Cost Engineering March April 2015

THE JOURNAL OF AACE® INTERNATIONAL -
COST
THE AUTHORITY FOR TOTAL COST MANAGEMENT®
March/April 2015
ENGINEERING
www.aacei.org
SOFT SKILLS
ARE VITAL FOR EFFECTIVE
PROJECT CONTROLS
CALCULATING THE
AS-BUILT
CRITICAL PATH
TRENDS IN
CONSTRUCTION
CLAIMS AND
DISPUTES
CONTENTS
COST ENGINEERING
TECHNICAL ARTICLES
4 Soft Skills are Vital for
Effective Project Controls
Christopher W. Carson, CEP DRMP PSP FAACE and Patrick Kelly, PSP
13 Calculating the As-Built Critical Path

Andrew Avalon, PE PSP
24 Trends in Construction Claims and Disputes

James G. Zack Jr., CFCC FAACE
ALSO FEATURED
2 AACE International Board of Directors 41 Professional Services Directory
2 Cost Engineering Journal Information 41 Index to Advertisers
11 AACE’s Federal Agency Roundtable 42 AACE International Online Store
38 AACE 2015 Annual Meeting 44 Calendar of Events
38 AACE International 2015 Elections
COST ENGINEERING MARCH/APRIL 2015 1
CONTENTS
AACE INTERNATIONAL
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT
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PRESIDENT-ELECT
COST ENGINEERING Established 1958
Vol. 57, No.2/March/April 2015
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2 COST ENGINEERING MARCH/APRIL 2015

TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Soft Skills are Vital

for Effective Project Controls
Christopher W. Carson, CEP DRMP PSP FAACE
and Patrick Kelly, PSP
mendations for these soft type skills,

Abstract: The industry is full of recommendations for good technical project (i.e., personality testing such as the
controls techniques, some written by the authors, but rarely does anyone
Meyers-Briggs Personality Profile), that
address the need for exemplary soft skills in the project controls role.
Wikipedia defines soft skills as, “the cluster of personality traits, social graces, are necessary to supplement the tech-
communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that nical skills and offer ways to both train
characterize relationships with other people.” In order to be an effective and test for the necessary soft skills.
member of the project management team, it takes good soft skills. These
soft skills are necessary to be effective, if the PM team is to listen to recom- What Are Soft Skills?
mendations from project controls. Whether its planning projects, capturing
update information, addressing risks, discussing corrective actions, or pro- As Identified by AACE International
viding claims avoidance support, if the PC expert is not also an expert in soft Soft skills generally refer to those
skills, the value is greatly reduced. This article provides some recommenda- attributes that are not considered en-
tions for those skills, personality testing such as the Meyers-Briggs Person-
gineering skills, particularly when those
ality Profile, that are necessary to supplement the technical skills, and offers
ways to both train and test for the necessary soft skills. This article was first engineering skills are as defined by
presented as DEV.1760 at the 2014 AACE International Annual Meeting in AACE Recommended Practice 11R-88,
New Orleans. Required Skills and Knowledge of Cost
Engineering, as the, “application of sci-
T
he industry is full of recom- are necessary to be effective, if the PM entific principles and techniques” [1].
mendations for good techni- team is to listen to recommendations In this application, planning, analyzing,
cal project controls from Project Controls. Whether it’s validating, optimizing, estimating, pre-
techniques, some written by planning projects, capturing update in- dicting, and managing are all required
the authors, but rarely does anyone ad- formation, addressing risks, discussing technical skills. Leadership, leadership
dress the need for exemplary soft skills corrective actions, or providing claims roles, motivation, incentives are in-
in the project controls role. No matter avoidance support―if the PC expert is cluded, but viewed as a science, “be-
the technical proficiency, the inability not also an expert in soft skills and un- havioral science,” with theories
to communicate the message behind able to ultimately communicate the advanced to deal with these roles. So,
the analysis will result in wasted effort. message behind the analysis, the value in the construction or project manage-
Wikipedia defines soft skills as, “the is greatly reduced or lost. Ultimately, ment world, even the relatively non-
cluster of personality traits, social the project controls consultant must be technical roles and skills are reduced to
graces, communication, language, per- able to identify the needs of the client, a science so one can deal with these
sonal habits, friendliness, and opti- produce the analysis, and communi- skills from an engineering perspective.
mism that characterize relationships cate the result. A failure of any piece of The AACE Total Cost Manage-
with other people.” this trifecta can lead to the entire en- ment Framework, includes a section
In order to be an effective member gagement being considered a failure or called, People and Performance Man-
of the project management (PM) team, a waste of time and money. agement, Chapter 11 [5]. This section
it takes good soft skills. These soft skills This article provides some recom- addresses how people perform, and

used to influence others in a way that
is individually meaningful. Emotional
intelligence (EQ) is comprised of up to
82 different specific skill attributes, that
can be used to characterize an individ-
ual's strengths and development areas.
By mapping an individual's skills to the
requirements of the job, departments
can craft a data-based development
plan to raise performance to the next
level. Task balance is an indication of
the inherent task type preference that
each individual has. It can be used to
obtain and maintain optimal job satis-
faction and performance [7].
While some of these clearly are
soft skills, the full list of soft skills
should encompass much more.
Figure 1 – Performance Expectancy Model - TCM
As Identified by Project Management
while much of it is oriented towards soft skills that he thought were missing Institute (PMI)
productivity in the work process, the [9]. His list, organized into three main The primary guidance from PMI for
section clearly explains how capability areas of basic skills, interpersonal skills, project management, including project
is a function of a number of compo- and experiential learning, included controls, is PMI’s global standard, “A
nents, from motivation to developed reading, writing, speaking, setting Guide to the Project Management
skills. This is an important concept, and goals, effective negotiations, effective Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide),
soft skills can be developed, learned, job searching, personal career develop- currently in the fifth edition [8]. This
and trained. ment, and good management educa- guide lists 10 processes, and two of
If one considers that the sub- tion. Clearly, some of these are those processes deal with this topic of
set of project management called proj- necessary soft skills, but the list is soft skills, project communications
ect controls includes the disciplines of hardly comprehensive and fails to ad- management and project stakeholder
planning and scheduling, cost manage- dress the real needs for project controls management.
ment, risk management, document professionals in order to develop com-
control, some contract administration, petency and accomplish the goals. Some of the communications skills
and forensic analysis, it is obvious that In Cost Engineering, Volume identified in this guide include:
many of these skills are engineering 51/No. 3, March 2009, Edward Munzio
and technical skills, and that is where and Dr. Deborah Fisher attempted to • listening actively and effectively;
the industry seems to place the great- quantify soft skills, which they describe • questioning and probing ideas and
est priority. as: behavior, motivation, emotional in- situations to ensure better under-
The handbook for a planning and telligence, and task balance, calling standing;
scheduling expert is AACE Recom- them the “four basic metrics of human • setting and managing expecta-
mended Practice 14R-90, Responsibility interaction [6]. tions;
and Required Skills for a Project Plan- Their explanation of these metrics • persuading;
ning and Scheduling Professional [2]. shows that they are indeed soft skills. • motivating;
This recommended practice (RP) lists “Behavior is the most clearly visible in- • coaching;
nine duties, and only one of those du- dicator of another person's behavioral • negotiating;
ties covers soft skills, number 3, de- preferences. Behavioral assessment • resolving conflict; and,
scribed as, “Supporting the project teaches the ability to read and respond • summarizing, recapping, and iden-
team efforts toward the development to behavioral tendencies. This improves tifying the next steps.
of the project plan and translating that influencing skills, teamwork, and career
project plan into the project schedule.” direction using information easily ob- These are important skills that are
Of the other eight duties, the only ref- served. Motivation is a quantifiable used throughout the PC consultant’s
erences to soft skills include terms like part of any individual that can be meas- career, bringing success through com-
informing and providing. ured and understood as the basic rea- petent use of these skills. The PMBOK®
For the 2005 AACE International son for taking action. The factors Guide Project Communication Manage-
Transactions, Rohit Singh, CCP, au- related to motivation can be quantita- ment chapter has a good section re-
thored a paper in which he identified tively assessed and then learned and lated to communication models,

explaining how communication is a two Why Do Soft Skills Matter? The plan established for the proj-
way effort. Ideas are transmitted to the A planner and/or scheduler can be ect is not the only way to accomplish
receiver and then the receiver trans- technically at the top of the profession the scope of work, but rather, it is the
lates the message, which may or may and extremely competent with the PM team’s best plan at the time of the
not align with what the sender ex- software, analytical enough to identify planning session.
pected to transmit. This chapter rec- pertinent issues, and print fancy, accu- The PC expert needs to have the
ommends acknowledgement of rate, and impressive charts, but not be ability to elicit the construction plan
communications to ensure the mes- particularly good at communicating the from the PM team, facilitate turning it
sage was accurately transmitted. En- results. It is the communication with into a schedule, explain the plan then
suring that transmitted information the stakeholders that makes projects modeled by the schedule, analyze the
was understood by the receiver is an successful. schedule as production advances,
important point and reinforces the im- The schedule is the primary com- make recommendations for actions
portance of these soft skills to improve munications tool on the project, but based on performance, and gain ac-
on understanding. since it’s a technical product, if some- ceptance from all stakeholders that
one doesn’t interpret that tool, put the those recommendations are appropri-
Suggested Soft Skills output into language that is clear and ate and important. This effort makes
and Organization concise for the project management use of a variety of soft skills and the
In reviewing soft skills, the authors team, the schedule information has not better the PC expert is with those soft
found that they segregate into several been transmitted. skills, the more likely it is that the team
primary categories; communications, However, the public role of a PC will work together for the common
motivation, presentation, and follow practitioner is to deal with people; elic- goal.
up. iting cooperation and information, fa- A large part of those abilities cen-
With these categories to organize cilitating involvement and buy-in, ter around the ability to take a complex
the skills, the list looks something like building relationships, and communi- and highly analytical effort, glean the
this: cating. Communicating is particularly vital information from that effort, and
difficult since the role is focused on explain it in common sense and simple
• Communications highly technical tasks resulting in tech- language. A good story is more con-
o critical (objective) thinking; nical analysis and conclusions, but the vincing than a pile of technical analysis
o reading and comprehension; output must be simple messages that printouts. This is probably one of the
o writing; and, are used to provide information that greatest weaknesses in a project con-
o succinctness. will likely convince stakeholders to take trols staff, and the place where impres-
• Motivation certain actions. This is ultimately vital sive improvements can be made.
o motivational leadership; because none of the analysis compo- Even in situations when there is a
o networking and relationship nents, whether an estimate, a sched- dispute, such as when the owner’s
building; ule, a risk management plan, are agent can not recommend acceptance
o partnering, teambuilding, and precise. They are all based on subjec- and approval of a contractor’s sched-
teamwork; and, tive information that started with a ule, it is soft skills that will settle the
o empathy and tactfulness. tentative plan and is modified as con- case, not the detailed analysis. As Chris
• Presentation ditions change on the project. The Carson wrote in his 2012 AACE Interna-
o interpretation; schedule, for example, is not accurate tional Transactions article, “The goal is
o public speaking; and, down to the day even if the schedule is to use the data to meet with the con-
o negotiation and persuasion. written using one day as the smallest tractor, convince them to cooperate, fix
• Closing/Resolution time unit. The estimate, as another ex- the schedules, and convince them that
o persistence; ample, is not exact; it is based on pro- documentation is a strong rebuttal to
o managing expectations; and, duction rates which vary according to loose/inaccurate claims. It also shows
o mentoring and training. the resources, the project conditions, that the owner’s analysis process is ac-
the political climate, and many other curate and convincing. Once con-
Notice that this is not so dissimilar factors. Although the software will vinced, the contractor is more likely to
from the four metrics in the allow a level of precision in calculations provide approvable schedules, and to
Munzio/Fisher article; behavior, moti- that seems very high, the data used in accept the reasonableness of the sug-
vation, emotional intelligence, and task the calculations does not permit that gested settlement [4].”
balance, except this list is organized level of precision. When estimating a The stakeholders on the project
more for types of actions that require project, generally the same accuracy is will be many different types of people
the skills. gained by rounding off to the nearest with varying degrees of technical skills,
$100 as is gained by carrying pricing however, none of them will likely have
out to the nearest penny. the level of understanding of project

controls as the PC team. This is why it the exercise and development of em- early will be preserved through to the
is so important that good communica- pathy. Empathy can be uniquely chal- final closeout item in the project. These
tions provide clear, concise and ex- lenging to those who have solely relationships help drastically with
planatory information and the viewer studied analytical subjects through stakeholder expectation management,
or receiver stakeholder understands their schooling. Let’s face it, not many as the people get to know each better
the message. project controls professionals are com- and build a better level of understand-
ing from liberal arts colleges or acting ing and trust.
Traditional Roles for Project Controls schools these days. While the focus in
Professionals our field and its continuing education Failure to Translate Technical Jargon
The traditional roles for project seems to be technical enhancement into Plain English
controls professionals are well defined and certification progression, the Not every technical person can
in some of the publications reference rounding of one’s ability to empathize communicate the complex issues in
above, and generally, project manage- should be a treated as important to the simple words. This is amplified by the
ment teams understand what the PC progression of the career of the project highly technical PC professional who
team is doing. It is a given that the proj- control professional as any analysis deeply understands the issues and
ect control professional will be techni- technique. doesn’t need to parse them down to
cally analytical and it is expected that simpler concepts, and often is a bit dis-
some analysis will be, “in the weeds;” Technical Nature of the Role missive of those who need the simple
however, the inability to put the analy- A large part of the problem with concepts. However, everyone needs to
sis in larger context and to communi- failure to develop vital soft skills in proj- recognize that few people have the
cate its trends and findings may result ect controls professionals is the nature technical competence, and more im-
in the analysis missing the point. of the role; highly technical and analyt- portantly, few need to have it. The
ical. This attracts engineers and analyt- stakeholders will each have their own
Weaknesses in Traditional Roles ical people, who often do not have the areas of expertise, and will need issues
Part of the problem with the lack natural soft skills. In addition, the pro- explained in such a way that they are
of good soft skills in the project con- fession places maximum priority on relevant to their areas.
trols world is the perception that the those technical skills, with require- This soft skill is one of the hardest
technical analysis is the only thing that ments for understanding the method- to develop, and worse, one of the hard-
matters in project controls. Certainly, ologies and software support for those est to maintain. Many PC professionals
technical expertise provides the objec- roles, and very little priority on the soft start out with a good concise explana-
tive and thorough analysis of complex side of the skills. In a world of complex tion, but over time, their communica-
issues, as modeled in schedules and calculations, complicated software, tions allows the technical jargon to
budgets, but the data has to be ob- and a lack of appreciation for the pre- creep in and the simple explanation to
tained from someone, the results need cision of the data, it is easy to drop into be overwritten. That’s why it can be
to be explained to someone, and the that technical world. But, if no one un- helpful to have someone on the team,
PC professional generally needs to con- derstands the issues but the experts, who is not technical, review reports
vince someone that the recommenda- they will not be resolved. Just as in a and see if they can understand them. If
tions for action are worthwhile and dispute, it is the expert who can con- the document controls clerk cannot un-
important. dense the complicated and detailed derstand the schedule report, it likely
data that was analyzed into a single is not explained clearly enough. Re-
The Art of Empathy slide that will prove his or her case. member, facts by themselves are not
While a project controls profes- analysis, so the relevance and interpre-
sional must be technically proficient at Need for Development of Relation- tation of facts are of prime importance.
his or her craft, they must be much ships
more rounded to truly be effective. Often, PC professionals do not see Vital Soft Skills
Project controls professionals must any need to develop intra-project rela- After examining a number of arti-
possess the seamless ability to put tionships, when that is really vital to cles/papers and books that appear to
themselves in the shoes of their clients. performing the task effectively. Rela- address soft skills, the authors believe
Whether contractors, owners or de- tionship building involves development that the prevailing industry under-
signers, the project controls profes- of trust from daily interactions, but be- standing of these skills is not thorough
sional must instantly perceive the yond that, it requires some effort to in- enough. This article should help iden-
motivations, constraints and limitations teract with the other stakeholders. This tify and promote the soft skills that are
of those he or she is working for. Proj- is why the communications plan is so so vital to success.
ect controls professionals are in a important, it can help identify which
unique position to have to interact with stakeholders the PC team needs to en- Communications Skills
all these client types, and the mastery gage and how frequently. Done cor- Under a broad heading of commu-
of dealing with can be boiled down to rectly, the relationships which are built

