COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA
– Facilities Department
Capital Programs Division – Procedures
CONSTRUCTION PHASE MANAGEMENT
CONSTRUCTION PHASE IN-HOUSE KICKOFF MEETING
Policy Statement
The Owner’s Construction Phase Project Manager (PM) is responsible for planning
and conducting an in-house kickoff meeting immediately after the award of a
construction contract.
As the PM will see from the script below, the PM needs to think carefully how he/she
wants to manage the project. The purpose of the in-house kick-off meeting is to
establish key management protocols among the Construction Project Management
team.
How to handle many of the issues raised is at the discretion of the PM. Therefore,
the PM needs to prepare for this meeting, not simply go in and follow the script
below.
Additionally, the PM needs to properly record decisions made at this meeting and
distribute to all parties.
Introduction
In a meeting separate from the Pre-Construction meeting, the PM should convene
an In-House Project Kick-off meeting to address how you are going to handle
Construction Management “protocol.” The purpose of this meeting is to clearly
establish your management procedures and to present a unified front to the
Contractor when managing the project.
Objectives
The specific objectives of the construction kickoff meeting are:
Have all construction phase in-house participants meet each other
Prepare to present a unified management front to the Contractor
Have the team perform their first task as a team - communication with each
other
Promote an atmosphere of cooperation
Review management expectations
Clarify the management chain-of-command
Build consensus
Set clear goals and objectives
Review the project history
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Review scope
Review schedule
Review budget
Review and discuss construction phase administrative procedures
Participants
The kickoff meeting will involve, as appropriate to the particular project:
The County PM,
Project Inspector,
Construction Project Management Consultant,
Design Consultant,
Building Operations,
Fire Marshal,
Client, and
any other individuals the PM deems appropriate. Ideally, most of the people that will
be involved in the construction phase will be in attendance including consultants,
user group representatives, and all other major stakeholders.
During the course of construction each of these groups will be reviewing and
commenting on submittals, RFI’s, providing input on Change Orders (or directing
you to do changes to the contract), performing inspections of the work, etc. It is
imperative that the PM have in place “protocols” to handle this flow of information
(and of course present a “unified front” when you meet with the contractor at the Pre-
Con meeting), otherwise you will be behind the power curve from the start of the
contract.
Length
Although most kickoff meetings can be conducted in two to four hours, others might
require a day or two. The longer kickoff meetings are especially important if the
project is very complex or controversial.
Preparation
The kickoff meeting sets expectations for the project. If the meeting is unorganized,
chaotic or a waste of time, the participants will probably carry those perceptions into
the project. The PM must be properly prepared for the meeting and ensure that it
goes smoothly.
Agenda
The PM is responsible to create the Agenda and distribute it, along with any handout
materials that will require advance reading, prior to the meeting. The agenda should
include:
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1) Welcome and Introductions
2) Project Review
a) General Background
b) Project Goals and Expectations
(i) The PM should distribute/briefly review the Owner’s Project
Requirements document established at the outset of design.
The OPR set the goals by which the success of the project is
measured.
Other goals?
(ii) Avoid delays to completion due to untimely communication
(RFI’s, submittals and change orders)
(iii) Make sure we get good Operation and Maintenance Information
from the Contractor;
(iv) Be fair and consistent in our management of the project so as to
promote a good working relationship with the Contractor.
c) Schedule and Budget
3) Communications
a) Project Directory
b) Emergency Contacts
c) Communicating Directly With Contractor
(i) During the course of a project hundreds of documents will flow
between the County, the A-E, and the Contractor. This flow of
information should be “regulated” so that messages and
information don’t get diluted.
(ii) Generally, the Project Manager should be the focal point of
communications with the Contractor. We should avoid direct A-
E-to-Contractor communications and also avoid direct Client-to-
Contractor commnications.
d) Documentation
(i) No verbal direction to Contractor. Information communicated to
the Contractor should be documented in writing.
