Construction “Contract Documents” are the written documents that define the roles, responsibilities, and “Work” under the Construction Contract, and are legally binding on the parties of the contract, Owner and Contractor. The Construction “Contract Documents” include the Construction Contract Agreement, Scope of Work (SOW), Construction Schedule, General Conditions, Special Conditions, Specifications, Bill of Quantities, Drawings, and Construction Insurance Documents.
For a construction project, it is required to have the original “Contract Documents” that were signed and stamped by the Owner and Contractor when the construction contract was awarded. In addition, all addendums to those “Contract Documents” after the contract award needs also to be maintained with details on when they were received. Those “Contract Documents” will be the only documents that the parties of the contract can refer to should there be a dispute as well as all other project formal communications.
Using a Project Management Information System (PMIS) like PMWeb, project owners and contractors can ensure having a real-time single version of the truth register of construction contract documents. To achieve this, PMWeb default ready-to-use Drawing Lists and Document Management Modules will be used.
The Drawing List module will be used to create a complete register of all contract documents that were part of the originally awarded contract. The list of all those contract document details can be imported from an MS Excel file using the import command where the MS Excel fields are mapped to PMWeb Drawings List module fields.
For each contract document record, PMWeb allows capturing the details of document number and description, a category which could be Construction Contract Agreement, Scope of Work (SOW), Construction Schedule, General Conditions, Special Conditions, Specifications, Bill of Quantities, Drawings or Construction Insurance Documents, relevant CSI Division and CSI 6-digit detailed number, relevant project scope of work WBS level if applicable and Originator of the document.
In addition, for each record, PMWeb allows capturing all issued revisions to the contract document. For each revision, PMWeb allows capturing revision number, date, notes, and link to the contract document which will be uploaded and stored in its specified folder or subfolder in the PMWeb Document Management repository. There is also the option to add fields for percent complete and relevant project activity number which is more needed during the design phase rather than the construction phase.
PMWeb Document Management repository will have a folder titled “Contract Documents” for which it will have subfolders for each category which include Construction Contract Agreement, Scope of Work (SOW), Construction Schedule, General Conditions, Special Conditions, Specifications, Bill of Quantities, Drawings and Construction Insurance Documents. Additional subfolders can be created if needed. For example, for the Drawings subfolder, we can create subfolders for Architectural, Structural, Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC, Fire Protection, Finishes, and Site Works among others.
Under each folder or subfolder, the relevant contract document will be uploaded into PMWeb along with the attributes and other details associated with the uploaded contract document. It is highly recommended that all uploaded contract documents be uploaded in PDF file format that might have the signature and stamp of the issuer and recipient. This will also enable viewing those contract documents using the PMWeb document viewer without the need for third-party applications.
PMWeb allows setting access security to each folder and subfolder in the document management repository to restrict access to only authorized project team members. For example, access to the folder that will contain copies of the original contract documents which were part of the awarded contract documents will be restricted to prevent PMWeb users from accessing those folders.
In addition, the project team members responsible for maintaining those folders and subfolders can subscribe to notifications where they will receive email or online notifications when documents/revisions are added, when documents are checked in/out, when documents are moved out/deleted, and when documents are downloaded. Notifications can be sent to PMWeb users as well as non-PMWeb users.
Bassam Samman, PMP, PSP, EVP, GPM is a Senior Project Management Consultant with more than 35-year service record providing project management and controls services to over 100 projects with a total value of over US $5 Billion. Those projects included Commercial, Residential, Education, and Healthcare Buildings and Infrastructure, Entertainment and Shopping Malls, Oil and Gas Plants and Refineries, Telecommunication, and Information Technology projects. He is thoroughly experienced in complete project management including project management control systems, computerized project control software, claims analysis/prevention, risk analysis/management (contingency planning), design, supervision, training, and business development.
Bassam is a frequent speaker on topics relating to Project Management, Strategic Project Management, and Project Management Personal Skills. Over the past 35 years, he has lectured at more than 350 events and courses at different locations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and South America. He has written more than 250 articles on project management and project management information systems that were featured in international and regional magazines and newspapers. He is a co-founder of the Project Management Institute- Arabian Gulf Chapter (PMI-AGC) and has served on its board of directors for more than 6 years. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), a certified Planning and Scheduling Professional (PSP), an Earned Value Professional (EVP) from the American Association of Cost Engineers (AACE), and a Green Project Management (GPM).
Bassam holds a Master’s in Engineering Administration (Construction Management) with Faculty Commendation, from George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, Bachelor in Civil Engineering – from Kuwait University, Kuwait, and has attended many executive management programs at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, and London Business School, London, UK.