PROFESSIONAL SERVICES BRANCH
COST/SPECS SECTION
These documents require the Adobe PDF Reader. Click here to download the reader.
COST UNIT
The Cost Unit duties include making construction cost estimates for Military and Civil Works projects for in-house designs and the review of estimates provided by Architect-Engineer (A-E) design contractors. If needed, the Cost Unit can do construction cost estimating for A-E designs.
Definitions:
- Government Estimate (GE): The Government Estimate is defined as an independent construction cost estimate prepared by or for the government for Cost Control During Design and Bid Evaluation (Bid Opening) purposes.
- Program Amount (PA): The project budget established by HQ Army or Air Force and authorized by Congress for construction of a specific project. The PA includes the construction cost, a contingency for unforseen site conditions (NOT an estimating contingency) and Government supervision and administration costs during construction.
- Current Working Estimate (CWE): The CWE is based on the current Government Estimate of construction cost plus S&A costs plus contingencies and other costs as required. The CWE should be compared to the Program Amount when analyzing if sufficient Construction Funds are available. The Fort Worth District includes HVAC Commissioning costs and Shop Drawing Review costs to produce the CWE.
- Construction Funds Available: The portion of the programmed amount that will be used to fund the contract amount (at least the base bid amount). The Construction Funds Available are based on the Programmed Amount minus the S&A costs and minus the Contingencies and other costs. A-E design contracts will have that amount stated as the construction cost limitation to which he is required to design to utilizing bid options, etc. as needed.
- MII: MII is a cost estimating program licensed to the government for use by the Corps of Engineers and A-Es under contract to the Corps of Engineers to produce construction cost estimates. A copy of MII can be obtained from the Fort Worth District Cost/Specs section for A-Es that meet the above requirements.
- Parametric Cost Estimate: A baseline (budgetary-type) cost estimate prepared at an early design stage, typically 15% Project Definition, when only minimal plans including a minimum site design is available.
Criteria: The Government Estimates shall be prepared in accordance with the Design A-E Contract, EI 01D010, ER 1110-3-1300, and the 2003 SWD AEIM Chapter X, and the design analysis and contract drawings.
Military Construction Cost Estimates: For all military projects with a construction cost over $100,000.00, Government Estimates shall be prepared to determine if sufficient construction funds are available for bid opening and for bid evaluation at bid opening. Bids can not be opened if the Government Estimate (Base Bid) of construction cost prepared by the A-E is not within funds available. During design, the A-E shall use Cost Control During Design to keep the Construction Costs within the Construction Funds Available established by the Program Amount.
In general, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' cost estimates are to be prepared using the MII cost estimating system unless a formal memorandum is issued by the District Cost/Specs Section allowing another method to be used. The MII (pronounced M2) cost estimates shall be organized according to the Corps' current Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) as determined by the type of construction and submittal stage. All military cost estimates shall include profit. The estimate must show detailed cost entries with quantities, related crews, labor costs and production rates, equipment, and material costs; lump sums will not be accepted. The costs of all Construction Cost Estimates submitted shall reflect the current pricing (materials and labor) at the time of submittal. Supporting databases are provided for reference only. Current and accurate costs are the responsibility of the A-E making the submittal. The labor rates used shall not be less than those published by the Davis Bacon Act. The cost estimate must be structured to allow a comparison of costs to the primary line items identified in the DD FORM 1391. For all estimates prior to the Advanced Final Design, cost growth (escalation costs) to the mid-point of construction using the Tri-Service Index is to be added to the total project cost. Any design contingency costs added to account for unknowns in the estimate must be identified and defined to an extent deemed acceptable by the District Cost/Specs Section. The Advanced Final (90%) and later design estimates shall not include design contingency costs in the construction estimate. The A-E is responsible for calculating the Construction Duration and preparing the Bid Schedule and submitting it to the District Cost/Specs Section for Bid Opening. The Bid Opening estimate must include all Amendments issued through the advertised deadline date for the bid opening and or receipt of proposals including through the award of the construction contract if post-closing amendments are issued. DOD has established maximum construction durations based on the Program Amount (PA) of the project. Exceeding these durations requires prior approval. CESWF has adopted somewhat more stringent maximum construction durations which are to be used by the Architect-Engineer. The DOD maximum durations are as follows:
- <$5.0mil - 365 days
- $5.0-$20mil - 540 days
- >$20mil - 730 days
Fort Worth District has adopted stricter maximum construction duration guidelines as follows:
- <$5.0mil - 329 days
- $5.0-$20mil - 486 days
- >$20mil - 657 days
The MII software program and its current supporting databases and WBS project template are available from the Fort Worth District office. Fort Worth District POC for MII and all estimating software is Milton Schmidt. Requests for data can be made via e-mail with information copy sent to the Project Manager:
POC: Milton Schmidt; email: Milton.R.Schmidt@swf02.usace.army.mil voice: 817-886-1907
The A-E shall be aware of and take such precautionary measures as necessary to maintain the confidential nature of all cost estimates. Cost Estimates will be designated "For Official use Only". Cost estimates will be bound (or stapled) separately from other submittal data. Cost estimates will be dated to show when it is made or revised.