nication skills, the first step is in think- cific details and provide little to no great opportunities to build teams and
ing, ensuring that critical thinking is analysis or interpretation. Stating “the partner with the stakeholders, and the
prevalent. Critical thinking is objective critical path runs through activity project controls professional plans, fa-
review of issues, ideas, arguments, #12365, “F/R/P Deck 3B,” does not con- cilitates, and manages these sessions.
data, opinions, and allows the PC prac- vey the same information as, “the crit- Done properly, the entire team starts
titioner to look at these things without ical path runs through the forming and the project as partners, and the PC ef-
any preconceived notions. This is a vital pouring of the concrete deck on Level fort should help maintain the partner-
step since it lowers the barriers to the 3 on the SE corner.” And, that state- ing atmosphere during the project.
exchange of information that is a daily ment of fact should be followed by an Conflicts can be used to improve the
task for this role. A critical thinker will explanation of the appropriateness of partnering effort, and using good soft
listen without judging and gain a better the critical path, and what it means to skills of empathy and tactfulness will
understanding of the situation or the production and performance. allow the team to retain the respect for
data transmitted from another team Another example that one often all members rather than evolve into
member or stakeholder. This includes a sees is reporting of out-of-sequence ac- non-productive paper battles.
fair assessment of information pro- tivities during a schedule update. A re-
vided by the contractor when working port may say, “there are 72 activities Persuasion and Negotiation Skills
for an owner’s CM, or a fair assessment that are out-of-sequence this period,” Since the conclusions from analy-
of the owner’s position when working but that bare fact is useless unless one sis have to presented and “sold” to the
for a contractor. knows what that means to the validity stakeholders, it is crucial that the PC
The ability to read a multitude of of the schedule. Does it mean that the professional has excellent presentation
documents and information channels schedule is not reporting accurately? If skills. This starts with solid public
and understand the data included, with so, by how much? Is this relevant? speaking skills, allowing interpretation
no deviation from the original data, is What does it mean to the various read- of data and demonstration of the valid-
absolutely necessary for this role. This ers of the report? Does it really affect ity of analysis conclusions, often using
comprehension often does not come the critical path of the schedule? graphics rather than reams of analysis
easily to professionals, but it is a skill So, the ability to take highly tech- support documentation. Once the con-
that has to be developed. This is the nical information, parse it down to the clusion is presented and the audience
difference between knowledge and various stakeholders, and ensure that understands the position, the PC pro-
evaluation in the commonly called they understand the relevance of the fessional’s effective persuasion and ne-
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Ob- information is a vital soft skill. This is gotiation skills will help the
jectives; knowledge is just hearing and particularly important if the analysis stakeholders to understand and agree
learning facts and data, whereas eval- suggests that some action must be with the conclusions and any required
uation includes grasping the meaning taken; in this case, it is even more im- actions. This can be a need for a recov-
of the facts and data, analyzing the portant that the report displays a con- ery effort, a need for additional re-
data, and evaluating the data objec- vincing reason for the action. sources, a change in field staff, or any
tively [3]. As the project controls proof hundreds of problems that need res-
fessional becomes more and more Motivation Skills olution on a project. As long as the
competent, the professional should be Since the project controls profes- team is intact, including all stakehold-
using higher levels of critical thinking; sional is engaged with a methodology ers, and the RC staff listened and com-
moving through the levels; knowledge, that many stakeholders do not under- municated with the stakeholders, most
comprehension, application, analysis, stand, using software that they cannot issues can be discussed and with good
synthesis (or evaluation by the revised use, with hundreds of activities and soft skills, the resolution is more likely
taxonomy), and evaluation (or creating schedule components that affect the to be accepted by the stakeholders.
by the revised taxonomy). output, it is very important that the
The last soft skills in this category team believes in the competency and Closing/Resolution Skills
include writing clearly but equally as appropriateness of the project controls Initial acceptance of recom-
important, the ability to write suc- effort. This takes leadership and not mended actions is the first step toward
cinctly, reducing the data to the perti- just leadership, but motivational lead- closure of issues requiring resolution,
nent issues. Often reports and ership, to ensure that the team is sup- but it is up to project controls to ensure
communications are so riddled with ported without overstepping project that complete actions are taken to fully
technical information that it takes an- manager boundaries, yet supportive of resolve. This could be ensuring that
other highly technical professional to the project controls operation. A good constructability review comments,
understand. This is a huge risk and a networking effort and the building of once accepted, are incorporated accu-
true PC professional must gain the soft relationships with all stakeholders will rately into the final drawings, or revised
skills to bridge this concern. make the effort run smoothly. change orders are re-submitted in a
When the soft skills are missing or The schedule development/plan- timely manner. This takes persistence
limited, reports tend to delve into spe- ning session and the risk workshop are and the ability to monitor to comple-

tion all issues. message throughout the project. It the Jung theories to develop their own
Part of successful stakeholder means mentoring the newer people personality inventory in order to under-
management is managing their expec- and ensuring that everyone understand personalities.
tations. An outcome could be the best stands why PC systems are operated The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
possible outcome, but if the stakehold- and what the analysis results mean to (MBTI), sometimes called the 16 type
ers did not buy into the outcome, and the stakeholders. With proper training Myers-Briggs assessment, is a very use-
their expectations are different than and management of expectations, and ful tool for interpretation of personality
the outcome, the result could be a dis- a consistent effort to close out all is- and identification of potential conflicts.
aster. The difference between success sues, the end of the project will arrive This inventory is available freely online,
and failure is often simply the compe- with the stakeholder team intact. and there are short tests that can be
tence with which the stakeholders’ ex- taken to determine anyone’s personal-
pectations were managed. If the CM How to Develop and ity type within the system.
provides a budget for a change order Train for Soft Skills
and gives a range of pricing, maybe Training is key to developing soft In summary of the MBTI, there are
$18,000 to $24,000, and doesn’t pro- skills; while some people are naturals eight basic indicators:
vide a clear communication that the at these skills, they can and should be
budget is a range, the owner stake- taught. We have hesitated to use the • extraversion or introversion;
holder likely will expect $18,000, but word “psychological” in this article, but • sensing or intuition;
the contractor stakeholder likely will many of these soft skills are psycholog- • thinking or feeling; and,
expect $24,000. The PC staff can man- ical insight and application. Behavior is • judging or perceiving.
age the expectations of both stakehold- generally subject to the external envi-
ers, not by promising exact prices, but ronment; the atmosphere or culture, As an example, personalities may
by reinforcing that the budget is a the way they are treated, the way peo- treat time differently from other per-
range, and that range can be narrowed ple react to them, the way their ideas sonalities; where one person will see
down as more information is available. as received. Different personalities act an appointment at 10 a.m., as a do-or-
The communications in this example and react in different ways, and once die time and always arrive early for the
make all the difference in the final sat- there are personality clashes, it is diffi- meeting; another personality will see a
isfaction of both stakeholders. cult to bridge over the breakdown in 10 a.m. appointment as a “morning”
Finally, a good project controls the team and the partnering effort. appointment and never be on time.
professional must be a teacher. He or Fortunately, a psychologist named That single personality trait can set up
she must be able to constantly train the Carl Jung spent much of his life in the emotional reactions that will destroy a
PM staff and the stakeholders in the PC study of personalities and his writings good team. This is the difference be-
disciplines. This means being an advo- formed the basis for many academics tween the judging person who has to
cate for critical path method (CPM) to study these issues. Two later psy- be on time and the perceiving person
scheduling, explaining how it works chologists, Isabel Briggs Myers and her who is wandering through their day.
from the inception, and reinforcing the mother, Katharine Briggs, used some of This category actually includes closing
Figure 2 – Myers-Briggs Preferences Graphic by CPP, Publisher of the MBTI

Figure 3 – Please Understand Me – Reference Book by David Keirsey
out decisions (judging) or leaving books serve to guide anyone into the full Project Planning and Scheduling
things open-ended (perceiving), so it use and understanding of personalities Professional, page 5, item 3.
tends to create many problems beyond and personality testing and behavior. 3. Bloom, Benjamin, Taxonomy of
the simple time sense. Educational Objectives, Handbook
Thinking people who are strongly Conclusion 1: Cognitive Domain, 1956.
oriented to that indicator focus on logic Ignoring the soft skills that are so 4. Carson, Chris, “Dealing with Con-
and consistency, whereas the feeling vital to performing a project controls tractor’s Schedules That Cannot be
people look at people and situations. function will quickly cause failure in a Approved,” AACE International
Strong indictors of thinking often are number of areas. In addition to learn- Transactions, 2012.
engineers, where strong indicators of ing how to estimate, how to analyze 5. Hollmann, John K., PE CCP, Total
feeling are often teachers or nurses. risk, how to schedule a project, it is im- Cost Management Framework,
The two letter combinations allow bet- perative that PC staff learn and gain ex- AACE International, First Edition,
ter narrowing of the personalities, so pertise in these soft skills. No matter 2006.
the system needs some study, but it’s how technically proficient the project 6. Muzio, Edward and Dr. Deborah
not hard to understand. controls analysis is, the inability to Fisher, Soft Skill Quantification
The authors have found that once communicate it phonetically and em- (SSQ): Human Performance vs.
an inventory is taken with the PM pathetically to the client will ultimately Metric, Cost Engineering, Volume
team, people start to understand other doom the analysis to failure. 51/No. 3, March 2009.
personalities and are less inclined to Knowing your strengths and weak- 7. Muzio, Edward and Dr. Deborah
believe that the other person is going nesses, from a personality perspective, Fisher, Soft Skill Quantification
out of their way to create disharmony and rounding out that side will push (SSQ): Human Performance vs.
or problems. In fact, it is interesting you to being an effective project con- Metric, Cost Engineering, Volume
that the discussions about these types trols consultant, just as much as learn- 51/No. 3, Page 1, Column 3, March
of personality conflicts often become a ing the latest analysis technique or 2009.
bit funny when one person tells the mastering the latest revision to an 8. Project Management Institute, A
other, “you are such an NT,” rather AACE recommended practice. Identify- Guide to the Project Management
than, “you are rude and obnoxious. ing your client, knowing their motiva- Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®
The authors have used this MBTI tions, building consensus, producing Guide), published by Project Man-
for years to avoid conflicts, as well as to the analysis and communicating that agement Institute, Inc., 14 Campus
resolve interpersonal relationship analysis will serve to make your client Boulevard, Newtown Square,
problems. appreciate your value as a project con- Pennsylvania, 19073, 2013.
Another psychologist, David trols consultant. Soft skills are an inte- 9. Singh, Rohit, CCP, The Missing
Keirsey, has spent much of his life in gral part of that communication that “Soft Skills” for Project Controls,
study and research into personalities should not be ignored. ◆ AACE International Transactions,
and testing, and developed his Keirsey DEV.S01, 2005.
Temperament Theory, which uses the REFERENCES
Myers-Briggs philosophy to generate 1. AACE International Recom-
four “temperaments.” He has taken the mended Practice 11R-88, Re-
studies deeper into the educational psy- quired Skills and Knowledge of
chological arena and uses his system ef- Cost Engineering, page 2, para-
fectively to guide people into careers graph 6.
and roles. The authors have read and 2. AACE International Recom-
used his books, Please Understand Me, mended Practice 14R-90, Respon-
and Please Understand Me II. Both sibility and Required Skills for a

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
FOR OTHER RESOURCES
To view additional resources on
Patrick C. Kelly, PSP, this subject, go to:
Christopher W. Car-
Senior Project Con- www.aacei.org/resources/vl/
son, CEP DRMP PSP
Do an “advanced search” by “au-
FAACE, Director of trols Consultant
thor name” for an abstract listing of
Program Controls, with Kelly Consult- all other technical articles this author
with ARCADIS, can ing Services, can be has published with AACE. Or, search
be contacted by contacted by send- by any total cost management sub-
sending e-mail to: ing e-mail to: ject area and retrieve a listing of all
chris.carson@arcadis-us.com pat.kelly@kellyconsultingservices.org available AACE articles on your area
of interest. AACE also offers pre-
recorded webinars, an Online Learn-
ing Center and other educational
resources. Check out all of the avail-
able AACE resources.
AACE's Federal Agency Roundtable

April 10 - Washington, DC
Federal Procurement Methods and Trends
AACE International’s Government Liaison Commit-
tee cordially invites you to attend the Spring 2015 Fed-
eral Agency Roundtable, scheduled for April 10, at the
20 F Street NW Conference Center in Washington, DC.
The focus of the roundtable discussion, which will
be facilitated by officers of the Association, will be “Fed-
eral Procurement Methods and Trends.”
ideally, both federal agency representatives, as well
as their contractors, will be able to join us for what
promises to be an interesting and thought-provoking
discussion of procurement methods, complete with the
generation of action items that will ideally lead not only
to continued conversation, but ideally, potential im-
provements.
Registration is now open at www.aacei.org and

free to members and non-members who are em-
ployed by a federal agency. Registration is $35 for
members/$50 non-members who are private sec-
tor employees/contractors. ◆

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SB_1314_16
TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Calculating the
As-Built Critical Path
Andrew Avalon, PE PSP
Verifying the Accuracy of

Abstract: The as-built critical path of a project schedule can be determined
by developing as-built calculation schedules for each relevant schedule the As-Built Schedule
analysis period. An as-built calculation schedule removes verified actual The calculation of the as-built crit-
dates from the schedule and revises the activity and lag durations to be equal ical path requires that an accurate as-
to the actual durations. The creation of the as-built calculation schedule en- built schedule first be developed. To
ables the CPM scheduling software to then calculate the as-built critical path. verify the reliability of the as-built
To properly create an as-built calculation schedule, it is necessary to deter- schedule, contemporaneous project
mine the driving predecessor relationships in the as-built schedule when records should be reviewed to confirm
there are multiple predecessors to an activity. If a predecessor is not driving, the accuracy of the actual dates. Any
the actual lag duration should be reduced to the originally planned lag value necessary corrections to actual dates
to create float in the as-built calculation schedule. If the determination of and progress percent complete values
driving predecessor relationships is not performed, all activities in the as-
should be documented based on con-
built calculation schedule would have zero total float and would be equally
critical. This article presents procedures to ensure that the as-built driving temporaneous project data such as
lag values are determined objectively to avoid inconsistent or subjective as- daily reports, monthly progress re-
sessments in calculating the as-built critical path. This article was first pre- ports, meeting minutes, payment ap-
sented as PS.1691 at the 2014 AACE International Annual Meeting in New plications, drawing logs, submittal logs,
Orleans. superintendent logs, and progress pho-
tographs. Source Validation Protocols
T
he determination of the as- schedule analyses, as described in 2.2 and 2.3 of AACE International Rec-
built critical path of a project AACE International Recommended ommended Practice 29R-03, Forensic
is of great importance for the Practice 29R-03, Forensic Schedule Schedule Analysis, provide procedures
analysis of schedule delay Analysis, Method Implementation Pro- for using as-built schedule source doc-
claims. It is commonly accepted by tocols 3.8 and 3.9, for modeled, sub- umentation to reconstruct, validate,
scheduling practitioners that the criti- tractive delay analyses. However, as and rectify as-built schedules and
cal path of a project is dynamic and acknowledged in RP No. 29R-03, Sub- schedule updates.
may change over time, such that the section 4.3.C, there presently is no con-
as-built critical path may be different sensus among practitioners regarding a Converting As-Planned Logic
from the as-planned critical path. Many common set of logic rules for accu- to As-Built Logic
contracts require that the contractor rately determining the as-built critical After the as-built schedule dates
demonstrate that the claimed delay path because actual dates override are validated and rectified, it is neces-
events impacted the project comple- float values. This article presents pro- sary to review the reasonableness of
tion date, which is driven by the as- posed guidelines for calculating the as- the as-built schedule logic. Work activ-
built critical path or longest path to built critical path. ities may have been performed out-of-
completion. The calculation of the as- sequence from the as-planned logic.
built critical path is also essential for Method Implementation Protocol
performing collapsed as-built or but-for 3.8.K.2 of AACE International Recom-

