An Evaluation of Scheduling Requirements on Federal Fixed-Price Construction Projects.
Abstract
Thirty-two agencies have jurisdiction over Federally funded construction projects. Variation among agency requirements for project planning and scheduling has been thought by members of the construction industry to be a barrier for small and medium sized contractors who wish to bid on Federal construction projects. Regulatory variation was also thought to raise the cost of Federal construction projects. The results of an evaluation of Federal scheduling specifications and follow-up survey of Federal agencies participating in the Federal Facilities Council's Project Management Committee indicate that general scheduling requirements are similar across all agencies. Agencies appear to limit the use of complex scheduling and planning methods to larger projects. The low cost bar charting technique is consistently used on construction contracts under $1 million. For smaller projects, and projects that do not fit well into traditional scheduling methods, few offices cited the use of the fenced-bar chart or line-of-balance techniques. For projects, over $1 million, virtually all offices used commercial Critical Path Method scheduling software. A significant number of survey respondents, however, appeared not to address many scheduling issues that affect the usefulness of the scheduling system output. Survey respondents also pointed to another troubling issue proprietary requirements for scheduling software.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA312316
Entities
People
- Clifford Weese
- E. William East
Organizations
- Construction Engineering Research Laboratory