Contractor Proposal Reviews for Job Order Contracts are an important element to overall JOC Program success.
These reviews should be done by the Owner and by an independent and objective third party.
An Informal Compliance Review (ICR) is the most widely used form of review. An ICR is a high level estimate audit that include a line item review that typically meets an agencies contract documents requirement.
JOC industry standards should be used for ICRs or any type of auditing of contractor proposals. Audits serve to assure transparency and overall program compliance.
An ICR includes a review of the owner’s and contractors SOW narrative and documents. to gain an understanding of the proposed construction means and methods and its relation to estimate development. An inconsistent SOW narrative is the primary cause of project issues, including change orders.
An ICR also includes review of the contractor’s proposal for reviewed for the contractor’s coefficient as it is applied to each line item per the estimate document.
Proper line item usage and associated use of comments are also important.
Proper usage of notes and formula’s on the part of the contractor can dramatically improve communicate and reduce overall project errors.
Conversely, the lack of notes and formulas generally increase the negotiation and value of engineering time, the purchase order issuance time frame, and the time between estimate submittal and construction project start.
Use of trade labor is considered a “Time & Material” estimate and not appropriate as a JOC unit price line item. If a line item cannot be found for a SOW task, a Non-Prepriced (NPP) line item should be considered and used. A NPP typically requires 3 subcontractor and/or material quotes and should given to submission to the owner for evaluation and UPB inclusion.
Division 1 is generally not allowed for JOC.
Also, qualitative or “open ended” proposals and/or line items should be rejected… i.e. the use of terms“as needed”, “as required”, “as directed”, “it is the intent”, should not be allowed.
Learn more about JOC Program Best Management Practices…