Cost Control During Design: The Construction Funds Available are normally calculated starting with the Programmed Amount and subtracting, S&A costs, commissioning costs, shop drawing review costs, and contingency. The Construction Cost Limitation; i.e. Construction Funds Available, is an amount stated in the A-E Design Contract Statement of Work. The A-E is required to provide a design within those funds. Also As-Built Drawings cost are included on the bid schedule and are used as a method of withholding an amount of money until the drawings are provided at the end of the contract. For the Construction Cost Estimate, it is necessary to reduce the prime contractor's overhead by the Bid Schedule As-Built Drawings amount and include an actual estimated cost for As-Build Drawings in the prime contractor's overhead. The A-E must continually evaluate the design to insure that it is within the Construction Funds Available. The estimate is to be used by the designers as a design guide during the design phase and if changes to the design are required, the cost engineer must update the baseline estimate immediately. The construction cost estimate is to be a "live" estimate that keeps the user informed of the anticipated construction costs. Anticipated cost above or below the anticipated Construction Costs shall be reported to the EM immediately.
Parametric Cost Estimate: A baseline (budgetary-type) cost estimate (Parametric Estimate) is required early in the design process. All parametric cost estimates are prepared using either TRACES PBMW or Paces and must be exported to MCACES and printed from MCACES. The estimate must be itemized according to the approved Tri-Services work breakdown structure to at least the sub-system level and must be structured to allow comparison of costs to the primary line items as shown in the DD 1391. Normally a site design is required for a Parametric Cost Estimate.
Bid Evaluation (Bid Opening): For Bid Opening the GE includes Construction Cost (which includes Escalation to midpoint of construction and As-Built Drawing Cost), but does not include Contingency and S&A Costs which will be added by the Government to produce the CWE for comparison to the PA. The Bid Opening Estimate must be prepared as if the government were competing for the award. The term "fair and reasonable cost estimate" is used when referring to the GE. If the low bid is in excess of 15% of the Government Estimate, the contract cannot be awarded unless the estimate is corrected to meet the 15% requirement or approved by the District Engineer for award. Government Estimates will not be changed after bid opening without approval from the Contracting Officer. The bid opening estimate is normally a revision of the final (90%-95%) estimate that includes all amendments and changes made to the final design as a result of the review comments. An electronic copy of the bid opening estimate and filled out bid schedule shall be received in the District office with the transmittal letter no later than five working days prior to bid opening. The electronic copy can be provided on a 3.5 inch diskette, CD, or E-Mailed.
Civil Works Construction Cost Estimates: Normally Civil Works Estimates are accomplished by the District Cost Unit. It is recommended that the A-E coordinate closely with the Cost Unit when accomplishing Civil Works Estimates. Prelimianry budget type estimates do not have to be done in MII. However, all estimates that are included in a Report to be sent to higher headquarters for review must be done in MII and in the Civil Code of Accounts Format. See MII paragraph in the above paragraphs for Military cost estimates. The estimate must show detail cost entries with quantities, related crews, equipment and material costs, lump sums will not be accepted. Normally civil construction cost estimates do not include profit. Before an award can be made, the low bid must not exceed 25% of the Government Estimate.
SPECS UNIT
The Specs Unit duties include
the preparation of Division 01 (General Requirements) for In-House and A-E
projects, reviewing the A-E prepared specifications for proper format,
preparing the specifications for electronic publishing and publishing on the
internet for in-house and A-E projects, and maintenance of the in-house
database of guide specifications and local supplements to the guide specs. Note, Contracting Division is responsible
for the preparation of Division 0 (Bidding Requirements and Contract Forms) for
in-house and A-E projects. The A-E is responsible for preparing all Divisions 2 thru 16
specs, a table of contents, bidding schedule, submittal registers, and a list
of any government furnished and contractor installed property. Contract specs shall be prepared per ER
1110-345-700, per the SWD AEIM chapter VII, and per requirements of the Design
Analysis and Contract Drawings. Never use old specs available form past work that are
probably out of date. Specifications for advertising and the award set (incorporating any write-in changes made by amendment) will be converted to PDF
format and provided on CD-ROM. A copy of the bidding schedule shall be
provided in a program that can be converted to either Microsoft Word or Excel.