Figure 1 — Out-of-Sequence Logic Correction: Guideline No. 1
mended Practice 29R-03, Forensic ships may exist in the as-built schedule tical, change the long negative FS rela-
Schedule Analysis, provides procedures that stem from the as-planned sched- tionship to a short positive finish-to-fin-
for converting as-planned logic to as- ule logic. To more accurately model the ish (FF) relationship, as shown in figure
built logic. In some cases, the actual se- actual work sequences in each sched- 2.
quence of work and the relationships ule analysis window, adjustments
between activities may be different should be made to the as-built sched- Guideline 3―If the as-built date condi-
from the planned sequence of work ule logic to replace out-of-sequence tions produced a long SS relationship
and activity relationships. Therefore, logic and large negative lag values (e.g., and the as-built conditions allow for a
the logic relationships between the ac- greater than 15 work days) with more reasonable and shorter FS relationship,
tivities in the as-built schedule at the reasonable logic ties. While the con- then, where practical, change the long
end of each window may be different tractor’s original logic should be used SS relationship to a short FS relation-
from the planned logic relationships at wherever possible, the following guide- ship. For example, a SS +35 day rela-
the start of the window. Accordingly, if lines are recommended when analyzing tionship between two activities in the
the actual sequence of work indicates and rectifying out-of-sequence logic re- as-built condition could be changed to
that different logic relationships be- sulting from the as-built date condi- a FS +10 day relationship between the
tween activities are warranted, the tions. same predecessor and successor activ-
schedule logic should be adjusted to ities, as shown in figure 3, example A.
represent the as-built conditions and Guideline 1―If the as-built date condi- In other cases, a short negative FS lag
the logic revisions should be docu- tions produced a long negative finish- may be more realistic for modeling ac-
mented. to-start (FS) relationship, where tual work sequences than a long SS lag,
Activities that have out-of-se- practical, change the long negative FS as shown in figure 3, example B.
quence logic with long negative lag val- relationship to a short positive start-to-
ues that were completed or were start (SS) relationship, as shown in fig- Guideline 4―If the as-built date condi-
in-progress within each schedule analy- ure 1. tions produced a long FF relationship
sis window should be identified. Guide- and allow for a reasonable FS tie, then,
lines for correcting out-of-sequence Guideline 2―If the as-built date condi- where practical, change the FF relation-
logic with long negative lags are de- tions produced a long negative FS rela- ship to a FS relationship. For example,
tailed in the following paragraphs. tionship and guideline 1 would produce a FF +55 day relationship between two
Often large negative lag relation- a negative SS relationship, where prac- activities in the as-built condition could

be changed to a FS +10 day relationship When converting the as-planned sary to identify and correct the logic for
between the same predecessor and logic to the as-built logic, it is generally any activities with effective open-ends
successor activities, as shown in figure preferred to select logic relationships because of progress override. The
4, example A. If the as-built conditions with shorter lag durations rather than progress override calculation mode ig-
would produce a long negative FS rela- longer lag durations, based on a com- nores logic relationships and allows an
tionship, for which the absolute value parison of the absolute values of the activity with progress to continue even
of the lag duration is greater than the lag durations. Furthermore, physical if its predecessors have not finished.
positive FF lag value, then the existing work flow restraints driving the actual Based on the as-built dates and calcu-
FF relationship should be retained, as design, procurement, construction, and lated progress spanning a schedule
shown in figure 4, example B. commissioning activity sequences window data date, some task activities
should govern the rectification of the may have effective open-ends because
Guideline 5―If the work activities were as-built logic. The purpose of the as- of the progress override schedule cal-
performed significantly out-of-se- built logic rectification is to realistically culation setting. When schedule activi-
quence and the as-built date conditions model the work sequence relationships ties are worked out-of-sequence, the
do not allow for a reasonable FS, SS, for how the project was actually built. progress override feature nullifies the
and/or FF tie, then remove the inappro- When making the above as-built predecessor-to-successor logic for ac-
priate predecessor logic and replace logic adjustments, it is necessary to tivities that started out-of-sequence,
the relationship with a different, more identify and correct any open-ends cre- and then allows the late finish dates for
reasonable predecessor activity rela- ated while correcting the out-of-se- these activities to slip to the comple-
tionship. To select a more reasonable quence logic. The logic should be tion date of the latest finishing activity
predecessor activity to replace the in- checked in the as-built calculation for the project. This condition is not re-
appropriate predecessor, where practi- schedule to ensure that no activities alistic or reasonable and the resulting
cal, trace the network logic preceding have open-ends. If new open-ends are late dates and corresponding float val-
the inappropriate predecessor to iden- identified, appropriate logic ties should ues are incorrect. Therefore, activities
tify a more appropriate predecessor be added to close the open-ends. with effective open-ends because of
earlier in the logic chain and then reap- Finally, if Primavera or similar soft- the progress override calculation mode
ply guidelines 1 through 4 to determine ware is used to develop the as-built for each analysis window should be
the appropriate logic tie. schedule and the progress override cal- identified and appropriate logic adjust-
culation mode is used, it may be neces- ments should be made to eliminate the

open-ends. the entire project duration to better ac- was performed prior to the data date.
The specific logic modifications count for how the critical path changed The critical path and float values are
performed to correct any out-of-se- over time. The purpose of the as-built only displayed for work yet to be per-
quence logic or to close effective open- calculation schedule is to calculate the formed after the data date.
ends in each schedule analysis window as-built critical and near-critical paths To create an as-built calculation
should be documented in conjunction and as-built float values. The selection schedule, it is necessary to destatus the
with rectifying the as-built logic. Any of the schedule analysis windows is as-built schedule by removing the ac-
assumptions made and procedures fol- typically based on the availability of the tual dates from the activities in
lowed while correcting the as-built schedule updates, key contractual progress during the schedule analysis
logic should be documented to ensure events and issues, changes in the criti- window and inputting actual activity
consistency and avoid subjectivity dur- cal path, and cost and time considera- and lag durations and progress percent
ing the rectification process. tions. complete values. The start and finish
In commonly used scheduling soft- dates in an as-built calculation schedule
Creating an As-Built Calculation ware, such as Primavera, actual dates are driven by as-built schedule logic, as-
Schedule for Each Schedule override the schedule logic and the ac- built activity durations, and as-built
Analysis Window tual start and finish dates of activities percent complete values for the activi-
After verifying the accuracy of the become fixed regardless of the logic ties in each schedule analysis window.
as-built schedule dates and correcting when actual dates are input to record The as-built logic, driving lag values, ac-
any out-of-sequence as-built logic ties, as-built progress. Therefore, the as- tual durations, and percent complete
an as-built calculation schedule can be built critical path and float values, values are input into the as-built calcu-
developed for each schedule analysis which can only be determined from the lation schedule such that they generate
window. A windows-based analysis is schedule logic, are not provided by the the same early start and early finish
often preferred over a single analysis of software calculations for the work that dates for activities as they actually

started and finished during each win- and finish dates. The removal of the ac- statused with actual dates. All forecast
dow. The as-built calculation schedule tual dates is referred to as destatusing dates after the end-of-window data
also calculates the same forecasted the schedule. date also remained unchanged.
start and finish dates for activities be- As noted in table 1, the percent
yond the end of the schedule analysis The Destatusing Procedure complete and remaining duration val-
window. The schedule is destatused by ues need to be computed for activities
Figures 6, 7, and 8 summarize moving the data date in the as-built cal- having the date conditions of activities
three basic steps for creating an as-built culation schedule from the end of the D and F. Source validation protocol
calculation schedule. In figure 6, step 1 schedule analysis window to the begin- 2.3.D.1.a of AACE International Rec-
involves the identification of the as- ning of the schedule analysis window. ommended Practice 29R-03, Forensic
built dates for the activities within the Figure 9 presents the potential activity Schedule Analysis, discusses the “hind-
schedule analysis window. date condition, where the schedule sight” method for calculating remaining
In figure 7, step 2 involves the cal- being analyzed contains unfinished ac- durations based on actual dates and
culation of the as-built activity and lag tivities and the analysis period begins durations. The computed percent com-
durations for the activities within the later than the project start date. plete and remaining duration values
schedule analysis window. The actual date conditions and cor- should be input into the as-built calcu-
In figure 8, step 3, the actual dates responding actions for destatusing lation schedule to maintain the as-built
are removed and the actual activity and schedule activities occurring within schedule activity start and finish dates.
lag durations and percent complete val- each schedule analysis window are At this point in the development of
ues are input into the schedule such summarized in table 1. the as-built calculation schedule, the
that the scheduling software calculates All actual dates prior to the desta- original and remaining durations of all
the start and finish dates of the activi- tused data date are not changed and activities are correctly adjusted but the
ties to be the same as the as-built start this portion of the schedule remains lag durations for each relationship have

Figure 6 — As-Built Calculation Schedule Creation: Step 1

not yet been adjusted to maintain the as-built schedule dates and model this actual lag duration by converting the
as-built schedule activity start and finish in the as-built calculation schedule. beginning date for the lag into a work-
dates. The early dates of the activities Each predecessor relationship must be day number and the ending date for
that have been converted from actual reviewed for each activity that used to that lag into a second workday number
dates should match the as-built sched- have an actual date but no longer does. and subtracting the two workday val-
ule dates. The goal is to quantify the lag ues. The following formulas summarize
durations required to drive the original It is then necessary to compute the the actual lag duration calculations:

Figure 9 — Activity Status Conditions for Destatusing Procedure
Table 1 — Actual Date Conditions and Corresponding Actions for Destatusing Schedule Activities

Table 2 — Sample Driving Lag Calculations
Finish-to-Start Lag Duration = Succes- Finish-to-Finish Lag Duration = Succes- If using Primavera scheduling soft-
sor Start Date - Predecessor Finish Date sor Finish Date - Predecessor Finish ware calendar rules, the activity calen-
- 1 day Date dar for the predecessor activity should
equation 1 equation 3 be used in performing the conversion of
an activity date to a workday number. If
Start-to-Finish Lag Duration = Succes- the activity date is an actual start and
Start-to-Start Lag Duration = Successor sor Finish Date - Predecessor Start Date falls on a non-workday, then the next
Start Date - Predecessor Start Date + 1 day higher workday is used. If the activity
equation 2 equation 4 date is an actual finish and the date falls

on a non-workday, then the next lower the equally shortest variance between then the actual lag duration
workday is used. The calculated actual the planned (contractor defined) lag should be reduced to the planned
lag durations are then input into the as- and the actual lag, then all relation- lag value in the verified as-built
built calculation schedule. ships with the equally shortest variance schedule to create float in the as-
After performing the actions in are designated as driving relationships. built calculation schedule.
table 1, the resulting as-built calcula- The actual lag should only be input
tion schedule will have a new data date for driving relationships and the non- Table 2 presents examples of driv-
at the beginning of the schedule analy- driving lag durations should be left as ing lag duration calculations. Note that
sis window and the calculated start and originally input in the contractor’s plan. the smallest value in the variance col-
finish dates of each activity within the To ensure that the as-built calculation umn for a group of predecessors deter-
analysis period will be adjusted to schedule driving lag values are deter- mines which relationship is driving.
match the actual conditions shown in mined objectively, and to avoid incon- Negative variances are treated as being
the as-built schedule. sistent or subjective assessments in smaller or shorter than positive vari-
developing the as-built critical path, ances. Rows in table 2 are shaded in
Driving Predecessor the following procedure is used: yellow for successor activities with
Lag Determinations multiple predecessors.
To properly create an as-built cal- • When there are multiple prede- In summary, when there are mul-
culation schedule, it is necessary to de- cessor activities to a successor ac- tiple predecessor activities to a succes-
termine the driving predecessor tivity, the predecessor with the sor activity, the predecessor with the
relationships in the as-built schedule smallest variance between the ac- smallest variance between the actual
when there are multiple predecessors tual lag and the planned lag is lag and the planned lag should be used
to an activity. If a predecessor is not used as the driving predecessor as the driving predecessor and all other
driving, the actual lag duration should and all other positive lags for pred- positive lags for predecessors to the
be reduced to the originally planned ecessors to the same successor same successor are reset to the
lag value to create float in the as-built are reset to the planned lag value planned lag duration. All actual nega-
calculation schedule. contained in the verified as-built tive lags must remain negative to retain
The actual lag duration for each re- schedule. The planned lag typically the original dates in the original sched-
lationship within the schedule analysis is the lag value input contempora- ule.
window should be calculated but it is neously by the project scheduler, If two or more predecessors to an
not necessary to apply all of the actual or may be a lag duration that has activity are equally driving, meaning
lags to all relationships in the as-built been rectified by the schedule an- that they have equal variances be-
calculation schedule. If all lags in the alyst based on documented facts tween the actual lag and planned lag,
as-built calculation schedule are con- regarding the reasonable lag dura- then assign the required lag durations
verted into the actual lags, the activity tion required between two activi- to each predecessor such that they
dates in the as-built calculation sched- ties. equally drive the successor activity
ule would be correct but all activities • If a successor activity has only one dates. If a predecessor is not driving,
would have zero total float and the en- predecessor, then the actual lag reduce the actual lag duration to the
tire schedule network would be on the value must be used as the driving planned lag value to create float in the
as-built critical path. lag value to correctly calculate the as-built calculation schedule.
To determine the “driving” rela- successor activity dates to corre-
tionship, the shortest duration variance spond with the verified as-built Calculating As-Built Critical Paths
between the planned lag and the ac- schedule dates. and Near-Critical Paths and
tual lag for each predecessor to a suc- • If two or more predecessors to an Reviewing for Reasonableness
cessor should be calculated. In other activity are equally driving, mean- After the driving predecessor rela-
words, it is necessary to identify the ing that they have equal variances tionships are determined and input
predecessor tie that most probably between the actual lag and into the as-built calculation schedule,
caused the successor activity to start or planned lag, then each predeces- the schedule is recalculated to deter-
finish based on the “closest” predecessor should be assigned the re- mine the float values and as-built criti-
sor to the successor activity with con- quired driving lag values such that cal and near-critical paths for activities
sideration for planned lag durations. If they equally drive the successor that were completed or were in-
the variance between the planned lag activity dates. progress during the window.
and the actual lag is negative, then the • All actual negative lags must re- To ensure that the as-built calcula-
relationship must become a driving remain negative to retain the origi- tion schedule was developed properly,
lationship to maintain the correct as- nal dates in the verified as-built a variance analysis should be per-
built dates in the as-built calculation schedule. formed for all activities by comparing
schedule. If multiple relationships have • If a predecessor is not driving, the start and finish dates in the as-built

