 Getting a contract maintenance program involves two phases, development and implementation. Development was covered in the previous program. In this program we will look at implementation. It includes solicitation and award procedures and effective supervision of the contract. There are five components to the solicitation and award stage. Contractor interest, contractor pre-qualification, pre-bid conferences, bid analysis, and contract award. Agency personnel have many contacts with outside contractors at informal meetings, contractor association meetings, or even job sites. Use this time to determine if there is contractor interest in a contract maintenance program. Another method is by written survey. Most contractors respond indicating an interest in contract maintenance. In some parts of the world, contractors may not have highway maintenance experience. In this case, the agency should hold maintenance workshops to tell contractors the kind of expertise they will have to provide. When the agency decides the contractor community is interested and capable, it's time for the next stage. Contractor pre-qualification. The process begins with a formal advertisement in newspapers and trade journals to notify the contractor community of the contract maintenance program. Before the agency begins the bidding process, it should pre-qualify a group of potential bidders. That means reviewing four issues. Financial capability, bonding capability, management capacity, and past performance. The key financial issue is whether the contractor can finance the cash flow requirements. The agency can ease this burden with a timely payment process. Maintenance contracts, like construction contracts, should have a performance guarantee. It depends on local laws and regulations, but usually the agency must make sure the contractor has the backing of a financial institution, such as a bank, insurance, or bonding company. If the contractor defaults on performance or is unable to pay its subcontractors, the financial institution guarantees the performance and payments. The agency should also review contractor's management plans. It can provide some guidelines for the plan, but contractors must be able to develop a detailed management plan. It indicates they have prepared themselves to perform the contract. Finally, the agency should review contractor past performance, paying special attention to related maintenance work. And it should check on the relationship between the contractor and available subcontractors. When the pre-qualification process is complete, there should be a formal short list of interested and capable contractors. Normally, an agency will hold two mandatory pre-bid conferences before receiving bids. The newspaper and trade journal advertisements should contain the dates of the conferences and the bid deadline. The agency should hold the first conference two to three weeks before the bid deadline. At this conference, agency representatives distribute and review bid packages. Numbering the bid packages is a good way for them to keep track of contractor interest. They should make sure contractors understand the agency's objectives, their long-term goals. The conference will probably last for two to four hours, depending on how much the contractors understand and how many questions they have. The second pre-bid conference normally occurs one week after the first. This meeting usually narrows the number of interested contractors and helps the agency determine if there is enough interest to continue. If most or all contractors have lost interest, it is time to reevaluate how to proceed. At this conference, representatives review the bid package again, answer any questions, and give a thorough description of the award's process. Before bid analysis begins, the agency should establish a formal process for reviewing, analyzing, and awarding the contracts. During bid analysis, reviewers determine if bidders have adhered to the bidding requirements, have the capability to perform the contract, and recommend a contractor for the award. This process should include checking for signs of bidding collusion and bidder responsiveness. After selecting a bidder, there are some final checks, a pre-award survey of the contractor. The survey includes contacting the contractor's guaranteeing institution for confirmation, the contractor's bank, and any other references that help establish the credibility of the contractor's bid. Next is one more discussion with the contractor. The agency should confirm that the bid is still a serious one, and that the contractor is still interested in receiving the award. Now the agency should formally award the contract and notify all bidders about the award. There is still a formal contract signing, legal postings, and so forth, depending on local requirements, and scheduling of a pre-work conference. At the same time as some agency people are going through the solicitation and award process, others should be finalizing the contract supervision procedures. These procedures must be ready when the award is made to a contractor. They include administration procedures, quality control program, payment procedures, contract modifications, and training. Administration procedures involve contract administration work, such as processing and control of emergency work requests, especially with regard to safe traffic operation during the emergency, and internal documentation requirements. These procedures should be ready for the pre-work conference with the contractor. The agency staff must receive training and administration procedures prior to the work beginning. Training usually includes workshops with case studies involving actual administrative procedures. The agency should prepare a detailed quality control program before starting work. This program should clearly state the agency's and the contractor's responsibilities. It should include procedures for daily, weekly, and monthly monitoring. It should establish the number of inspectors, their geographic responsibility, and documentation requirements. It should also include documentation forms, along with instructions