PRODUCTION OF SPECIFICATIONS UTILIZING SPECSINTACT
The Corps of Engineers has adopted the use of Specsintact to produce project specifications.
The software as well as guide specifications must be downloaded by the A-E from the internet.
The guides are downloaded in Specsintact format but are also viewable online as pdf files.
Specsintact Software version 4.2.0.782 or Later (Required for New UFGS Guides in Master Format 2004)
Specsintact Users Guide and Help (Specsintact Quick Start Manual)
Specsintact UFGS Guide Specifications
The Specsintact guides have recently
gone through a transition to the new Unified Facilities Guide Specifications (UFGS) which incorporates
Army, Navy and NASA specifications. Following the link above takes you through Construction Criteria Base (CCB)
to those guides. No CCB membership is needed to access the UFGS Guides.
New projects should be utilizing the new UFGS Guides in the Master Format 2004; the guides are no longer being updated (as of Jan 2006) in the old MasterFormat 95 (MF95) 5-digit numbering system. Please contact your Project Manager for guidance on continuance of older projects started with the older MF95 UFGS guide specifications. If old format guides are needed, contact the undersigned or Terry Vitt and these can be made available to complete old jobs.
The MF2004 section numbering has 6 to 8 digits arranged in 3 or 4 levels. The UFGS has added a fifth level for designation of agency-specific guides. The levels are 01 02 03.04 05 with the numbers indicating the levels. Level 01 is the division number.
UFGS that have been unified for use by all participating agencies (Army, Navy, and NASA) have a level 3 or level 4 MasterFormat™ number. UFGS that are agency-specific have a fifth level number indicating it as an agency specific specification. A specification that has a fifth level number "10" indicates USACE, a "14" indicates USACE/NASA, a "20" indicates NAVFAC, a "30" indicates AFCESA, and a "40" indicates NASA. Preparing agencies are indicated in the UFGS header of each specification.
Users of UFGS should first consider a unified UFGS if one is available, next a UFGS identified as specific to their agency and lastly a UFGS identified as specific to another agency.
WARNING:Some of the Navy and NASA UFGS guides (those with a 20 or 40 in the fifth level) and the UFGS guides which they are responsible for, such as 08710 DOOR HARDWARE and 09900 PAINTS AND COATINGS, may only make reference to Navy or NASA guides when sections are referred to in a section's text. Check these references to ensure that they are the correct section numbers and titles used in the project (Use of Specintact's Reference Verification Report can help here). References to Division 1 sections will usually be to the Navy's or Nasa's Division 1 sections, therefore change these to the Army's Division 1 section numbers and titles. For instance, section references 01 32 16.00 20 CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS DOCUMENTATION and 01 45 00.00 20 QUALITY CONTROL should be changed to 01 32 01.00 10 PROJECT SCHEDULE and 01 45 05.00 10 CONTRACTOR QUALITY CONTROL respectively. Any references Navy Division 1 guides that do not have corresponding Army guides, such as to 01310 ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS, should be deleted along with their sentences.
In addition to generic UFGS guide specifications available above, Fort Worth District has supplements to the guides and also our own versions to replace some of the UFGS guides. It is the responsibility of the A-E to determine which UFGS guide specifications have supplements or Fort Worth District Guides, obtain and apply those to production of specifications in addition to the generic UFGS guides.
Conversion of the Fort Worth District Guides to the new Master Format 2004 has not been completed. The section numbers for Division 1 and some of Divisions 2, 15, and 16 have been changed to the new 6-digit numbers, but only the section numbers. Section references within the sections haven't been corrected yet. The conversion is going slow. Other than that, the guides are fairly up to date. The following linked guide number matrix has been created indicating what the new numbers are. The red check marks indicate the guides that have been changed to the new section numbers.
The UFGS Cross Reference matrix can be accessed from the following links: Listed by 1995 Format Sections or Listed by 2004 Format Sections.
Download zipped file containing Fort Worth District Guides (01/18/2008)
Download zipped file containing Fort Worth District Supplements (05/15/2003)
View FW Supplements Index (Included in Zip file above)
View FW Guides Index (Included in Zip file above)
Use of Specsintact Software requires a learning curve as with any software. In addition to other instructions which may be available, Fort Worth District has a document available in pdf format for your review. It is large and has been zipped (4,471KB) and may be downloaded from the following link:
Quick Hints to Specsintact (SGML)
DOD is striving to eliminate use of mil and Fed specs and waivers are required when obsolete mil or Fed specs remain in project specifications. The A-E shall ensure that current specifications are used and shall not use specifications from prior projects.
