Practice Management Member Conversations

I am seeking advice on managing Multiple Prime Contracts: General Trades, Mechanical/Plumbing, and Electrical. The Owner expects that the General Trades contractor will coordinate the work and the schedule for the project. Is there an AIA Owner-Contractor agreement that addresses the coordination required between contractors? Any tips on modifications to the specs that will clearly delineate the work?

Any advice is appreciated.
-------------------------------------------
Karin Cooper AIA
Project Architect
U. P. Engineers & Architects Inc.
Houghton MI
-------------------------------------------

The AIA A201 General Conditions is structured to provide for both single prime and multiple prime contract projects.  It is used in partnership with the A101 (Stipulated Sum), A102 (Cost Plus Fee/GMP), or A102 (Cost Plus Fee) Owner/Contractor Agreements.  A201 Article 6 provides the framework for Contractor coordination with the Owner's separate contracts.

MasterSpec provides for more explicit detailing of the scopes of the separate prime contractors in several sections in the Division 01 General Requirements. Section 01 12 00 Multiple Contract Summary provides a location for a description of the scope of each prime contract and the identification of the Project Coordinator (frequently but not always the General Construction Contractor).  Section 01 31 00 Project Management and Coordination provides details on the coordination activities between the separate prime contractors.  Section 01 50 00 Temporary Facilities and Controls spells out the assignment of temporary facility installation and operation among the separate primes (always a sticking point on these projects).

The Architect typically does not assume responsibility for assigning work to the various trades (A201 Para. 1.2.2). Multiple prime contracts are an exception.  The specifications, and to some extent the drawings themselves, need to delineate the scopes of work of the separate contracts very specifically, with special attention to certain crossover areas that may not be enforced by trade habits. These include early site work vs. underslab preparation by general building; trenching for facility service trades; interface between electrical contract and equipment installers; responsibility for data/comm wireways; and building controls in general. This requires careful coordination work with the engineering disciplines, who hopefully have done this before. An owner budget line item for contract interface contingencies is unavoidable; hopefully your Owner, who is trying to realize savings by avoiding the perceived general contractor markup, is realistic about this.

You can assume that in the absence of a Construction Manager that administration of multiple prime contracts will require significantly more time and effort on the Architect's part.

-------------------------------------------
Philip Kabza AIA
Partner and Dir Technical Services
SpecGuy
Charlotte NC
-------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------
John Cochran AIA
John C. Cochran, LLC
Seattle WA
-------------------------------------------
I do not recall if or how any of the AIA Agreements address your situation. However, I can offer the following questions and considerations. Was the decision to use multiple prime contracts made after your O/A agreement was executed? Administering multiple prime contracts will definitly require more fee. Does the owner expect multiple applications for payment? Will multiple certificates of substantial completion be required? Your situation sounds like a CM project.

To the best of my knowledge, since North Carolina withdrew the requirement for multi-prime contracts on government construction project, only Ohio still has this requirement for projects. Your question touches on two areas 1) multi-prime contracts and 2) multiple work packages.

Multi-prime Contracts:
Most master guide specifications (ARCOM MasterSpec and BSD SpecLink) include a section on the coordination of multi-prime contracts. You need to identify the contracts and the scope of work under each contract. You also need to deal with provision and payment for general conditions. For example, who provides temporary lighting, when, how many footcandles, and who pays for it and the electricity? This is repeated for temporary heating and cooling, trash pickup, security, etc. Who coordinates the prime contractors and their authority? Other issues must also be addressed in the Project Manual

Multiple Work Package:
Generally this type of project delivery includes a CM. CSI is working on a document for "Managing Multiple Work Packages Specs". These are often used in fast track projects or where the owner wishes to pre-bid long lead items. Attached are some examples of specification section that may be helpful.


example summary of work package section.pdf
example paragraphs for fast-track projects.pdf
example table of contents for multiple work pkgs.pdf
 
-------------------------------------------
Dennis Hall FAIA
Hall Architects, Inc.
Charlotte NC
-------------------------------------------







Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2011 14:25
From: John Cochran
Subject: Multiple Prime Contracts



-------------------------------------------
John Cochran AIA
John C. Cochran, LLC
Seattle WA
-------------------------------------------
I do not recall if or how any of the AIA Agreements address your situation. However, I can offer the following questions and considerations. Was the decision to use multiple prime contracts made after your O/A agreement was executed? Administering multiple prime contracts will definitly require more fee. Does the owner expect multiple applications for payment? Will multiple certificates of substantial completion be required? Your situation sounds like a CM project.