for filling them out. There should be procedures and schedules for workshops on inspection and contracting. And the program should include ways the contractor can maintain quality, such as making sure the grass is cut to the proper height. Let's look at a typical program. In British Columbia, the program asks, is the highway system being maintained to the standard specified? To answer the question, it uses a system of sampling inspections and tests to determine compliance with specific quality control requirements. Sampling is a cost-effective way to establish compliance. The program also asks, what do we do if maintenance is not to standards? To answer this question, the agency developed procedures to deal with such problems. The procedures are in the contract provisions. The greatest motivator from the contractor's point of view is practical payment procedures. These are perhaps the most critical and necessary procedures. The Australian program includes detailed practical payment procedures. Their program calls for a 14-day payment period for routine maintenance work. It requires retention of funds for minor omissions or defects. There are progress payments for work expected to take longer than one month. And there are special procedures for payment of large material purchases. Most of the successful contract maintenance programs have used elements of the Australian model. The contract should include a section on measurement for payment or it should be included in the performance standards. Measurement for routine maintenance is based on a percentage of the work agreed upon for a lump sum. Measurement for the periodic maintenance is based on measured quantities such as tons of asphalt. Contract modification procedures must be simple, understandable and clearly established early on to avoid adversarial legal situations. As a minimum, there should be change order procedures and renewal or non-renewal of options procedures. These procedures should state how the contractor is notified, the timing and the effect on contractor payments. Finally, the contract should have legal procedures for processing contract misinterpretations, disputes and terminations. And they should be reviewed at the pre-work conference. Agency and contractor personnel training is critical to the success of a contract maintenance program. Regularly scheduled workshops, self-study and informal training sessions for both agency and contractor personnel are necessary. They must be comfortable with all aspects of the program to solve problems quickly and to ensure smooth operation of the entire process. In this program, we have covered the implementation phase of creating a contract maintenance program. We covered stage one, solicitation and award procedures and stage two, effective supervision of the contract. There are five components to the solicitation and award stage. Contractor interest, contractor pre-qualification, pre-bid conferences, bid analysis and contract award. Agency personnel should use time at informal meetings, contractor association meetings or even job sites to determine if there is contractor interest in a contract maintenance program. Another method is by written survey. Most contractors respond indicating an interest in contract maintenance. In some parts of the world, contractors may not have highway maintenance experience. In this case, the agency should hold maintenance workshops to tell contractors the kind of expertise they will have to provide. Before the agency begins the bidding process, it should pre-qualify a group of potential bidders. That means reviewing four issues, financial capability, bonding capability, management capacity and past performance. Normally an agency will hold two mandatory pre-bid conferences before receiving bids. It should hold the first conference two to three weeks before the bid deadline. At this conference representatives distribute and review bid packages. The second pre-bid conference normally occurs one week after the first. At this conference representatives review the bid package again, answer any questions and give a thorough description of the awards process. Before bid analysis begins, the agency should establish a formal process for reviewing, analyzing and awarding the contracts. During bid analysis, reviewers determine if bidders have adhered to the bidding requirements, have the capability to perform the contract and recommend a contractor for the award. After selecting a bidder, there are some final checks, a pre-award survey of the contractor. The survey includes contacting the contractor's bonding company for confirmation, the contractor's bank and any other references that help establish the credibility of the contractor's bid. Next is one more discussion with the contractor. The agency should confirm that the bid is still a serious one and that the contractor is still interested in receiving the award. At the same time as some agency people are going through the solicitation and award process, others should be finalizing the contract supervision procedures. These procedures must be ready when the award is made to a contractor. They include administration procedures, quality control program, payment procedures, contract modifications and training. The greatest motivator from the contractor's point of view is practical payment procedures. The Australian program includes a 14-day payment period, retention of funds for minor omissions, progress payments for work taking longer than a month and special payment procedures for large material purchases. The contract modification process must be simple, understandable and clearly established early on to avoid adversarial legal situations. As a minimum, there should be change order procedures and renewal or non-renewal of options procedures. These procedures should state how the contractor is notified, the timing and the effect on contractor payments. Training is critical to the success of a contract maintenance program. Frequent workshops, self-study and informal training sessions will help personnel to review all procedures in detail. 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