calculation schedule to the verified as- Conclusion 2010 AACE International Transac-
built schedule to ensure that there are Calculating the as-built critical tions, AACE International, Mor-
no date variances. If date variances are path involves: gantown, WV.
found when performing this compari- 4. Nagata PSP, Mark F., 2010,
son, it is necessary to identify the date • verifying the accuracy of the as- CDR.02—Which Critical Path: As-
inconsistencies and document the rea- built schedule dates; Planned, Contemporaneous, or As-
sons for any acceptable variances. Date • converting as-planned logic to as- Built?, 2010 AACE International
variances may arise from activities hav- built logic; Transactions, AACE International,
ing different calendars or when the as- • creating an as-built calculation Morgantown, WV.
built date falls on a non-work day as schedule for each schedule analy- 5. Winter, Ronald M., 2004, PS.02—
defined by the schedule calendar. sis window; Determining the Actual Critical
Finally, the calculated critical and • destatusing the actual dates and Path, 2004 AACE International
near critical paths from the data date replacing them with actual activity Transactions, AACE International,
at the start of the window through and lag durations and percent Morgantown, WV.
project completion should be checked complete values;
for reasonableness. Subsection 4.3.C of • determining the driving predeces- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AACE International Recommended sor relationships;
Practice 29R-03, Forensic Schedule • calculating the as-built critical and
Analysis, discusses questions to con- near-critical paths; and, Andrew Avalon, PE
sider regarding whether activities on • reviewing the calculated as-built PSP, is President of
the as-built critical path are reason- critical path for reasonableness. Long International,
able, including: Inc., of Orlando, Fla.
The above steps are performed prior to He can be con-
• Was the work critical on any any delay analysis and should be per- tacted by sending e-
schedule updates? formed in a consistent manner. Any as- mail to:
• Was the work perceived to be crit- sumptions should be documented to aavalon@long-intl.com
ical by project personnel contem- minimize subjectivity. The schedule an-
poraneously as documented in alyst’s judgment and experience, how-
letters, meeting minutes, etc.? ever, will always be necessary to ensure FOR OTHER RESOURCES
• Was the work qualitatively signifi- the reasonableness of the as-built crit- To view additional resources on
cant to the overall project out- ical path calculations. this subject, go to:
come based on cost as well as the www.aacei.org/resources/vl/
analyst’s judgment and experi- RECOMMENDED READING Do an “advanced search” by “au-
ence? thor name” for an abstract listing of
1. AACE International Recom- all other technical articles this author
• Were there resource restraints not mended Practice 29R-03, Forensic has published with AACE. Or, search
evident in the logic? Schedule Analysis, April 25, 2011 by any total cost management sub-
• Was the work performed piece- Revision, AACE International, Mor- ject area and retrieve a listing of all
meal or from start to finish with- gantown, WV. available AACE articles on your area
out interruption? And, 2. Hoshino, Kenji P., 2002 Slide pres- of interest. AACE also offers pre-
• Did the work drive other subse- entation (No paper published), recorded webinars, an Online Learn-
quent apparently critical work? Catching the Elusive As-Built Criti- ing Center and other educational
cal Path, 2002 AACE International resources. Check out all of the avail-
Finally, if a delay to any as-built ac- Transactions, AACE International, able AACE resources.
tivity would have delayed the overall Morgantown, WV.
project completion date by that same 3. Livengood, CFCC PSP, John C. and
duration, it is reasonable to conclude Jeffery L. Ottesen, PE CFCC PSP,
that the activity was on the as-built 2010, CDR.06—The As-Built Criti-
critical path. cal Path—Quest or Discovery?,

TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Trends in Construction
Claims and Disputes
James G. Zack Jr., CFCC FAACE
to the Mideast), but the duration

Abstract: Claims and disputes are a constant in the construction industry, of such disputes has increased;
regardless of whether the industry is doing well or poorly. The number of
• Court and Boards of Contract Ap-
claims seems to have risen during the recent recession, despite the down-
turn (or perhaps as a result of the downturn) in the industry. This article, peal decisions limiting recovery of
based on research conducted by the Navigant Construction Forum™, damages in the areas of concur-
overviews some relatively recent trends related to construction claims and rent delay; suspensions of work;
disputes in the areas of concurrent delay, suspensions of work, time exten- time extensions; notices and claim
sions, notice and claim filing requirements, calculation of home office over- filing requirements; calculation of
head, proof of differing site conditions, and risk transfer in the design/build extended home office overhead
environment under federal government contracts. Through this insight, it is costs; proof of differing site condi-
believed that owners, design professionals, construction managers, contrac- tions; and, risk transfer in the de-
tors and subcontractors can devise ways to avoid such issues going forward, sign/build environment have all
thus making projects more successful, and more profitable, for all stakehold- become more frequent;
ers.
• Increased use of false claim allega-
tions in response to claim filings;
W
hen the author first number of projects declined as did the and,
became involved in number of construction companies • Contractors have been trying to
construction claims throughout the nation. However, de- create new forms of claims.
and disputes on a full spite this decline (or perhaps as a logi-
time basis in the 1970’s, he asked a cal reaction to this adverse impact to These trends may have been exac-
noted claims consultant why he had the industry) it appears that the num- erbated by what the construction bar
chosen claims consulting as a career. ber of claims has risen. refers to as the “vanishing trial.” In re-
The response was short and pithy – “Claimsmanship” is generally de- gard to this issue, it is noted that –
“When construction is good, claims are fined as the art or practice of making
good. When construction is bad, claims and winning claims by questionable ex- “In 1938, about 20% of fed-
are better!” I did not fully appreciate pedients without actually violating the eral civil cases went to trial. By
the accuracy of this response until the rules. “Claimsmanship” has prolifer- 1962, the percentage was down to
recession in the early 1980’s. The con- ated in the past few years and appears 12%. By 2009, the number has sunk
struction industry suffered a severe to be equally practiced by both owners to 1.7%. The percentage of jury tri-
downturn, but the number of claims and contractors, and their representa- als in federal civil cases was down
proliferated in an inverse ratio, thus tives [59]. As a direct result, the num- to just under 1%, and the percent-
providing even more work for claim ber of claims has likewise grown. From age of bench trials was even lower.
consultants than when the industry this growth in claims several trends So between 1938 and 2009, there
was doing well. have developed, among them: was a decline in the percentage of
Over the past few years of the cur- civil cases going to trial of over 90%
rent recession, the industry has taken • The value of construction disputes and the pace of the decline was ac-
a substantial hit economically. The has declined in the US (as opposed celerating toward the end of that

period… [29, 36].” and where possible, offers some ideas 10.6 months. The average length of
on how to mitigate or avoid the nega- time (in months) to resolve the dis-
In a private presentation in March tive impacts of such trends in construc- putes sampled increased at the global
2012, Andrew D. Ness, then Chair-Elect tion claims and disputes. First, let’s level by some 16%, as set forth in table
of the American Bar Association’s examine owner “claimsmanship” 2.
Forum on the Construction Industry trends. The report also identified the most
addressed this issue. As Mr. Ness common causes of claims by region.
pointed out, in the US legal system Value and Duration of The cause of claims is ranked by region.
“construction law” is derived primarily Construction Disputes From this data, a trend appears which
from case law – prior legal decisions It has been reported that globally is displayed in table 3.
[50]. Mr. Ness pointed out as the con- the value of construction disputes has By reverse scoring these rankings
struction industry changes and evolves declined in the US and Asia, but in- by region (where a 1st place gets a 5;
(i.e., project delivery methods, Building creased slightly in Europe and substan- 2nd place receives a 4; and so forth)
Information Modeling, Green Con- tially in the Mideast [40]. The average and adding up the scores this report in-
struction, location based scheduling, value of the disputes sampled for this dicates that these causes of claims can
etc.) so too must construction law. The report is set forth in table 1 by region. be ranked globally in the following
unintended consequence of the van- At the global level dispute value has order.
ishing trial is that construction law declined 8% from 2010 to 2011.
stops evolving. This same report, however, also 1. Contract administration issues are
This research perspective dis- concluded that the time required to re- the largest cause of claims.
cusses each of these growing trends, solve disputes rose from 9.1 months to 2. Incomplete design and ambiguous
Table 1 – Global Construction Dispute Values (Dispute values shown in millions of US $)
Table 2 – Average Length of Disputes
Table 3 – Common Causes of Claims

contract requirements rank in sec- 2006, that case filings with the Interna- pute matters to attorneys and are
ond place. tional Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”), more ready to compromise in
3. The third highest cause of claims the American Arbitration Association order to reach settlements.
is the failure of the owner and (“AAA”), and the International Center
contractor to resolve time exten- for Dispute Resolution (“ICDR”) have The Navigant Construction Forum™
sions and delay damages at the increased between three and five fold concludes that international construc-
time they occur on the project. over the past 25 years [28]. A major tion projects have larger disputes and
4. Fourth place is occupied by con- university in the UK documented an are more likely to resolve their disputes
flicting party interests. 8.5% growth among 22 arbitral institu- through arbitration. On the other
5. Unrealistic risk transfer ranks in tions between 2003 and 2007 [42]. hand, within the US, while the number
fifth place. In preparing this research perspec- of claims seems to have increased sub-
6. An unrealistic time of completion tive, the Navigant Construction stantially, claim values have declined as
occupies the last spot in this rank- Forum™ conducted a survey of Navi- many more small claims are now as-
ing. gant senior claims consultants in-house serted. Additionally, fewer claims are
and an e-mail survey of a number of going to arbitration or litigation in the
This cause of claims listing and external claims professionals with na- US and more are resolved through ne-
ranking offers some suggestions re- tional and international claims experi- gotiation and/or various forms of ADR.
garding claims avoidance and resolu- ence. Juxtaposed to the results of the
tion which will be discussed at the end studies above, the Forum found that at Increased Limitations on
of this research perspective. least in the US, the numbers of claims Recovery of Damages
The EC Harris report provided a filed with project owners has increased Another trend observed by the Navi-
good deal of information on claims substantially over the past few years. gant Construction Forum™ is that it is
value, length of time to resolve dis- However, like the EC Harris study, the becoming increasingly difficult for con-
putes and the most common causes of Forum’s survey determined that the tractors to recover on claims in litiga-
disputes. The methodology employed value of the claims filed has fallen sub- tion on government contracts. Courts
in this study limited the projects and stantially and fewer and fewer claims seem less likely to rule in favor of con-
disputes sampled to those the firm are being prosecuted to arbitration or tractors in a number of areas. Some
handled during the 2010 and 2011 pe- litigation. limitations on contractor claim recov-
riod. Some of the findings of the ery are set forth below.
A more robust survey of claims Forum’s survey related to the conclu-
and disputes was published in the sum- sions above follow: Concurrent Delay
mer of 2011. This survey determined Concurrent delay is defined as:
that in the 2009 – 2011 timeframe, • Because of the change in the “[t]wo or more delays that take place
there were 65 international contract economy over the past few years, or overlap during the same period, ei-
arbitrations in which at least US$1 bil- and the government funding more ther of which occurring alone would
lion was in controversy [38]. The projects than the private sector, have affected the ultimate completion
amounts in controversy ranged from many contractors experienced date [19].” Concurrent delay has been
US$20 billion to US1 billion. The with negotiated private contracts a contentious and hotly debated issue
“amount in controversy” represented bid government contracts binding since its creation in 1867 [56]. One in
the sum of claims and counterclaims. them to stricter contract require- depth article on the issue of concur-
The total value of these 65 disputes ments. rent delay examined the origins of the
was US$174.8 billion, with the median • Along the same lines, many of the doctrine of concurrent delay. The au-
value being US$2.73 billion. This global less than US$1 million claims are thors summarized the history of con-
survey indicates a much higher range filed by small contractors and sub- current delay as follows:
of dispute values than the earlier cited contractors who entered the pub-
study. This study also indicates that lic sector when work in the private “…it is evident that the mod-
more international projects, at least, sector dried up. ern doctrine of concurrent delay is
are going to arbitration than the earlier • Fewer claims are going forward in premised not on the equitable res-
study seemed to indicate. the dispute resolution process as olution of construction delays, but
Like the American Lawyer survey, most are settled through negotia- is instead based on past litigants’
a recent Navigant Construction tions and Alternative Dispute Res- failure or inability to effectively
Forum™ research perspective also con- olution (“ADR”) processes prove their cases and the older
cluded, among other things, that inter- including mediation, project neu- courts’ hostility toward liquidated
national construction arbitration is trals, and private trials. damages … Over time, these fac-
growing rapidly [49]. Born and Miles • Public works owners seem to be tors merged and evolved into the
reported in an article published in less willing now to hand off dis- legal doctrine of ‘concurrent delay.’

After several years, the later courts delays impacted the project’s critical “[The] city was entitled to liq-
stopped delving into the ‘real’ path [46]. Rulings such as this obviously uidated damages for [the] general
analyses of these early courts, and increase a contractor’s burden of proof contractor’s late completion under
instead rotely applied these early when arguing for recovery of compen- the construction contract, even if
courts’ resolutions of concurrent sable delay. the delays were caused by the city’s
delay as a ‘rule’ for resolving all Additionally, two significant court conduct, where the contract re-
overlapping construction delays cases – one a US federal case in 2010, quired any extension of time to be
[26].” and the other a state case in 2011 – obtained through certain proce-
seem to have created new hurdles con- dures, and [the] general contractor
The issue is contentious in the cerning concurrent delay as follows: did not use such procedures [39].”
main because it is frequently used as a In M. Maropakis Carpentry, Inc. v.
“get out of jail” card. That is when own- U.S., the Court of Appeals for the Fed- The Appellate Court ruled in this
ers assess liquidated damages for late eral Circuit ruled that the contractor manner despite the fact that the city
project completion, contractors fre- could not allege or assert concurrent admitted some of the delay they were
quently respond with allegations of delay against government imposed liq- assessing liquidated damages for was
concurrent delay (i.e., overlapping uidated damages, unless the contrac- actually city caused delay.
owner and contractor delay periods) tor had filed a certified delay claim After surveying the scene, con-
asserting that all or a part of the late under the terms of the Contract Dis- cerning the issue of concurrent delay,
completion was excusable, non-com- putes Act and requested and received it appears that courts have increased
pensable delay, as a result of overlap- the contracting officer’s final decision the contractor’s burden of proof con-
ping owner caused delay and thus not [2, 16]. In this case, the contractor had cerning concurrent delay and con-
subject to liquidated damages [45]. The written letters to the contracting offi- structed new hurdles concerning the
argument works equally well in re- cer but did not submit and certify a use of concurrent delay when owners
verse, when contractors assert owner delay claim. Nor did the contractor re- assess liquidated damages for late proj-
caused delay, owners often respond quest and receive the final decision ect completion.
with allegations of contractor caused from the contracting officer. The Court
delay, alleviating the need to pay for of Federal Claims upheld the govern- Limitation on Recovery of Suspension
delay damages. ment imposed liquidated damages but Costs
It appears, however, that courts stated that they had no jurisdiction to An owner directed suspension of
have become more conservative when hear the contractor’s claim of concur- work is typically considered excusable,
faced with concurrent delay arguments rent delay. On appeal to the Court of compensable delay. Unless the terms
and less likely to simply accept concur- Appeals for the Federal Circuit, that of the contract specifically preclude
rent delay as a way of resolving delay court likewise upheld the liquidated cost recovery, in most cases the com-
cases. Courts seem to be placing more damages assessment, but again denied pensation sought includes extended
of a burden on contractors with respect the contractor the right to argue con- field office overhead costs, as well as
to concurrent delay. For example, current delay as a result of their lack of extended or unabsorbed home office
George Sollitt Construction Company v. compliance with the Contract Disputes overhead costs. In the US, the Eichleay
U.S., the court stated that a contractor Act. Through two court cases, the con- Formula is the classic way to calculate
has an affirmative obligation to sepa- tractor was denied the right to present unabsorbed home office overhead. As
rate and apportion concurrent delay his defense of concurrent delay. such, arguments concerning suspen-
[4]. That is, when a contractor is assert- In Greg Opinski Construction, Inc. sions of work typically revolve around
ing a delay claim they must first prove v. City of Oakdale, a California Court of how much delay did the suspension
the delay was caused by an event for Appeals issued a similar ruling to order actually cause and are the ex-
which they were not responsible; then Maropakis, but relied on the terms of tended or unabsorbed home office
project the duration of the delay to the the contract documents as California overhead damages properly calculated.
critical path; and then prove there was does not have a statute analogous to In The Redland Company, Inc. v.
no concurrent delay during the same the Federal Contract Disputes Act [8]. U.S., the Air Force issued a contract to
period [58]. The court also stated that The Superior Court ruled that since The Redland Company to resurface an
generally, recovery will be denied when Opinski had not followed the contrac- aircraft parking area at Homestead Air
delays are concurrent or intertwined tually mandated procedure related to Reserve Base in Florida in October,
and the contractor has not separated change orders, claims and time exten- 2000 [18]. On December 1, 2000, the
its delays from those caused by the sions, it was not necessary for the court contracting officer issued the Notice to
owner [27]. The court also stated that to review the alleged delay issues (the Proceed (“NTP”) with the work. The
a contractor seeking recovery of com- concurrent delay argument), regardless contract required the contractor to
pensable delay must “…disentangle its of which party was responsible for the begin work within 14 days of receipt of
delay from those allegedly caused by late completion. On appeal the Appel- the NTP. Also, on December 1, 2000,
the government…” and prove that both late Court ruled that: the contracting officer issued an order

