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Department of Transportation
North Dakota
 

Specification Committee Agenda Item Details


Agenda Number: AGC 09-002
Topic: 770.05 and 772.05 - "System" Bid Items
Type of Action: Decision Required
Background Information: We are seeing more plansets using lump sum("System") bid items for electrical items. There are a few issues with bidding these "systems". 1. How does the field engineer track quantities to make sure parments are keeping up with materials installed if they don't have unit pricing? How does the DOT verify that they haven't overpaid a contractor? Some of these "systems" are hundreds of thousands of dollars. In our experience the last couple of years these "system" items have been behind in payment throughout the project, which isn't generally the case in standard unit priced contracts. 2. What happens when the quantities in the table are incorrect? The feild engineer has no way other than a change order to compensate the contractor for extra work. 3. A lot of times there are disclaimer notes associated with lump sum items that basically say table listed quantities are for informational purposes only. What happens if an item is missed? Will the contractor be compensated? A blanket note like this puts all of the risk on the contractor.
Suggested Solution: Stop using the "system" bid item and use the standard DOT pay items as shown in section 770.05 and 772.05. This way if one unit is installed it is paid for on the next pay estimate.
Decision:
Action Taken: