Best practice construction cost estimating and project management are critical to improving productivity, assuring transparency, and mitigating waste.

Proper implementation of collaborative construction delivery methods such as Job Order Contracting, JOC, and other forms of IDIQs are equally important to getting the thousands of backlogged facility renovation, repair, and maintenance construction projects completed on-time and on-budget.

• Is your Federal Department and Agency taking advantage of proven best practices and business process for Job Order Contracting and other IDIQ projects?
• Are your Contracting Officers (COs) and Engineering / Facilities teams taking advantage of technology solutions that embed best practices/workflows and provide true visibility into construction project costs in a standardized manner?
• Does your Federal institution truly have Global Oversight and supporting Local Management, all based upon standardized “apples to apples” construction cost data?
• Can your COs and construction cost estimators easily create IGE’s (Independent Government Estimates) and automatically compare them to construction contractor estimates?
• Is your Federal Department or Agency using the most detailed RSMeans Construction Cost Data available, one that has cost line item modifiers?

If you answered “NO” to any of the above, it likely that millions, if not billions of dollars are being wasted, projects are being delayed, change orders are excessive, and building users are not happy.

Per the GAO, best practice cost estimating requires:

1. “Information captured in such a way that the data used to derive the estimate can be traced back to, and verified against, their sources”. – This is not possible without a construction cost estimating system that tracks the source of each construction line item and indicates the source.

2. ” Provide a level of detail appropriate to ensure that cost elements are neither omitted nor double-counted, and document all cost-influencing ground rules and assumptions.” – For project requiring RSMeans, this requires that line item modifiers be present and fully documented. Modifiers are “additions” or “deductions” to parent line items costs that are needed to reflect the actual tasks being conducts.  For example, a full roll of nylon carpet may cost $##/SF, however, if a full role isn’t needed an additional $##/SF must be added.  If borders and patterns are included another $##/SF must be added, if the room is under a certain size, another $##/SF must be added. Are you aware of these modifiers that, on average, account for 20% of renovation and repair projects?  Do you have a cost database the lists these modifiers so that you can easily include them in your IGE’s and review them with Contractors?

I could go on and on, but is it time for a change for your institution? Learn more: