Page 213 - Civil Engineering Project Management, Fourth Edition

Measurement and bills of quantities
193
The ‘specified requirements’ (2) cover accommodation and services for the
engineer’s site staff, tests on materials, etc., and a range of temporary works
that the engineer might wish to itemize.
The difference between temporary works the engineer itemizes as ‘specified
requirements’ under Division 2 of the Class A bill, and the temporary works
which a tenderer adds as ‘method-related’ items under Division 3 should be
noted. The former have to be fully specified by the engineer in the contract;
the latter do not, being left to the tenderer to describe. Thus if the contractor
is required in the specification general clauses to construct some temporary
access road, then if the engineer itemizes it as a ‘specified requirement’ in Div-
ision 2 the details of it must be fully described in the specification or con-
tract drawings. If the engineer does not know how the access road should be
constructed because he does not know what traffic the contractor will put on it,
then he should not itemize it in Division 2 but leave it to the contractor to add
in Division 3 as a method-related item, if he so wishes.
It is important to follow the standard method requirements exactly, or prob-
lems of interpretation leading to claims from the contractor may arise. Of course
the contract can expressly state that items in the Class A Preliminaries Bill are
not drawn up in accordance with the standard method; but then care has to be
taken to define what each item entered covers so there is no ambiguity.

Problems with Civil Engineering Standard Method of
Measurement

The whole concept of payment for temporary works as set out in CESMM can
be called into question, as it creates potential ambiguities. The engineer may
choose not to itemize any temporary works under ‘specified requirements’
because he leaves such works for the contractor to decide. But the contractor
may maintain that the list of temporary works given in CESMM A.2.7 (such as
traffic diversion, access roads and de-watering) entitles him to payment for
those works on the same principle as – when an item which CESMM lists for
measurement is found missing – the item has to be added to a bill (see end of
Section 17.2). To avoid this ambiguity the preamble to the bill should state that
Class Aitems shall be measured only to the extent they are included in the con-
tract at the time of the award; thus fixing the temporary work items measured.
Another difficulty arises with method-related items. CESMM clauses state
that a method-related charge does not bind the contractor to use the method
defined (Clause 7.5); is not subject to admeasurement (Clause 7.6); and is not to
be increased or decreased for any change of method adopted by the contractor
(Clause 7.8). But when the engineer orders a variation of some permanent
work, the contractor may claim that bill rates for similar work do not apply,
because the temporary works associated with that work have changed but
the method-related item of charge remains fixed. This can raise debatable
issues concerning method-related charges which are defined as not subject to