LEAN Job Order Contracting best management practices are critical to assuring optimal outcomes for owners, building users, and construction contractors.
Job Order Contacting (JOC) is a competitively bid, firm fixed price and indefinite quantity constriction delivery method and contract. A Job Order Contract lasts for a specified duration of time (typically one year, with up to four option years). Construction firms bid a coefficient (typically between 0.80 and 1.20) which is then applied to a unit price book (UPB). The Job Order Contract specifies a minimum and maximum dollar value year and per individual JOC task order/project. The specific location, scope, and duration of the work per individual JOC task order/project is determined for each.
Job order contracting has proven to be a robust way for owners to efficiently manage their numerous and ongoing renovation, repair, and minor new construction projects, a major project for most.
When properly applied using LEAN processes, JOC expedites procurement and project delivery times, while also improving quality, responsiveness, and overall satisfaction for all participants and stakeholders.
A few of the many benefits of LEAN Job Order Contacting include.
- Reducing pre-construction cost,
- Accelerated project procurement and delivery
- Flexible delivery scheduling…”on-demand service delivery”
- Best value
- Risk mitigation
JOC can be used in situations where the contracting and construction process needs to be streamlined and to accelerate the service delivery and improve both quality and return-on-investment. For most real property owners in the public sector, this means virtually all repair, renovation, and minor new construction projects.
JOC is most appropriate for “small” and repetitive projects; however, they can be used it on large projects with broad scopes. Examples of potential projects suited for JOC have included…
- Building energy retrofits
- Office renovations
- Bituminous mill and overlay
- High tension cable guardrail
- Concrete pavement repair
- District-wide projects (e.g., pavement striping)
- Asbestos abatement
- Contaminated soil disposal
- Combining multiple noise wall maintenance contracts
- Combining small chip seal projects
- Culvert lining
- Re-lighting
- Construction of new visitor centers
- Airport upgrades
- Mass transit system maintenance
A Job Order Contract Unit Price Book (JOC) is also central to a successful JOC Program. The UPB should be open, transparent, updated annually (at a minimum), contain separate demolition line items and line-item modifiers, be organized using CSI MasterFormat – 50 Division, use common terms and definitions expressed in plain English, and be locally researched. It should include enough line items to cover 90% or more of work done via the JOC Program, but not an excessive number. Typically, 30,000-60,000-line items are sufficient for any JOC Program.
