CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULES D E V E L O P M E N T, D E L AY A N A LY S I S & B E S T P R A C T I C E S
BASELINE SCHEDULE In preparing a bid, the Contractor estimates the resources (labour, materials, equipment and supervision/ management) necessary to meet the requirements set out in a Request for Proposal (RFP) which details the scope of work to be delivered and the timelines in terms of a schedule. Following award of a contract to the successful Contractor, the detail to which schedule requirements are set out in the contract documents often depend on the approach adopted by the Owner and can vary from a detailed schedule of work to start and end date expectations. It is anticipated that the Contractor will come up with a schedule that is logical, practical and achievable. By way of example, GC3.5 (Construction Schedule) of CCDC2 – 2008 Stipulated Price Contract requires that the Contractor submit a detailed schedule within a prescribed timeframe and states that the Contractor shall (emphasis added): “…prepare and submit to the Owner and the Consultant prior to the first application for payment, a construction schedule that indicates the timing of the major activities of the Work and provides sufficient detail of the critical events and their inter-relationship to demonstrate the Work will be performed in conformity with the Contract Time;” and “…monitor the progress of the Work relative to the construction schedule and update the schedule on a monthly basis or as stipulated by the Contract Documents;”
and “…advise the Consultant of any revisions required to the schedule as the result of extensions of the Contract Time as provided in Part 6 of the General Conditions - CHANGES IN THE WORK.” Upon review and approval by the Owner, the submitted schedule becomes the construction schedule or baseline schedule. Again the level of review scrutiny these schedules undergo varies upon the approach taken by the Owner with some taking a deep look into the intended delivery sequence, timing and methodology. SCHEDULE DEVELOPMENT In developing the schedule and complying with the contract documents, a Contractor is often required to achieve specific expectations which set out the use of proprietary industry standard software and methodology based on utilizing Critical Path Methodology for scheduling a set of tasks that 1) lists all the activities required to complete the project, 2) establishes the duration of each activity, 3) determines the start and end dates of each activity, 4) recognizes the dependencies between activities, and 5) shows the critical path leading to the completion date. SCHEDULE CHANGES The baseline schedule is then used to measure and report performance as the project proceeds, including identifying any delays or improvement opportunities to the contracted dates. Therefore, the accuracy of the baseline schedule is not only critical to the Contractor who has
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to plan resources but also the Owner who has an expectation in terms of the achievement of completion dates. Notwithstanding schedule reporting which may identify changes to the baseline schedule, Owners sometimes remote themselves from the schedule as they expect the Contractor to be responsible for the ‘means and methods’ and Owners do not wish or perceive to be interfering in the schedule which is deemed to be in the Contractor’s custody. In contrast, Contractors continue to report progress and identify items that are delayed and that may lead them to a remedy under the contract i.e. extension of time and relief from liquidated damages, if they apply. In parallel, the Owner is interested in self-induced Contractor delays and delays that the Owner is not responsible for. The reality is that whilst there is debate about what happened and who is responsible i.e. are the delays down to the Owner, Contractor or shared, the project continues to suffer and an adverse environment sets in as time is money for not only the Owner and Contractor but also others such as Consultants, Sub Contractors who become embroiled in allegations and counter allegations. PROJECT RECORDS As with having a solid baseline schedule and reporting mechanism in place, having a solid record keeping system is also vital for establishing what happened. Fundamentally, there needs to be a way to measure changes in the schedule and project records are a way to assess such changes in parallel with a regularly updated schedule that captures delays.