suspending all work on the project until 2. The delay must have extended the to limit contractor damage recovery
further notice. The Air Force finally original time of performance, or pursuant to suspension directives. It
lifted the suspension order on October that the contractor finished on appears, that in Redlands, the court be-
18, 2004, and directed that work begin time but still incurred unabsorbed lieved that the 4 year suspension was
on October 20th and be completed by overhead costs because it planned too long to justify the award of over-
December 19, 2004 – a period of 60 to finish earlier. And, head costs to the contractor. It also ap-
days. The Redland Company began 3. The government required the con- pears that courts may not understand
work as directed but was unable, for a tractor to remain on standby dur- that “work” begins before the first
variety of reasons, to complete work ing the period of suspension, shovel full of dirt is moved. Providing
until January 11, 2006 – some 449 days waiting to begin work immediately bonds and insurance, arranging and fi-
after the suspension of work order was or on short notice once the sus- nalizing subcontracts and vendor
lifted, far beyond the 60 day time of pension was lifted. agreements, planning the work,
completion. The contracting officer preparing and submitting the bid
granted a time extension through Jan- The Federal Circuit in Nicon breakdown, etc., all are “work” even
uary 11, 2006, did not assess any liqui- stressed that Eichleay damages are though no physical work in the field is
dated damages but did not grant any only available when the government underway. Additionally, once a contract
compensation for the additional time. caused delay occurs after performance is awarded, a contractor’s bonding ca-
The contractor filed several claims has begun, thereby extending the pe- pacity is impaired to the extent of the
for additional compensation in Sep- riod of performance. initial contract value. During the four
tember, 2006, and requested that the The Court of Federal Claims ana- years Redland was suspended, their
contracting officer issue a final decision lyzed Redland’s claim and determined, bond was in full force and effect. If Red-
approving or denying each claim within while the government had issued a sus- land was a small contractor this bond
the 60 day time limit contained in the pension order of uncertain duration impairment may have prevented Red-
Contract Disputes Act. The contracting which extended the original time of land from bidding on other projects as
officer neither issued a final decision performance, Redland (1) had not they may not have had sufficient bond-
on any of the claims, nor did he notify started work on the project and (2) had ing capacity to cover new projects. All
the contractor when such a decision not been required by the contracting are real costs incurred by contractors,
would be issued. The contractor then officer to remain on “standby” until the but the courts in these cases either did
filed suit in the Court of Federal Claims. suspension order was removed. Thus, not know how the construction indus-
The case involved 9 distinct claims. despite a four year delay, the contrac- try operates or chose to ignore such
However, of interest for this research tor was denied recovery of unabsorbed damages to protect the government.
perspective is Claim 1 – Unabsorbed home office overhead using the Eich-
Home Office Overhead. leay Formula; and, was denied the right Restrictions on Time Extensions
The contractor sought recovery of to recover unabsorbed home office In a recent article published in In-
their unabsorbed home office over- overhead using an alternative method sight from Hindsight the author com-
head for the period between Decem- of calculation (allowed under certain mented that –
ber 1, 2000 and October 18, 2004 – circumstances based on the Nicon de-
nearly four years – and calculated the cision). The denial of recovery centered “Turning to decisions ad-
damages based on the Eichleay For- on the fact that the suspension direc- dressing the merits of delay claims
mula. The court openly acknowledged tive was silent as to whether the con- and the means to prove them, we
that the Air Force issued an NTP and tractor was to remain on “standby” find that the boards and courts are
suspended all work on the same day. while the work was suspended. demanding greater specificity in
The court likewise acknowledged that After P.J. Dick some commentators proof of delays. Total time claims
the suspension extended until October have suggested that it will be very dif- continue to be denied. Lack of con-
18, 2004. ficult to establish the “standby” re- temporaneous, updated schedules
quirement “…because it is unlikely that is criticized. Contractor delays are
Citing P.J. Dick, Inc. v. Principi, a contracting officer will issue a sus- scrutinized for proof of government
Nicon, Inc. v. U.S. and Altmayer v. John- pension order containing a require- delays. Claims lacking segregation
son, the court noted that to establish ment that the contractor be ready to of contractor and government de-
entitlement to Eichleay damages a con- immediately resume full scale work lays often lead to denial, as do
tractor must prove three elements [7, with no remobilization period [48].” It analyses based solely on claims pre-
10, 11]: is more likely to be the case now that pared after the project is com-
Redlands has zeroed in on the same pleted [44].”
1. Government caused delay or sus- issue. The author pointed to Phillips Na-
pension of work of an uncertain Based on these cases, it appears tional, Inc., in which the Armed Serv-
duration. that courts are actively looking for ways ices Board of Contract Appeals held

Phillips responsible for a number of de- George Sollitt Construction Company v. office overhead directly related to
lays on the project―because Phillips U.S., analyzed US federal delay claim the government’s delay.
did not present a schedule delay analy- case law, going back to 1909, to ascer- • When the parties stipulate to a
sis of any sort to the contracting officer tain a checklist concerning time exten- daily delay cost, the contractor
or the Board separating the delays re- sions [4]. The Sollitt Court came up must prove the extent of the gov-
sulting from the government’s change with the following checklist. ernment’s delay, but is relieved of
orders from the delays caused by the the obligation of proving their in-
contractor [21]. The board noted that, Compensable Delay: creased costs.
“Without a CPM schedule, there was • When multiple delays by one party
nothing to approve and it follows that • The government is liable for an eq- are concurrent with each other,
no bilateral modification incorporating uitable adjustment when they that other party’s delays must be
an approved as-built schedule could cause a delay to the contractor’s analyzed to ensure that the overall
have been issued.” As noted in this ar- performance. effect of these multiple delays is
ticle, it appears that the board denied • The government’s liability is lim- correctly attributed to that party.
the claim solely on the basis of non- ited to unreasonable delays under
compliance with the contract’s sched- the Suspension of Work clause. Excusable Delay:
ule requirements. • The government’s actions or lack
The author of this article went on of action must be the sole proxi- • The government has the initial
to point out the results of Jackson Con- mate cause of the delay. burden of showing late comple-
struction Co., Inc. v. United States [3]. • The burden of proving compensation and the contractor has the
In discussing the outcome of this case, ble delay falls to the contractor as burden of showing that the delay
the author noted that, “In denying the the claimant. was excusable.
claim, the court’s decision provides a • The contractor bears the burden • When the government has caused
checklist of what not to do in present- of separating and apportioning part of the delay to project com-
ing a claim.” (Underscoring provided.) concurrent delays. pletion, liquidated damages are ei-
Among the things Jackson failed to do • The contractor must prove the ex- ther waived or apportioned.
were: tent of the government’s delay
and its increased costs in order to Some may consider these various
• Improperly calculated the home recover. decisions harsh or very tough on con-
office overhead amount claimed. • Increased costs of winter construc- tractors attempting to assert delay
• Was unable to prove their in- tion may be recoverable; provided claims. Others, however, believe that
tended early completion. that the contractor can demon- these decisions reflect a growing so-
• Failed to support the contention of strate that, but for the govern- phistication on the part of the judiciary
cumulative impact of multiple ments delay, the work would have when considering delay claims and the
changes beyond merely pointing been completed prior to the win- standard by which such claims are
to a large number of change or- ter. measured. Finally, these decisions may
ders. And, • Increased cost of winter work reflect a lack of attention to contract
• Signed off on all government is- must be apportioned if there are requirements on the part of contrac-
sued change orders without a concurrent delays. tors who fail to file notice, follow con-
proper reservation of rights. • When demonstrating the extent of tract procedures, and wait until the
the government’s delay, the con- end of the project to prepare and sub-
As was pointed out, “In summary, tractor bears the burden of prov- mit delay claims [44].
this claim had no contemporary factual ing critical path delays.
support for its theories of claim, no • Because the critical path changes Notice and Claim Filing Requirements
support for government liability, no over time, critical path schedule A recent article published in Con-
reservation of rights on many change updates are needed to analyze de- struction Lawyer discussed lack of no-
orders, no proper showing of causation lays. tice as a defense against construction
and no justification for using the total • The contractor bears the burden claims [52]. The author noted that,
cost method of calculating damages of apportioning concurrent critical “When technical and procedural de-
[44].” Having said this, it is noted that path delays. fenses are upheld, they encourage con-
one interesting outcome from this de- • The contractor may recover wage tract drafters to include more of them.
cision was that the court stated that “… rate increase costs that would not Owners and their construction man-
notice to the government is not a pre- have been incurred but for the agers devise increasingly complex ways
requisite to proving intent to finish government’s delay. to channel and limit the claims of their
early.” • The contractor must prove the prime contractors. Prime contractors
In a similar manner, the court in amount of home office and field may similarly seek to circumscribe the

claims of their subcontractors.” While The article also notes that several compensable changes and delay. Re-
notice of claims is an issue of fairness states have citable law along the same dondo filed claims, but before these
between owners and contractors, the lines as the federal courts declining claims could be resolved, went into
article points out that many owners strict enforcement of notice provisions bankruptcy. The various claims were
now, “…impose lengthy and detailed – including Alaska, California, Massa- tried in Bankruptcy Court, which
claims notice requirements as precon- chusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Vir- awarded some $12 million in damages
ditions for recovery.” The author points ginia (in a case where a Virginia to Redondo, plus pre-judgment inter-
to one set of contract documents municipality included a federally man- est.
which requires the following be pro- dated notice provision in a federally On appeal to the Federal District
vided within a short time after the ini- funded local project). The article notes Court, the District Court affirmed the
tial notice of claim [37]. that Colorado has citable law with damages awarded in all respects. The
The contractor is required “at a waiving the lack of notice defense in Authority appealed this decision to the
minimum” to provide the following – the event the owner initiates negotia- First Circuit Court of Appeals. The Ap-
tion of the claim on its merits in the ab- pellate Court upheld some of the lower
• factual statement of claim; sence of written notice of claim. On Court’s findings, but focused in on the
• dates; the other hand, several states has a ju- issue of home office overhead recov-
• owner and A/E employees knowl- dicial tendency to strictly construe and ery. Citing C.B.C. Enterprises, Inc. v.
edgeable about the claim; enforce the lack of notice as a defense United States [17] and Aniero Concrete
• support from contract documents; against a claim – including Florida, New Co. v. N.Y. C. Constr. Auth. [9], the court
• identification of other supporting York, Virginia, and Washington. More concluded that –
documentation; recently, a New Jersey Appellate Court
• details on claim for contract time; upheld the rejection of an extra work “When a project’s comple-
• details on claim for adjustment of claim because of the lack of contractu- tion is delayed because of neces-
contract sum; and, ally required notice [30]. sary but unanticipated work for
• statement certifying the claim “… This survey of state case law, con- which the contractor is entitled to
under penalty of perjury…” cerning the enforceability of the lack of compensation, extended overhead
notice defense, concludes with the fol- is usually calculated as a percentage
Finally, this set of contract docu- lowing warning to contractors. of the direct costs of the additional
ments also states that any claim not in work. This percentage-of-direct-
compliance with these requirements “Unless a contractor is oper- cost approach comports with stan-
“…shall be conclusively deemed to ating in a jurisdiction where the en- dard practice in the construction
have been waived by contractor.” (Lest forceability of notice provisions is industry under which a contractor
readers conclude that this particular clearly limited, it is important for normally charges an owner a per-
set of perquisites is unique to this par- contractors to understand the full centage of a project’s direct costs to
ticular state, the author of this re- literal requirements of their con- cover its overhead.
search perspective has encountered tractual provisions and either com-
similar requirements in many contracts ply fully, or negotiate a written … at least some of the proj-
across the US). agreement, as to what form of no- ect delays were attributable to
This article goes on to discuss en- tice will satisfy the other party extra work for which the debtor
forcement of notice requirements at under those clauses [52].” was compensated. (Citation omit-
the federal and the state levels. With ted.) For those delays, extended
respect to enforcement of notices re- Extended Overhead Calculated as a overhead should have been
quirement in federal courts, the article Percentage of Costs awarded as a percentage of the di-
notes five general exceptions to notice A 2012 US Court of Appeals case rect costs associated with the proj-
requirements, as follows – determined that when a contractor’s ects’ change orders and extra work
time of performance was extended, as orders. (Citation omitted.) ‘It is in-
• written notice was actually pro- a result of owner caused changes, then appropriate to use the Eichleay for-
vided [41]; any extended home office overhead mula to calculate home office
• the contracting officer had actual cost had to be calculated as a percent- overhead for contract extensions
or imputed knowledge of the facts age of the direct cost of that work. In because adequate compensation
giving rise to the claim; Redondo Construction Corp. v. Puerto for overhead expenses may usually
• notice to the contracting officer Rico Highway and Transportation Au- be calculated more precisely using
would have been useless; and, thority, the contractor was awarded a fixed percentage formula.’”
• the contracting officer considered three highway construction contracts
the claim on its merits despite the by the authority [51]. All three projects It is true that some federal govern-
lack of notice [20]. encountered differing site conditions ment agencies use fixed markup rates
and owner caused changes resulting in in their construction contracts – specif-