4) Coordination
a) Project Organization
b) Roles and Responsibilities
(i) Briefly discuss roles and responsibilities of the:
1. Inspector,
2. Fire Marshal,
3. Building Operations staff,
4. Project Manager,
5. Owner’s Authorized Representative,
6. Building Department (If obtaining a Permit from the Building
Department);
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The PM should review Section 01830 with the Project
i.
Management team so that everyone understands the
procedures for inspections by the Building
Department.
ii. The PM should pay particular note of the requirement
in Section 01830 regarding Building Department
review and approval of all Contractor designs.
7. Commissioning Agent;
8. CM Firm
c) Schedule for Construction Meetings
(i) Will the PM have weekly or bi-weekly progress meetings with
the Contractor?
(ii) Who wants/should get copies of the meeting minutes?
(iii) Who should come to the meetings?
(iv) If we have a formal CQC program, who should attend the CQC
3-phases meetings?
5) Procedures
a) Submittal Review
(i) While we have detailed procedures for submittal review the PM
should establish with the management team the actual process
of reviewing submittals. In particular:
1. Fire Marshal submittals
a. What submittals that the Fire Marshal wants to review,
the Client wants to review, and Building Ops wants to
review;
b. The PM should again review the “concurrent” review
process for those submittals that require a Permit from
the Fire Marshal;
2. Submittal handling
a. How you are going to distribute the submittals. Should
the contractor mail directly to the A-E and various
reviewers?
b. Who is going to date-stamp receipt of the submittals from
the Contractor?
c. How you are going to handle screening comments by
these multiple reviewers;
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d. How much time each reviewer has to review a submittal.
Check your construction contract to see how much turn-
around time we have. Usually 21 days.
e. How are you going to resolve any conflicts that arise
between submittal reviewers? Suppose Building Ops
wants you to reject a submittal, but the A-E says it is Ok?
f. What happens if we are going to reject a submittal? We
need to have clear documentation why a submittal should
be rejected. When we reject a submittal our 21 day
submittal review clock starts all over and this can impact
a contractor’s schedule.
My recommendation is that if we are going to reject a
submittal, we meet with the Contractor and any relevant
sub-contractors shortly after we return a submittal, to go
over our review comments and ensure the Contractor
understands our reason for rejection.
3. How you want to handle changes to the contract documents
that need to be made after submittal review. Invariably, when
one of your Reviewers (Bldg Ops, A-E, Client) reviews a
submittal they may want to change what is specified in our
contract. You need protocols on how to deal with this;
4. If you have a CM firm, establish with the A-E just to what
degree the CM firm should be reviewing submittals for
content. Or, should they just review the submittal for
complying with our submittal format (meaning the submittal
is complete and the documentation properly organized);
5. The PM should establish who prepares the submittal cover
sheet. Is that the A-E? Or the CM firm (if you have one)?
6. The CM firm should be involved in screening all submittal
review comments. However, the PM should be responsible
for actually signing the final submittal.
7. Who gets/wants copies of the Accepted submittals?
b) Coordination Drawings (if required by Section 01335 of your contract)
(i) If there is one issue, beyond the CQC plan, that can derail the
momentum of a project, it is the preparation of Coordination
Drawings.
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1. The Contractor is required to prepare Coordination
Drawings. That means that the Contractor takes the lead in
preparing them; the A-e does not prepare them;
2. The Contractor needs to schedule regular Coordination
Drawing preparation meetings, attended by key sub-
contractors. The PM and reps from the CM firm should
commit to attending these meetings, so he/she can get a
sense of the Contractor’s progress and any road-blocks that
are interfering with preparation of the drawings.
(ii) This area requires significant participation by the A-E,
particularly on a large project.
(iii) You must make clear to the A-E that this is an area of significant
importance to you, and that you expect his involvement in the
process of assisting the Contractor in preparing and reviewing
coordination drawings. Even though this is a Contractor
responsibility, the faster the Contractor can prepare and get
approved his Coordination Drawings, the better off the project
schedule will be.
c) Product Substitutions
(i) While we have detailed procedures for product substitutions, the
PM should establish with the management team the actual
process of reviewing and approving substitution requests.
