Design, Construction, Document Creation and Competitive Bidding

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) 

Branch of Tribal Climate Resilience (TCR) 

November 2023 

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Overview Of The Construction Process From Owners Point Of View

The planning, design, and construction process can be broken down into the following:

1. Planning / Pre-Design
2. Design
3. Construction Contracting
4. Construction Administration
5. Construction Handover / O&M

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1. Planning / Pre-Design

• Site Analysis
• Programming
• Construction Costs

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1. Planning / Pre-Design

• Site Analysis
• Studies are conducted to evaluate existing conditions (of proposed site). These studies may include geotechnical reports, hydrology studies, land surveys (including boundaries, topography, and utilities), existing building analysis, and surveys of existing hazardous materials (environmental due diligence).

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1. Planning / Pre-Design

• Programming (The Scope)
• The Project Program (Programming) defines the needs of the user (you). That includes defining a project's functional needs interior and exterior functional requirements including space sizes, contents, activities and relationships. A project program serves not only as a basis for design and a source of information about a project, but frequently as a basis for seeking funding.
• The programming process concludes with a clear and orderly statement of the problem. Scope is clearly defined and incorporates the following factors: The definition of the users and the purpose of the users, The functions and programs (cursory specs) The assigned square feet (or Area) of the proposed project. Special factors

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1. Planning / Pre-Design

• Construction Costs
• At this point A Rough-order-of-magnitude estimate is prepared with little or no design information available for the project. It is called order of magnitude because that may be all that can be determined at an early stage. In other words, perhaps we can only determine that it is of a $10,000,000 magnitude as opposed to a $1,000,000 magnitude. These estimates utilize experience and judgment, historical values and charts, rules of thumb, and simple mathematical calculations.
• It is a very rough estimate but can be used to estimate the needed funding.

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2. Design

• Schematic Design
• Design Development
• Construction Documents

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2. Design

• Schematic Design
• Schematic design is the first phase of basic services for project design. At this stage in a project, the design professional describes the project three-dimensionally. A range of alternative design concepts are explored to define the character of the completed project and an optimum realization of the project program.

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2. Design

• Design Development
• Project design is further refined. Plan arrangements, specific space accommodations, equipment and furnishings, building design, materials and colors, and complete definitions of all systems serving the project are developed. All design decisions are completed during this phase in order to prepare the subsequent construction documents.

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2. Design

• Construction Documents
• Consists of preparation of drawings and specifications establishing the requirements for the construction of the project. Design Professional submits construction documents for review by the owner/community (you) and others as deemed necessary, typically, at 30% completion, 60% completion, 90% completion and 100% Completion
• The construction documents serve as a basis for obtaining bids from contractors and are used by contractors to obtain price quotes from subcontractors.

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3. Construction Contracting�(How the project is designed, solicited and awarded)

• Delivery Methods For Construction Projects
• The Construction Team

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3. Construction Contracting�(How the project is designed, solicited and awarded)

• Delivery Methods For Construction Projects
• Design-Bid-Build (Traditional Building) - Recommended
• Design-and-Build or Design Build (D-B) - Risky
• Cost Plus Fee (Emergency Projects, or Small Projects)
• Other Methods Exist The Above are Most Typical

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3. Construction Contracting

• The Construction Team
• Owner
• Contractor
• Owners Representative
• Design Professional

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4. Construction Administration

• Field Administration
• Progress Meetings

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4. Construction Administration

• Field Administration
• Construction field management is managing and reacting to all the moving parts of a construction project, including workforce, resources and corresponding tasks. Effective construction field management is based on communication of updated progress of each task.
• Daily Reports by Contractor
• Field Reports by Owners Representative

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4. Construction Administration

• Progress Meetings
• Project progress meetings are held to discuss and resolve issues concerning contractor's Application for Payment, Submittals, field problems, construction schedule and other items as appropriate to the Project. The Owners’ Representative organizes and conducts project progress meetings. (may or may not coincide with field reports)

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5. Construction Handover / Operations & Maintenance

• Planning From Beginning
• Information Schedule
• Training
• Maintenance

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The ‘handover’ takes place when the construction contract has been completed and typically involves the owner formally accepting the finished product and relevant information from the construction contractor.

Some general principles that can help ensure the process runs smoothly.

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5. Construction Handover / Operations & Maintenance

• Planning
• Owners should make their expectations clear at the start of the project (should be in the specifications); this helps prevent confusion or contention later.

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5. Construction Handover / Operations & Maintenance

• Information Schedule
• Develop an information schedule (in the specifications) as early on as possible, to list what is needed, in what format, and which person or function is responsible for collating it.

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5. Construction Handover / Operations & Maintenance

• Owner Training
• Relevant staff must be instructed in how to operate and maintain the property. This might be as simple as a short demonstration on how to use a new lighting array, to formal training if a higher level of competence is required. This training could be delivered by the contractor who installed the asset; the contract documentation should specify this.

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5. Construction Handover / Operations & Maintenance

• Maintenance Plan/Schedule
• The Contractor should collate information into a maintenance schedule or log, listing the assets/components and detailing the frequency and nature of the maintenance tasks. Once the owner is satisfied that they have the assurances and information needed to operate and maintain the property, they will often be asked to sign a completion certificate. This will mark the end of the construction phase.

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Thank you

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