ically the General Services Administra- BT encountered subsurface condi- the project, BTC did not expect to
tion and the Veteran’s Administration tions it considered materially different transition from "Fine Alluvium" to
[32, 34]. It is also correct to state that than those indicated in the contract "Carlile Shale" or, to use its termi-
many state and local government documents and filed notice of DSC to nologies, from "clay fill material" to
agencies and professional associations NDG, who provided the notice to the "shale rock material" at any specific
impose fixed change order markup contracting officer. The contracting of- point but only "at some point." …
rates in their contract documents [55]. ficer denied NDG’s claim and NDG ap- And, as BTC predicted, the soil pro-
However, based on the author’s expe- pealed to the ASBCA. NDG contended file indeed changed from clay fill
rience, such percentage of cost markup that they encountered a “different soil material to shale rock material ‘at
rates rarely, if ever, takes into account profile,” soil with different characteris- some point.’”
the cost of delay arising from an owner tics and increased soil moisture condi-
caused changes. Rather, such predeter- tions all of which, they claimed, were The court concluded that since the
mined percentages are typically the materially different from the condi- soil conditions did, in fact, transition
owner’s opinion of what it may cost tions indicated at the time of bidding. “at some point” then the conditions
the general contractor to administer In part, NDG based their claim on BT’s encountered did not differ materially
added work (including the manage- assumption that the soils would tran- from those “indicated” in the contract
ment of vendors and suppliers and the sition from one type to another along documents at the time of bidding. The
subcontractors involved in performing “…a straight line projection.” Citing board also ruled that with respect to
a portion of the added work). Sternberger v. United States, the NDG the soil conditions, the general warn-
Assuming this is correct, then the Court stated that: “It is highly improb- ings contained in the geotechnical re-
Redondo ruling deprives contractors able that subsurface soil of one type port to the effect that “…soils between
the right to recover delay damages would transition into another type boring locations may vary…”was suffi-
arising from owner directed changes along a straight line projection [14]. cient information to alert a contractor
which cause project delay. Contractors We do not accept NDG expert’s opin- to soil conditions. The board in this
performing work under contracts, ion in this regard because it is intrinsi- case also ruled that despite the fact
without fixed rates for change orders cally unpersuasive.” that the soil borings were silent on the
in the contract, should consider adjust- moisture content of the soils, the con-
ing their markups when quoting With respect to the NDG’s other tractor was solely at risk for drawing
changes which involve project delay as claims, the court focused on the issue any assumptions based on the absence
they may no longer be able to collect of what conditions were “indicated” in of moisture content.
delay damages separately. the contract documents and concluded In the Appeal of Bean Stuyvesant
that – LLC, the Armed Services Board of Con-
Differing Site Conditions – What is in tract Appeals dealt with the issue of
and What is Indicated in the Contract “A Type I differing site condi- what, “…physical conditions at the
Documents? tion claim is dependent on what is site…” were indicated in the contract
The Armed Services Board of Con- ‘indicated’ in the contract. Foster documents [22]. In Bean Stuyvesant,
tract Appeals (“ASBCA”) recently exam- Constr. C.A. and Williams Bros. Co. the contractor relied upon the geot-
ined a Type I differing site condition v. United States, 435 F.2d 873, 881 echnical information provided with the
(“DSC”) claim in the case of Appeal of (Ct. Cl. 1970) ("On the one hand, a bidding documents. However, the invi-
NDG Constructors, which arose from a contract silent on subsurface con- tation to bid did not include soils infor-
contract with the US Army Corps of En- ditions cannot support a changed mation taken from another set of
gineers involving the construction of a conditions claim.... On the other borings at the site. The information
waterline under I-90 to service hand, nothing beyond contract in- from the separate boring was, “…avail-
Ellsworth Air Force Base in South dications need be proven."). A con- able upon request…” The contractor
Dakota [25]. A portion of this waterline tractor cannot be eligible for an did not request this additional informa-
was to be tunneled under I-90 employ- equitable adjustment for Type 1 tion and did not see it until the infor-
ing the bore and jack method. NDG changed conditions unless the con- mation was produced by the
subcontracted the tunneling portion of tract indicated what those condi- government at the board hearings.
the project to BT Construction, Inc. BT tions would supposedly be. P.J. The board ruled against the con-
examined the two geotechnical reports Maffei Bldg. Wrecking Corp. v. tractor on the basis that the conditions
prepared for this project and issued United States, 732 F.2d 913, 916 encountered did not differ materially
with the bid documents when prepar- (Fed. Cir. 1984); S.T.G. Construction from those indicated, based upon
ing their bid to NDG. The NDG contract Co. v. United States, 157 Ct. Cl. 409, “available” information. The board
included the standard differing site 414 (1962). Here, the contract doc- concluded that “…a contractor has a
conditions clause from the Federal Ac- uments did not indicate where pre- duty to review information that is
quisition Regulations (“FAR”) [33]. cisely the contractor would made available for inspection.” (Under-
encounter Carlile Shale. In bidding scoring supplied.)
*Previously known as the Certified Cost Consultant/Certified Cost Engineer

Based upon these cases, contrac- excusable delay). the Department of State that these
tors seeking recovery under the differ- This same respondent also com- events would occur…” The board also
ing site conditions clause - mented that he had been asked to re- decided that design/build contractor
view two sets of bridging documents had no right to rely on the design doc-
• Are at risk when they draw which were approximately 90% com- uments provided at time of bidding be-
straight lines between boring in plete design (versus the more typical cause the contract advised bidders “…
order to calculate soil transition or 30% design). The design/build entities not to rely on the drawings, as the
encounters with differing types of in these cases claim that given this drawings are for the sole purpose of il-
soils and/or rock. level of design detail done by the lustrating the design intent…” Finally,
• Are at risk by drawing conclusions owner’s consultant prior to bidding, the board ruled that since the
or inferences from “silence” (i.e., the Spearin Doctrine should apply. The design/build contractor was, “…solely
the absence of any groundwater owner, as might be expected, asserted responsible and liable…” for the de-
information from a series of bor- that since this is a design/build con- sign, they “…should not depend on re-
ings may no longer justify the as- tract the design/builder is solely reports provided by the government as
sumption that there is no sponsible for the design and the part of the contract documents.” This
groundwater to be encountered bridging documents were intended for ruling is an interesting juxtaposition to
on the project). And, general guidance only. Strictly speak- the decision reached in the Appeal of
• Information referred to at bid as ing, this is not risk transfer but has the Bean Stuyvesant, LLC. In Bean
being “available upon request” effect of substantially increasing the Stuyvesant, the contractor was held li-
may now be considered as infor- design/builder’s risk if the owner holds able for, “available information “not in-
mation included in the contract the design/build entity to the require- cluded or incorporated by reference in
documents or incorporated by ref- ments of the bridging documents as if the contract documents, whereas in Fluor
erence. they were crafted by the Intercontinental, the design/builder was
design/builder. not allowed to rely on information pro-
There two cases taken together in- A very recent Civilian Board of vided by the owner and included in the
crease a contractor’s risk concerning Contract Appeals (“CBCA”) case related contract documents.
latent site conditions considerably, and to construction of a U.S. embassy
indicate a lack of understanding of how under a design/build contract [35]. Ac- Increased Use of
a contractor deals with geotechnical in- cording to the CBCA, the design/build False Claim Actions
formation during bidding. For example, contract transferred all risk under the False claims allegations are be-
20 borings on a project showing no contract to the design/build entity by coming much more frequent in con-
groundwater at the depths of excava- using clause such as the following: struction today than at any time
tion typically means that the contrac- previously. With the increased empha-
tor should not expect to encounter “The contractor remains sis on the False Claims Act―since
groundwater while excavating. While solely responsible and liable for de- 1986, contractors who certify a claim
the absence of data, such as this, has sign sufficiency and should not de- to the US government are potentially
typically been considered reasonable pend on reports provided by the liable to the government if any portion
and logical when making a bid, it is ap- government as part of the contract of a passed through subcontractor
parently no longer sufficient to justify documents.” claim is determined to be a false claim
a “material difference” when seeking [1]. Subsequent to the Deficit Reduc-
recover for a differing site condition. “Offerors shall not rely on tion Act of 2005, some 28 States have
any information provided by the adopted State False Claim Acts and
Risk Transfer Increasing in Govern- government concerning the host others apparently are contemplating
ment Contracts country, such as climatology data at doing the same [53, 57]. Not only are
The concept of equitable risk allo- the site, local laws and customs, government agencies more likely to
cation has started to unravel in recent currency restrictions, taxes, or the counter contractor claims with allega-
years. Equitable adjustment doctrines availability of local labor, etc.” tions of false claims, but the legal pro-
which have for many years provided fession has become very active in this
avenues of recovery for cost and time, With respect to the infrastructure arena also. If one Googles “whistle-
are now being modified by contract that was supposed to be available to blower attorneys,” you’ll find some
drafters. For example, one respondent the site at the outset of construction, 2.95 million hits in 0.22 seconds – most
to the Navigant Construction Forum™ the board commented that while the of which advertise firms ready, willing,
survey conducted in support of this re- contract documents stated the local and able to assist potential whistle-
search perspective commented that he government had “…committed to pro- blowers with qui tam lawsuits under
is seeing more anti-concurrent delay vide utilities … to the site by June the False Claims Act (“FCA”).
clauses in contracts (i.e., contracts that 2003,” “nothing in these statements Added to this are some recent
declare that concurrent delay as non- can be construed as a promise from

changes to US federal law, which tent” when submitting the claim for did not certify the claim nor did the
broadened the definition of the term the architect’s fee and dismissed the contractor request a final decision
“claim,” extended the reach of the FCA government’s FCA claim. While Riley from the contracting officer [2]. During
to include subcontractors. One recent lucked out in this case, the case serves their appeal to the Court of Appeals for
paper summarized the impact of the to highlight the government’s intent to the Federal Circuit, the contractor ar-
Fraud Enforcement Recovery Act of seek out and prosecute false claims gued that their letters to the contract-
2009 (“FERA”) in the following manner and fraud, and illustrates the risks a ing officer constituted a valid claim for
[54]. contractor assumes when submitting a a time extension sufficient to give the
claim which is not fully vetted. Court of Federal Claims jurisdiction
“FERA expanded the FCA in In Daewoo the contractor submit- over the matter. As stated by the Court
several additional ways, such as by ted a certified claim to the government of Appeals, “Maropakis also argue[d]
eliminating the “presentment” re- in the amount of $64 million, which in- that even if it was not in technical com-
quirement, adding a “relate back” cluded approximately $50.6 million in pliance with the CDA, the US had ac-
provision to circumvent statutes of unsubstantiated costs. The contractor tual knowledge of the amount and
limitations, and declaring retroac- apparently assumed that the claim basis of Maropakis’ claim and there-
tivity for certain amendments. The would be settled via negotiation and fore the Court of Federal Claims had ju-
passage of FERA reflects the gov- did so in order to give them some risdiction.”
ernment’s growing commitment to room to negotiate with the govern- In essence, Maropakis tried to cre-
discover and prosecute fraud. In ment. Regardless of the merits of the ate a “constructive claim” – a claim de-
furtherance of that commitment, initial claim the government counter- rived by inference or implied by
Congress began to include an- claimed under the Contract Disputes operation of law – analogous to con-
tifraud measures in statutes, such Act (“CDA”) and the FCA and entered a structive changes, constructive suspen-
as the American Recovery and “special plea in fraud” under the CDA sions and constructive notice.
Reinvestment Act (the Stimulus seeking forfeiture of Daewoo’s entire Maropakis did this, of course, in order
Bill), that create an independent claim under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. to get the court to hear their case, as
board to oversee disbursed funds §2514. When all was said and done, the Court of Federal Claims rule that
and provide for government audits the US Court of Appeals for the Federal they did not have jurisdiction as the
[31].” Circuit ruled that Daewoo not only for- contractor had not fully complied with
feited their entire $64 million claim, the requirements of the Contract Dis-
“False claims and charges of but also owed the government $50 putes Act. The Appellate Court focused
fraud are receiving increased em- million plus FCA penalties. on the statutory requirements of the
phasis by the federal government. Contractors working on govern- CDA and chose not to infer the exis-
For years, the playing field was lim- ment contracts need to understand the tence of a construction claim in the ab-
ited to procurement of supplies, implications of the FCA and FERA; need sence of these clear requirements.
and defense industry contracts, but to thoroughly examine and document All in all, this was an ingenious at-
recently the clear trend has in- all claimed costs; and must understand tempt by a contractor to get around
creased prosecution overall and the legal significance and risk of “certi- clear statutory requirements. The Nav-
therefore greater focus on con- fying” a claim to the government. igant Construction Forum™ believes
struction [44].” that more contractors will attempt to
New Forms of Claims use the “constructive knowledge” ap-
The author pointed to Riley Con- Lest readers conclude that current proach to excuse their own non-com-
struction Co. v. United States and Dae- “claimsmanship” is exercised solely by pliance with contract or statutory
woo Engineering and Construction Co. owners, let’s now look at contractor requirements concerning claim sub-
Ltd. V. United States to help make his “claimsmanship.” Based on the mittals.
point [5, 6]. Riley (a design build con- Forum’s survey, most contractor
tractor) included both their claimed “claimsmanship” seems to result in as- Underinspection Claim
costs, as well as their architect’s cost sertion of new forms of claims. Some The concept of a constructive
on the basis that the architect’s fee of those identified are set forth below. change to a contract arising from “im-
was based on a percentage of total proper inspection” or “overinspection”
construction cost. Riley did this with- Constructive Claim is not a new one in construction law
out asking the architect, and thus the In M. Maropakis Carpentry, Inc. v. [43]. Several respondents to the
architect was unaware that they were U.S., the contractor had submitted a Forum’s survey mentioned having ex-
involved in the claim. When the gov- number of letters to the government perience with claims of “underinspec-
ernment found out about this, they requesting time extensions [15]. How- tion.” Typically, these claims have been
counterclaimed with false claim and ever, notwithstanding the require- described in one of two ways. In the
fraud allegations against Riley. The ments of the contract and the Contract first instance, underinspection is al-
court determined that Riley lacked “in- Disputes Act (“CDA”), the contractor leged as a way to recover additional

cost for completion of punchlist work come to light earlier in the perform- “equipment inefficiency claims.” Such
at the end of the project. The theory ance of its work. However, appel- claims attempt to establish a direct cost
asserted is that had the owner or their lant would have us decide that the ratio between labor costs and equip-
representative inspected the contrac- government’s alleged failure to per- ment costs using equation 1.
tor’s work properly during the perform- form an early adequate inspection What contractors are attempting
ance of the work they would have shifts the contract performance is- to show is that for every labor cost dol-
found the work was improperly done sues to the government’s shoul- lar expended “$x” dollars was spent on
or incomplete, thus eliminating the ders. This we cannot do. The equipment cost. This equipment pro-
need for punchlist work. Since the contract clauses and the relevant ductivity cost is applied to labor pro-
punchlist work exists, this proves alle- law clearly establish that it was ap- ductivity claims (whether total cost,
gation of improper inspection and the pellant’s legal responsibility to modified total cost, measured mile cal-
resulting damages are the cost of the maintain an adequate inspection culations or not). To calculate this type
punchlist work. The second way the un- system to ensure that its work con- of claim, first the contractor has to cal-
derinspection claim is used is to allow formed to the contract require- culate the labor cost added to the base
the contractor to argue wrongful termi- ments. The government proved scope cost, and then the added labor
nation when they have been termi- that appellant was in default and cost is multiplied by the equipment
nated for default because of appellant did not establish that the cost ration calculated by the formula
substandard work. Despite the number default was excusable.” set forth above. It is noted that this
of times the author and others heard claim does not include the cost of small
this type of claim asserted, none had Tawazuh, like Amigo before it, lost tools and consumables, such cost being
heard of this claim being litigated. their argument that owner underin- added separately to the total claim.
The Appeal of Tawazuh Commer- spection entitled them to additional While the claim is understandable
cial and Construction Co. Ltd. involved money and time to repair the substan- (because of its simplicity) and the
construction of 40 kilometers of road dard work, and/or excused the sub- mathematics of the calculation are
in Afghanistan [24]. The contractor was standard work and deprived the owner easy to follow, there is no direct corre-
ultimately terminated for default be- of the right to terminate for default. lation between labor and equipment
cause of failure to perform its contract However, the Navigant Construction cost. There is a strong likelihood that
obligations; failure to provide a reme- Forum™ believes it foreseeable that as when labor is less productive, that
diation plan as required by the cure no- less experienced, less skilled contrac- equipment costs go up. However, in-
tice; and failure to perform in tors undertake to perform more com- creased equipment costs are much
accordance with the contract require- plex projects, this type of claim will more likely to increase either because
ments. The contractor asserted, among occur more frequently. of idled equipment or equipment re-
other defenses, that if the Corps of En- tained on site longer than anticipated,
gineers had performed adequate qual- Equipment Productivity Loss resulting in increased equipment rental
ity inspections throughout the project; Lost labor productivity claims in US or ownership costs on the project.
they should have corrected the situa- construction law are hardly new. Wun- Despite the flaws inherent in this
tion earlier, thus preventing the default derlich Contracting Co. v. United States new type of claim, the Navigant Con-
termination. involved a request for delay damages struction Forum™ believes it will be-
The Armed Services Board of Con- and lost labor productivity arising from come more common as contractors
tract Appeals (“ASBCA”) citing Amigo contract issued in 1950 and completed seek new ways to recover losses or less
Building Corp. stated that – in 1951 [12]. Although the Wunderlich sophisticated contactors become more
joint venture did not prevail in this involved in claims.
“It is well established that case, their failure to recover was based
the government’s right to inspect on lack of causation – that is, they did “Expanded” General Condition Costs
work generally does not relieve a not establish the nexus between the Extended general condition costs,
contractor of its obligations to per- government’s actions and the damages frequently referred to as extended field
form, nor can the contractor prop- sought – not because the court re- office overhead (“FOOH”) are a well ac-
erly relay on government jected their theory of entitlement. cepted element of damages when a
inspection for the discovery and However, the Navigant Construc- contractor encounters excusable, com-
correction of any errors [23].” tion Forum™ survey revealed that pensable delay. The general rules gov-
some contractors have started to assert erning extended FOOH cost recovery
Based on this approach the ASBCA
concluded that –
Actual Equipment Cost = Equipment Cost Adder
“It is unfortunate that appel-
Total Labor Cost
lant’s failure to comply with the
contract requirements did not equation 1 – Equipment Inefficiency Claim Equation

