Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
works, and make recommendations to the owner regarding which
contractors he should employ. He will take the site investigation
data, design the works and probably supervise the works, although
sometimes this is let as a separate contract or conducted in-house for
consistency between separate sections of an ongoing project, as is the
practice of the Mass Transit Railway Authority in Hong Kong, for
example. During construction, the engineer will usually employ or
nominate a resident engineer (RE) and other resident site staff who
will deal with the construction on site, on a day-to-day basis. The site
staff will refer any needs for design changes as the works progress back
to the design of
ce for resolution.
2.1.4 The contractor
Various contractors may be employed for the works. Contractors are
usually invited to bid to carry out works, as set out in drawings,
speci
cations and a bill of quantities (BOQ), which lists the works to
be done and estimated amounts (e.g. volume of material to excavate).
The contractor puts a price against each item in the BOQ and the sum
of all the itemised costs will constitute his offer to the owner for
completing the works. Generally, a specialist ground investigation
contractor will be employed to carry out sub-surface investigation of
the site following a speci
cation for those works by the engineer. That
speci
cation will include locations and depths of sampling, types of
testing and the equipment to be used
(Chapters 3
and
4)
. Other con-
tractors will be used to conduct and construct the various facets of a
project.
Contractors, like engineers, need to ensure that they allow for some
degree of pro
t. When the engineer assesses the various tenders, on
behalf of the owner, he needs to be cautious that any particularly low
bid is not unrealistic (which he would normally do by comparing with
his own broad estimate of what the cost might be). A particularly low
bid might mean that the contractor has misunderstood the scope of the
works and whilst the low price might be attractive to the owner, quite
often such situations end up in con
ict or dispute, with the contractor
desperately trying to compensate for his underestimation of the costs
involved. Alternatively, the contractor might be trying to win or main-
tain market share at a time of high competition, so his bid has a
deliberately low pro
t margin. A third possibility is that the contractor
already has in mind ways to make claims for additional payment,
especially if the contracts are not well drafted, as discussed later. The
engineer may recommend that the owner does not accept the lowest
tendered offer because of these various concerns, and some countries
and governments have rules and methods in place for trying to elim-
inate unrealistic bids and ensuring that the most suitable contractor is
employed.
