Guidebook on Alternative Quality Management Systems for Highway Construction (2015)

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32 Glossary of Terms The definitions of most of the quality assurance terms used in this guidebook and given below are from Transportation Research Circular E-C137: Glossary of Highway Quality Assur- ance Terms (2009). Terms that are not included in Transporta- tion Research Circular E-C137 are referenced separately. Acceptance: The process of deciding, through inspection, whether to accept or reject a product including what pay factor to apply. Acceptance plan: An agreed-upon method of taking samples and making measurements or observations on these samples for the purpose of evaluating the acceptability of a lot of material or construction. Construction deliverable: A product produced by the design builder’s construction team that is submitted for review to the agency (e.g., shop drawings, product submittals, etc.). Construction Manager/General Contractor (CMGC): A project delivery system that entails a commitment by the construction manager to deliver the project within a guar- anteed maximum price (GMP), in most cases. The con- struction manager acts as consultant to the owner in the development and design phases and as the equivalent of a general contractor during the construction phase. Contract payment provision: The contract language that defines how design and construction professionals will be paid for their services. The four primary contract payment provisions are fixed price lump sum, guaranteed maximum price (GMP), cost plus fee, and cost reimbursable. Design-bid-build (DBB): A project delivery method where the design is completed either by in-house professional engineering staff or a design consultant before the con- struction contract is advertised. Also called the “traditional method.” Design-build (DB): A project delivery method where both the design and the construction of the project are simulta- neously awarded to a single entity. Design deliverable: A product produced by the design builder’s design team that is submitted for review to the agency. (e.g., design packages, construction documents, etc.). Independent assurance (IA): A management tool that requires a third party, not directly responsible for process control or acceptance, to provide an independent assessment of the product and/or the reliability of test results obtained from process control and acceptance testing. (The results of independent assurance tests are not to be used as a basis of product acceptance.) Manufacturing-based quality: Conformance to specifications (ASQ 2013). Product-based quality: Quality is a precise and measurable variable and differences in quality reflect differences in quantity of some product attribute (ASQ 2013). Project delivery method: The comprehensive process by which designers, constructors, and various consultants provide services for design and construction to deliver a complete project to the owner. While names can vary in the industry, and owners often create hybrid delivery methods, there are essentially three primary project delivery methods: DBB, CMGC, and DB. Quality: (1) The degree of excellence of a product or service, (2) the degree to which a product or service satisfies the needs of a specific customer, or (3) the degree to which a product or service conforms with a given requirement. Quality assurance (QA): All those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide confidence that a product or facility will perform satisfactorily in service. (QA addresses the overall problem of obtaining the quality of a service, product, or facility in the most efficient, economical, and satisfactory manner possible. Within this broad context, QA involves continued evaluation of the activities of plan- ning; design; development of plans and specifications; advertising; and awarding of contracts, construction, and maintenance, and the interactions of these activities.) A P P E N D I X A

33 Quality assurance organization (QAO): The assignment of the roles and responsibilities associated with the quality management of a project from concept through completion. Quality control (QC): Also called process control, those QA actions and considerations necessary to assess and adjust production and construction processes so as to control the level of quality being produced in the end product. Quality management: The totality of the system used to manage the ultimate quality of the design as well as the construction encompassing the quality functions described above as QA, QC, independent assurance, and verification (Gransberg, Datin, and Molenaar 2008). Relative quality: Loose comparison of product features and characteristics (ASQ 2013). User-based quality: Fitness for intended use (ASQ 2013). Value-based quality: Conformance at an acceptable cost (ASQ 2013). Appendix A References ASQ (American Society for Quality), “Quality Glossary,” http://www.asq.org/glossary/. Viewed May 2013. FHWA, Use of Contractor Test Results in the Acceptance Decision, Recommended Quality Measures, and the Identification of Contractor/Department Risks, Technical Advisory 6120.3, August 2004. Gransberg, D. D., J. Datin, and K. Molenaar, NCHRP Synthe- sis 376: Quality Assurance in Design-Build Projects, Trans- portation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2008, 130 pp. Transportation Research Circular E-C137: Glossary of Highway Quality Assurance Terms (Fourth Update), Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2009. http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/circulars/ ec137.pdf