to monitor their schedule performance.

·        Construction Contractsà major contruction contractor schedule programs should be compatible with th project schedule system.

·        Design and Construct Contractsà since the owner is responsible for the performance of the design and construct contractor, the owner specifies in the RFP the type of schedule monitoring information that it requires.

SCHEDULE INCENTIVE FEE REQUIREMENTS

• Incentive Fee Milestonesà can establish a single date for the completion of contractor work as the basis for earning an incentive fee.
• Monitoring Requirementsà after the schedule activities are selected that must be complete to earn a schedule incentive fee, a schedule monitoring program is established to track actual progress on the activities.
• Bonus and Penalty Schedule Incentive Fee Contractsà the incentive fee provisions in a contract can provide a penalty for missing a milestone schedule date and a bonus for finishing before the milestone schedule date.

RESPONSIBILITIES FOR SCHEDULE REQUIREMENTS

If an owner has a separate project scheduling group on a project, this group is responsible for determining the key schedule dates from the project schedule that are included in RFP’s for engineered materials, equipment, and service contracts. Groups such as engineering, licensing, construction or manufacturing, and testing provide input to the project scheduling group or project management concerning key dates for major pocurement items.

The project scheduling group is responsible for defining the requirements for supplier and contractor schedule programs in RFP’s.  Project management is responsible for managing the work performed by the project schedule group or directly performing the work if there is not a project schedule group.