1. What substitution requests should be reviewed by the Fire
Marshal, Client, Building Ops, etc.?
2. What role should the CM firm play in reviewing and
screening substitution requests?
3. What protocol do you want to employ to approve substitution
requests? Do you want positive confirmation from all parties
involved that a substitution request is Ok?
4. The PM has authority to approve substitution requests.
d) Change Orders
(i) The PM should clearly establish our policy for change orders:
No verbal direction to the Contractor and all change orders are
to be on our proper forms and signed by either the PM or OAR.
(ii) All change orders requested by the Client must be accompanied
by documentation that clearly lays out the need for the change
order;
(iii) We have tools to address those instances in which immediate
direction needs to be given to a contractor. We have Force
Account change orders and unilateral change orders;
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(iv) We need “honest input” from the A-E when an answer to an RFI
or to a submittal review may result in a change order. This
requirement is included in the A-E CA Project Agreement.
e) Request For Information (RFI)
(i) While we have detailed procedures for handling RFI’s, the PM
should establish with the management team the actual process
of reviewing, recording and responding to RFI’s, particularly if
we have a CM firm.
(ii) Normally, if we have a CM firm, the PM should delegate
authority to the CM firm to review and respond to RFI’s. On a
large project there will be too many RFI’s for the PM to review
and respond.
(iii) The CM should follow our protocols for handling RFI’s, and in
particular properly act if an RFI may result in a change order.
(iv) We should not be disguising change orders by issuing RFI
responses that clearly change the terms of the contract, and
then hoping that the Contractor doesn’t notice that this is a
change order. Trust me, they will (notice, at some point).
f) Inspection of the Work Quality
(i) You are going to have various people “inspecting” the quality of
the Contractor’s work. These people include the client, the A-E,
various sub-consultants, passers-by, etc. You need to have a
system in place whereby any deficiencies identified by these
people are funneled in to a common “pool” of deficiencies. This
“pool” should be maintained by our Q/A inspector. In other
words, all deficiency lists go to the Inspector. He should then
decide how to handle, and whether to issue a Non-compliance
notice.
(ii) The PM needs to review this “pool” frequently.
(iii) What we don’t want is various parties communicating
deficiencies (real or perceived) to the Contractor directly, and
then not have an ability to centrally track this information.
g) Field Modifications
h) CEQA Mitigation Monitoring Plan
(i) Who will be responsible for managing the Plan?
i) Utility Shut-Down Procedure (Normal and Emergency)
(i) Should be discussed with the Client and Building Operations
j) Confined Space Entry Procedures for Existing Permitted Spaces
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(i) PM should review requirements and identify any confined
spaces on the project. Procedures should be established for any
County inspections in “Confined Spaces.”
k) Security
(i) Pm should review security requirements particularly with respect
to access to facilities operated by DOC and Probation.
6) Site Visits
a) Safety Attire
b) A/E Site Visit Schedule and Field Reports
(i) Our A-E Project Agreement for CA services sets forth the
schedule for A-E site visits. We need to ensure the A-E gives a
site visit report for each site visit.
7) Contractor’s Use of Existing Facilities
a) Elevators
b) Bathrooms
c) Parking
d) Water
e) Power
8) Questions
9) Recap/Summary
Handouts
Responsibility Assignment Matrix
Project Telephone Directory
Submittal Procedure
RFI Procedure
Product Substitution Procedure
CEQA Mitigation Monitoring Plan
A/E Site Visit Schedule
Confined Space Entry Procedure
Security Clearance Forms
Minutes
The PM should take minutes of the meeting and distribute to all attendees.
Project Manager’s Responsibilities
Schedule an in-house kickoff meeting immediately after Award
Prepare agenda and handouts for the meeting
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Chair the kickoff meeting
Take and publishes minutes of the meeting
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Written by Ken Rado and Chris Meyer