are fairly straight forward. ents, etc.). nity to practice claimsmanship
when preparing the contract doc-
• The contractor must prove they The problems with this new form uments, owners need to spend
encountered an excusable, com- of claim are many – more time training their own staff
pensable event as defined by the concerning the terms and condi-
terms of the contract. • The contractor has not proven en- tions of their contracts and in con-
• The contractor must document titlement to any of these allega- tract administration. Recall that
notice of delay was provided per tions under the contract. one major international survey
the contract. • The contractor has not expended showed that improper contract
• The contractor must submit their any additional costs as a result of administration is, in fact, the most
time extension request in accor- any of these allegations. And, cause of disputes [40]. With ap-
dance with the terms of the con- • There is not yet any cause and ef- propriate and ongoing training,
tract. fect relationship between any of this type of dispute should be
• The contractor must demonstrate the potential future problems the avoidable.
that the event caused “x” days of contractor anticipates and the cost • Since so many claims and disputes
delay as required by the contract the contractor is presently seek- arise from incomplete, poorly co-
and that there was no concurrent ing. ordinated or flawed drawings and
delay. And, specifications and from owner is-
• The contractor must then docu- In more general terms, this new sued changes, owners are well ad-
ment the daily FOOH cost after re- form of claim creatively “front end vised to spend more time in
moving all non-time related FOOH loads” anticipated claim costs. As such, planning and design stages of the
costs. there is a distinct possibility that the project to “get it right” before bid-
contractor asserting this new form of ding. If owners make certain that
Assuming the contractor can show claim has walked inadvertently though all project stakeholders have ade-
all of the above, then they are gener- it may be – into a false claim under ei- quate input to the planning and
ally entitled to a time extension and ther the US federal or a state statute. design, then this should sharply re-
delay damages (consisting of extended The Navigant Construction duce owner issued change orders
FOOH and, perhaps, extended HOOH). Forum™ believes that this new claim during construction, reducing in
In response to the Navigant Con- will likely spread for a while; at least turn the disputes that stem from
struction Forum™ survey, a new variant until a court ruling concerning the false such changes.
of this claim was identified. The “ex- claim potential is issued. If this claim is • Recognizing that no “perfect” set
panded general conditions” claim is not found to be a false claim, then it will of drawings and specifications ex-
grounded on compensable delay. This slowly fade into the background as this ists, owners seeking to avoid
new form of claim is a request for ad- information gets around. If it is found changes and disputes should im-
ditional cost to add field resources in not to be a false claim (along the lines plement biddability, constructabil-
order to complete the project on time. of U.S. ex rel. Alva Bettis v. Odebrecht ity, claims prevention and
At first blush, this sounds like an ele- Contractors of California, Inc.) where operability reviews before issuing
ment of damages arising from either the court found that the fraud-in-the- bidding documents, using an inde-
directed or constructive acceleration – inducement theory, on its own, did not pendent review team in order to
but no acceleration is being alleged by constitute a false claim) then this new find and eliminate errors and mis-
the contractor. form of claim is likely to grow larger takes and prevent the need for
After execution of the contract and become more common [13]. owner issued changes during con-
and notice to proceed, the contractor struction. An “independent re-
submits a change order proposal for Recommendations view team” is one made up of
expanded general conditions on the Claimsmanship has not declined experienced construction and op-
basis that the project is more compli- over the past two decades and is pro- erations personnel who were not
cated than they thought; is less fully jected to continue based upon this re- part of the design team. This is
designed than anticipated; has more view of current trends. Based on necessary because it is difficult in
design busts and flaws than normal; re- perception, the Navigant Construction the extreme for someone to re-
quires more coordination with third Forum™ offers the following recom- view work they themselves per-
parties than believed; will have more mendations for all stakeholders in the formed.
changes than normal; etc. Any or all of construction industry. • Based on our experience, the Nav-
these allegations are then used to jus- igant Construction Forum™ under-
tify the addition of field resources (i.e., For Owners stands that one of the primary
document control, project control, reasons end of the job claims are
project engineering staff, superintend- • Since owners have more opportu- so complicated and so difficult to

analyze and resolve is that too tion to scheduling, notice, and winnable. And,
many owners and contractors put claim filing requirements lest they • Contractors trying out a new the-
off settling delay claims until all lose their right to prosecute such ory of entitlement on a public
work is completed. Owners need claims and recover time and cost. works project must obtain legal
to train their staff to focus on Contractors need to train their advice from attorneys familiar
timely delay notice and act aggres- own staff in each of these areas with both US federal and State
sively to resolve time extension re- and provide refresher training rou- False Claims Acts, in order to avoid
quests and delay damages at or tinely rather than run the risk of counterclaims of false claims from
near the time they occur. Owner’s losing their rights. the owner.
should not discourage contractors • Contractors working on govern-
from filing notices of change, ment contracts need to under- Conclusion
delay, etc., but should encourage stand the implications of the FCA Owners and contractors seeking to
them to do so in order to identify and FERA; need to thoroughly ex- practice claimsmanship need to keep in
potential claims and disputes as amine and document all claimed mind a paraphrase of one of Sir Arthur
early as possible. costs; and must understand the Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes’ quota-
• A knee jerk reaction of many own- legal significance and risk of “cer- tions –
ers (and their representatives) tifying” a claim to the government.
when faced with a claim or dispute • Based upon these cases discussed “What one man can invent,
is to automatically go into a self- in this research perspective con- another can circumvent!”
preservation mode. However, ex- tractors seeking recovery under
perience demonstrates that if both the differing site conditions clause At a time when owners and con-
the owner and the contractor can – tractors say they want to discourage
maintain their focus on project o Are at risk when they rely disputes on construction projects and
success, not party interest, and upon straight lines interpreta- find ways to deliver projects on time, in
seek out solutions to potential tions between borings in budget, safely and with the required
problems, then there will be fewer order to calculate soil transi- quality by the contract, claimsmanship
claims and disputes as jointly tion or encounters with differ- seems counterproductive and waste-
crafted solutions tend to result in ing types of soils and/or rock. ful. The recommendations set forth
negotiated change order settle- o Are at risk by drawing conclu- above should help stakeholders
ments. sions or inferences from “si- achieve their stated goals. ◆
• Owner’s considering crafting lence” (i.e., the absence of
unique risk assignment clauses any groundwater information REFERENCES
must keep the basic rules of risk from a series of borings may 1. 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a).
transfer in mind at all times. First, no longer justify the assump- 2. 41 U.S.C. § 605.
all risk belongs to the owner, un- tion that no groundwater will 3. 62 Fed. Cl. 84 (2004).
less specifically assigned else- be encountered on the proj- 4. 64 Fed. Cl. 229, February 23, 2005.
where in the contract, since the ect). And, 5. 65 Fed. Cl. 264 (2005).
owner has all the benefit of the o Information referred to bid- 6. 73 Fed. Cl. 47 (2006), aff’d 557 F.3d
constructed project. Second, when ding as being “available upon 1332 (Fed. Cir. 2009), cert. denied
any risk is assigned in a contract, request” may now be consid- 130 S.Ct. 490 (2009).
that risk should be assigned to the ered as information included 7. 79 F.3d 1129, 1132 (Fed. Cir. 1996).
party best able to control risk if the in the contract documents or 8. 199 Cal. App. 4th 1107 (2011), 132
risk event occurs [47]. incorporated by reference. Cal. Rptr. M3d, 170 Court of Ap-
• Project owners need to spend • Contractors must remember that peal, Fifth District, California (Oct.
more time with project delivery they cannot rely upon owner qual- 6, 2011).
scheduling, in order to avoid unre- ity control inspections. Contractors 9. 307 F. Supp. 2d 164, 209 (S.D.N.Y.
alistic scheduling requirements at must keep in mind that owner in- 2003).
the time of bidding, as inappropri- spections are solely for the benefit 10. 324 F.3d 1364, 1370 (Fed. Cir.
ate schedules (either too short or of the owner, not the contractor. 2003).
too long) cause claims and dis- Contractors are obligated to per- 11. 331 F.3d 878, 882 (Fed. Cir. 2003).
putes. form their own inspections. 12. 351 F.2d 956 (Ct. Cl.1965).
• Contractors seeking to be creative 13. 393 F.3d 1321 (2005).
with claims must seek out compe- 14. 401 F.2d 1012, 1016 (Ct. Cl. 1968).
For Contractors tent legal advice experienced with 15. 609 F.3d (Fed. Cir. June 17, 2010).
construction law in order to avoid 16. 609 F.3d 1323 (Fed. Cir. June 17,
• Contractors must pay more atten- pursuit of a claim that is un- 2010).

17. 978 F.2d 669,675 (Fed. Cir. 1992). 1144872. Postscript: Unabsorbed Overhead
18. 2011 Ct. Fed. Cl. No. 08-606C (Apr. 36. Galanter, Marc and Angela and the “Eichleay” Formula, 17
7, 2011). Frozena, ‘A Grin Without A Cat’: No. 6 Nash & Cibinic Report ¶ 33
19. AACE International Recom- Civil Trials in the Federal Courts, (June 2003).
mended Practice 10S-90, Cost En- 2010 Civil Litigation Conference, 49. Navigant Construction Forum™,
gineering Terminology, AACE Judicial Conference Advisory Com- Trends in International Construc-
International, Morgantown, W.V., mittee on Civil Rules, Durham, tion Arbitration, Navigant Consult-
Rev. December 13, 2011. N.C., May, 2010. ing, Inc., October 2012.
20. Appeal of Powers Regulator Co., 37. General Conditions for Washing- 50. Ness, Andrew D., The Future of
G.S.B.C.A. No. 4838, 80-2 B.C.A ton State Facility Construction, Construction Law and Claims,
(CCH) ¶ 14,463 (Apr. 30, 1980). www.ga.wa/gov. 51st Annual Western Winter
21. ASBCA No. 53241, 04-01 BCA Para. 38. Goldhaber, Michael D., 2011 Arbi- Workshop, AACE International,
32,567. tration Scorecard, american- Lake Tahoe, NV, March 2012.
22. ASBCA No. 53882, October 5, lawyer.com/focuseurope, Summer 51. No. 11-1614, May 11, 2012, First
2005. 2011. Circuit.
23. ASBCA No. 54329, 05-2 BCA ¶ 39. Greg Opinski Construction, Inc. v. 52. Oles, Douglas S. Oles, Lack of
33,047. City of Oakdale, ibid. Claim Notice As A Defense To
24. ASBCA No. 55656, 2011-2 B.C.A. 40. Harris, E.C., Global Construction Construction Claims, Construction
(CCH, ¶ 34,781), June 13, 2011, Disputes 2012: Moving in the Lawyer, Winter 2012, American
2011 ASBCA LEXIS 37. Right Direction, E.C. Harris, Lon- Bar Association.
25. ASBCA No. 57328, August 21, don, May 28, 2012. 53. P.L. 109-171, February 2, 2006.
2012. 41. Hoel-Steffen Constr. Co. v. United 54. Pub. L. No. 111-21, 123 Stat. 1617.
26. Bidgood, James K., Steven L. Reed States, 456 F. 2d 760, 763 (Ct. Cl. 55. Saunders, Herbert, Survey of
and James B. Taylor, Cutting the 1972). Change Order Markups, Practice
Knot on Concurrent Delay, Con- 42. International Arbitration: Corpo- Periodical on Structural Design
struction Briefings No. 2007-02, rate Attitudes and Practices, and Construction, American Soci-
Thomson/West, February, 2008. Queen Mary University of London ety of Civil Engineers, February,
27. Blinderman Constr. Co. v. U.S., 695 School of International Arbitration 1996,
F. 2d 552, 559 (Fed. Cir. 1982). and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 56. Stewart v. Keteltas, 36 N.Y. 388,
28. Born, Gary and Wendy Miles, 2008. 1867 WL 6457 (1867), 2 Transc.
Global Trends in International Ar- 43. J.J. Barnes Constr. Co. v. U.S., App. 288 (1867).
bitration, American Lawyer – ASBCA No. 27876, 85-3 B.C.A. 57. www.whistleblowerslawyerblog.com,
Focus Europe, August 2006. (CCH) ¶ 18,503 (1985) and Adams “Part 6: States’ Experience With
29. Burns, Robert P., What Will We v. United States, 358 F.2d 986 (Ct. Their Own False Claim Acts”, De-
Lose If The Trial Vanishes?, North- Cl. 1966). cember 2010.
western University School of Law, 44. Keating, Geoffrey T., Government 58. William F. Klingensmith, Inc. v.
Public Law and Legal Theory Re- Contracts – Feast or Famine, In- U.S., 731 F. 2d 805, 809 (Fed. Cir.
search Paper Series No. 11-48, sight from Hindsight, Issue No. 4, 1984).
2011. Navigant Construction Forum™, 59. Zack, James G. Jr., “Claimsman-
30. Contract Applicators, Inc. v. Bor- December, 2012, ship”: Current Perspective, Journal
ough of Park Ridge, 2012 WL www.navigant.com/NCF. of Construction Engineering and
4490665, Docket No. A-6080-10T3 45. Levering & Garrigues Co. v. U.S., Management, Vol. 119, No. 3,
(N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. October 73 Ct. Cl. 566, 578 (1932); Schmoll September, 1993, American Soci-
2, 2012). v. U.S., 91 Ct. Cl. 1, 28 (1940); PCL ety of Civil Engineers.
31. England, Elspeth, The Government Constr. Servs., Inc. v. U.S., 53 Fed.
Upgrades the False Claims Act: Im- Cl. 479, 484 (2002), aff’d, 96 Fed. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
plications for Construction Con- Appx. 672 (Fed. Cir. 2004).
tracting, Construction Lawyer, 46. Mega Const. Co. v. U.S., 29 Fed. Cl. James G. Zack Jr.,
Winter, 2012, American Bar Asso- 396, 424 (1993). CFCC FAACE, is Ex-
ciation. 47. Mitigation of Risk in Construc- ecutive Director of
32. FAR §8-7.650-21. tion: Strategies for Reducing Risk Navigant Construc-
33. FAR §52.236-2 (April 1984). and Maximizing Profitability, Mc- tion Forum™ of
34. FAR §552.243-71. Graw Hill Construction, Navigant Boulder, Colorado.
35. Fluor Intercontinental, Inc. v. De- Consulting & Pepper Hamilton, He can be con-
partment of State, CBCA Nos. 491, LLP, New York, 2011. tacted by sending e-
et al., March 28, 2012, WL 48. Nash, Ralph C. and John Cibinic, mail to: jim.zack@navigant.com

★★ THE AACE INTERNATIONAL ★★ ®
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to all eligible members to beat the March 15 deadline and cast votes for the incoming association leadership team. Ballots were
made available online on February 1, and voting will continue until 4 p.m. Eastern US time on Sunday, March 15.
Go here: https://eballot4.votenet.com/aacei/login.cfm ,or log onto the AACE website at www.aacei.org and click the election
icon that is posted on the homepage to view biographies of each candidate, photos, and each candidate’s goals for the office they
are seeking. The online system is designed to give members the designated ballot for their region, based on whether or not their
area is electing a Director Region candidate this election cycle. Individuals who were on the AACE roll as members as of Dec. 31,
2014, are eligible to vote in the current election. ◆
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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES DIRECTORY
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George Washington University, page 12
Infinitrac, this page
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For additional information about the listed advertisers or & training material: www.eh.com.au
about advertising with us, please phone Garth Leech,
1.304.296.8444 x122, or e-mail him at gleech@aacei.org
AACE INTERNATIONAL ONLINE STORE
more online at www.aacei.org
Skills and Knowledge of Cost Cost Engineering
Engineering, 5th Edition, Revised The international journal
Scott J. Amos, Editor, 2007 of cost estimation,
This updated and expanded guide for cost/schedule control,
fundamentals is an excellent choice for anyone project management,
interested in a concise reference to all aspects of and total cost
the profession. The new 5th edition includes management.
twenty-seven chapters on estimating, Subscriptions are
manufacturing and operating costs, scheduling, accepted on an annual
planning progress and cost control, and much basis. An automatic
more. This is a very useful book for those studying benefit of AACE
for the certification exam. 450 pages International
1595-02zip - Download - US$50.00 member/US$80.00 nonmember membership, also
available to nonmembers.
Paper version available through our Amazon.com link
5060-07 - US$72.00 (US)
- US$90.00 (other countries)
CCP Certification Study Guide,
Please add US$8.00 for airmail
1st Edition - US$61 electronic subscription
Michael B. Pritchett, CCP, Editor, 2006
The AACE International CCP Certification Study Cost Engineers’ Notebook
Guide provides an all-encompassing reference text This CD-ROM is an important reference for any
to prepare for the exam. The CCP Certification project or cost professional. It includes data and
Study Guide provides background information on procedures related to basic skills and knowledge
how to become certified; gives those studying for that all cost engineers should possess, extensive
the certification exam a single reference text that material on capital and operating cost estimation,
includes theory, worked problems with answers, and papers in four subject areas: cost control,
references, and a full discussion of key topics; planning and scheduling, project management, and
allows students to maximize their study time; and economic analysis and business planning.
provides a concise overview of the fundamentals 4060-28zip - Download
of cost and project management. - US$65.00 member/US$80.00 nonmember
1825-36zip - Download - US$45.00 member/US$55.00 nonmember
Paper version available through our Amazon.com link AACE International Recommended Practices
Cost Engineering Terminology; Cost Estimate
Classification System; Estimate Preparation Costs in
PSP Certification Study Guide, 1st Edition the Process Industries; Project Code of Accounts;
Peter W. Griesmyer, Editor, 2008 Required Skills and Knowledge of a Cost Engineer;
This study guide is intended to assist you in your Roles and Duties of a Planning and Scheduling
study and review of the overall topics as one step Engineer; Profitability Methods; plus many more.
toward successful Planning and Scheduling Profes- 4060-05zip - Download
sional certification. The outline provides a listing - US$70.00 member/US$110.00 nonmember
of the terms you should know & topics for which
you should have a good understanding of how to The Total Cost Management Framework
apply the concepts to solve problems. Each chap- John K. Hollmann, PE CCP, Editor, 2012
ter also contains sample exercises, which test your 4060-20zip - Download
knowledge of that chapter's concepts. Additional
sample questions are provided in an appendix. - US$50.00 member/US$80.00 nonmember
Paper Version available through Amazon.com
Paper version available through our Amazon.com link 2014 AACE International Transactions
EVP Certification Study Guide, 5220-14 zip -
2nd Edition Download
Ken Cressman, CCP EVP and Gary C. Humphreys, - US$90.00
Editors, 2009 member
This study guide is intended to assist you in your - US$115.00
study and review of the overall topics as one step
toward successful Earned Value Professional certi- nonmember
fication. The outline provides a listing of the terms
you should know & topics for which you should For CD-ROM
have a good understanding of how to apply the version please
concepts to solve problems. Each chapter also con- contact AACE
tains sample exercises, which test your knowledge International Head-
of that chapter's concepts. quarters
Paper Version available through our Amazon.com link
The
The AACE
AACE International
International Professional
Professional Practice
Practice Guides
Guides (PPGs)
(PPGs)
Value; Earned Value Reporting; Applications of Earned PPG #14: Portfolio and Program Management,
Value Project Management; and more. 2nd Ed.
Randy R. Rapp, PE CCP, Editor, 2007
PPG#6: Construction Cost Estimating, 3rd Ed. Covers: Enterprise Management: General Imperatives and
Dr. Douglas D. Gransberg, PE CCP, and Carla Lopez Concerns; Asset Requirements Elicitation and Analysis;
del Puerto, CCP, Editors, 2011 Asset Planning and Investment Decision-Making; Asset Per-
Covers: Recommended Practices; Estimating Theory; formance Assessment and Change Management; and Pro-
Conceptual, Parametric, and Range Estimating; Esti- gram Management.
mating Factors and Indices; Estimating Material Costs
and Quantity Surveying; Estimating Labor Costs; Esti- PPG #15: Life-Cycle Cost Analysis
mating Equipment Costs; Subcontracting Costs; Esti- Dr. Carla Lopez del Puerto, CCP, and Dr. Douglas
mating Overhead and Indirect Costs; Profit, D. Gransberg, PE CCP, Editors, 2012
Contingencies, and Mark-Ups; Estimating Interna- Covers: Life-Cycle Cost Theory; Life-Cycle Cost Meth-
tional Construction Costs; and more. ods, Determining Discount Rate; Estimating Capital
Cost of Design and Construction; Estimating Operat-
(PPGs) are a series of reference s that PPG#7: Cost Engineering in the Utility ing Costs; Estimating Salvage/Residual Value; Estimat-
Industries, 2nd Ed. ing Sustainability; Life-Cycle Cost Risk Analysis; Life
consists of selected Cost Engineering Dennis M. Thompson, Editor, 2007 -Cycle Cost Case Studies; Life-Cycle Cost Analysis in
articles, AACE International Transaction Covers: Auditing; Cost Estimating; Cost Modeling; the International Context
Cost/Schedule Control; Generation Power Plant; Nat-
papers, and other previously published ural Gas Industry; Nuclear Power Plant; Other Energy PPG #16: Cost Engineering in the
documents to which AACE has rights. Related Topics; Planning and Scheduling; Project Global Environment, 2nd Ed.
Management; Utility Rates; and Utility Property Valu- Kul B. Uppal, PE, Editor, 2011
ation. Covers: General Topics on International Projects; Ap-
plicable AACE International Recommended Practices;
Price per PPG: PPG#8: Contingency, 3rd Ed. Cost Estimating Methodology; Risk and Contingency;
Kul B. Uppal, PE CEP, Editor, 2010 and Miscellaneous Topics
Download Member Price US$50.00 Covers: General Topics On Contingency; Cost Esti-
Download Non-Member Price US$70.00 mating and Contingency; Risk Analysis and Contin- PPG #17: Public Sector Estimating
gency; and Other Related Topics. Joseph L. Macaluso, CCP, Editor, 2007
Price for the PPG Package Covers: Basis of Estimates; Labor Costs; Overhead and
PPG #10: Project Delivery Methods, 2nd Ed. Profit; Soft Costs; Bid/Estimate Reconciliation; and
includes all 21 PPGs: Dr. Douglas D. Gransberg, PE CCP, Tammy L. Mc- Change Orders
Cuen, and Keith Molenaar, Editors, 2008
Download Member Price US$874.00 Covers: Design-Bid-Build (DBB) – DBB Estimating, PPG #18: Green Building, 2nd Ed.
Download Non-Member Price DBB Scheduling, DBB Project Management; Con- Joseph L. Macaluso, CCP, Editor, 2012
struction Management (CM) – CM Estimating, CM Covers: Recognition of Affects and Economic Costs on
US$1223.00 Scheduling, CM Project Management; Design-Build the Environment; Formulating Ways of Addressing
(DB) – DB Estimating, DB Scheduling, DB Project Green Building Strategies and Associated Economic
PPG#1: Contracts and Claims, 4th Ed. Management; International Project Delivery; Con- Costs; Specific Green Building Strategies and Project
James G. Zack Jr., Editor, 2008 structability; and Partnering. Costs; Budgeting and Justifying the Cost of Sustainable
Covers: Contract Administration; Management of Practices; Evaluating Competing Sustainable Strategies:
Construction Schedules; Schedule Control; Schedule PPG #11: Environmental Remediation & Using Value Engineering; Evaluating Competing Sustain-
Float Ownership; Cost Control; Management of Decommissioning, 2nd Ed. able Strategies: Other Techniques
Change; Cost Impacts; Productivity Impacts; Manage- Richard A. Selg, CCP, Editor, 2009
ment and Analysis of Delay; Concurrent Delay Issues; Covers: Environmental Remediation Planning and PPG #19: Leadership and Management
Pricing of Delay; and more. Scheduling Methodology; Cost Estimating, Project Con- of People
trols, Cost Modeling, and Reporting; Contingency Man- John J. Hannon, CEP, Editor, 2008
PPG#2: Risk, 3rd Ed. agement, Risk Analysis, and Environmental Regulations; Covers: Leadership; Teams; Leadership Roles; Motiva-
David C. Brady, P.Eng., Editor, 2012 Benchmarking and Lessons Learned; Economics of En- tion; and Ethics.
Covers: Dictionary; Capital Investments; Cash Flow; vironmental and Waste Management; Cost-Effective
Competitive Bidding; Contingency Analysis; Contracts; Waste Minimization and Pollution Prevention; Design, PPG #20: Forensic Schedule Analysis
Cost Engineering; Currency Rates; Decision Trees; Eco- Construction Practices, and Other Related Topics. James G. Zack, Jr., CFCC, Editor, 2008
Covers: Recommended Practice No. 29R-03 Forensic
nomic Analysis; Escalation; Human Factors; Manufac-
Schedule Analysis; Synopsis of Recommended Practice;
turing; Research & Development; Safety & Health; PPG #12: Construction Project Controls, 2nd Ed.
Basics of Schedule Delay Analysis; MIP-Observational
Schedule; Technological Risk; and Value Engineering. Dr. Douglas D. Gransberg, PE CCP,
Static Gross; MIP-Observational Static Periodic; MIP-Ob-
and Eric Scheepbouwer, Editors, 2010
servational Dynamic Contemporaneous As-Is; MIP-Ob-
PPG#3: Cost Engineering in Aerospace and Covers: Introduction to Construction project Controls;
servational Dynamic Contemporaneous Split;
Aviation Cost Control; Schedule Control; Quality Control; Doc-
MIP-Observational Dynamic Modified or Recreated; MIP-
Sarwar A. Samad, Editor, 1998 ument Control; Computer Applications; and Interna-
Modeled Additive Single Base; MIP-Modeled Additive
Covers: Aerospace and Aviation. tional Project Controls
Multiple Base; MIP-Modeled Subtractive Single Simula-
tion; Non-CPM Schedule Delay Analysis Techniques;
PPG#4: Planning and Scheduling, 3rd Ed. PPG #13: Parametric and Conceptual General Schedule Analysis Articles
Trevor X. Crawford, CCP, Editor, 2011 Estimating, 3rd Ed.
Covers: Planning; Schedule Development; Schedule Larry R. Dysert, CCP CEP, and Todd W. Pickett, CCP PPG#21: Cost Engineering in the Process
Management/Control; and Classics. CEP, Editors, 2012 Industries
Covers: Parametric/Conceptual Estimating; Classifica- Kul B. Uppal, PE CEP, Editor, 2009
PPG#5: Earned Value, 2nd Ed. tion; Methodology; Capacity Factoring; Process and Covers: General Topics on Process Industries; Cost Es-
Robert A. Marshall, Editor, 2007 Non-Process Industries; and Systems timating Methodology; Project Management; Interna-
Covers: Why Use Earned Value?; Basics of Earned tional Projects; Scheduling; Construction Activities;
Value; Cost/Schedule Control System Criteria; Actual Risk Management; Project Controls; and Applicable
Physical Percent Complete; Productivity and Earned AACE International Recommended Practices.
More AACE Publications at the Online Store - www.aacei.org

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
MARCH 2015 25 CMAA Annual Awards Gala, JUNE 2015
6 2-Day Winter Seminar, Southern California Chapter of 28-July 1 AACE International’s
Chinook-Calgary Section of Construction Management 2015 Annual Meeting,
AACE International Association (CMAA) AACE International
The International Hotel The Grand Conference Center MGM Grand
Calgary, Canada Long Beach, CA Las Vegas, NV
Contact: Contact: www.cmaasc.org Contact: phone 1-800-858-COST
www.aaceicalgary.org fax (304) 291-5728
25-26 Precast Concrete
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Conference,
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Fair Guangzhou,
China Import and Export Contact: johnk@trueventus.com Please submit items for future calen-
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APRIL 2015 of desired publication.
Guangzhou, China
Contact: 6 Cost Estimating and Project AACE International,
sps@china.messefrankfurt.com Control - Closing the Loop, 1265 Suncrest Towne Centre Dr,
Cost Engineering Morgantown, WV 26505-1876
12 Contractor Pre-Qualification - Hotel Ara USA
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All You Need to Know,
fax: 304-291-5728
Southern California Chapter of Contact: e-mail: editor@aacei.org
Construction Management www.costengineering.eu website: www.aacei.org
Association (CMAA)
The Grand Conference Center MAY 2015
Long Beach, CA
6 Cost Estimating and Project
Contact: www.cmaasc.org Control - Closing the Loop,
Cost Engineering
19 What Is Your Construction Hotel Ara
Management EQ?, Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands
Southern California Chapter of
Construction Management Contact:
Association (CMAA) www.costengineering.eu
The Grand Conference Center
Long Beach, CA
Contact: www.cmaasc.org

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skilled and best trained total cost management most effective way to find lead- Since 1956, AACE International
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tional membership for the bal- International is the largest
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registering for an AACE Interna- management professionals.
tional credential such as CCP, AACE International is industry
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*In order to qualify for this incentive, your company

must advertise an employment position with AACE International’s
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ferable. Should the person you hire already be a member in the
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THE JOURNAL OF AACE® INTERNATIONAL -

13 Calculating the As-Built Critical Path

24 Trends in Construction Claims and Disputes

2 COST ENGINEERING MARCH/APRIL 2015

Soft Skills are Vital

mendations for these soft type skills,

4 COST ENGINEERING MARCH/APRIL 2015

COST ENGINEERING MARCH/APRIL 2015 5

6 COST ENGINEERING MARCH/APRIL 2015

COST ENGINEERING MARCH/APRIL 2015 7

8 COST ENGINEERING MARCH/APRIL 2015

Figure 2 – Myers-Briggs Preferences Graphic by CPP, Publisher of the MBTI

COST ENGINEERING MARCH/APRIL 2015 9

10 COST ENGINEERING MARCH/APRIL 2015

AACE's Federal Agency Roundtable

Registration is now open at www.aacei.org and

COST ENGINEERING MARCH/APRIL 2015 11

Both on campus and online

For more information, detailed course descriptions,

Verifying the Accuracy of

COST ENGINEERING MARCH/APRIL 2015 13

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Figure 6 — As-Built Calculation Schedule Creation: Step 1

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Figure 8 — As-Built Calculation Schedule Creation: Step 3

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to the Mideast), but the duration

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Table 1 – Global Construction Dispute Values (Dispute values shown in millions of US $)

Table 2 – Average Length of Disputes

Table 3 – Common Causes of Claims

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*Previously known as the Certiﬁed Cost Consultant/Certiﬁed Cost Engineer

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Infrastructure Project Estimating

More AACE Publications at the Online Store - www.aacei.org

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*In order to qualify for this incentive, your company

Seamlessly aligns your schedule

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