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Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report (1971)

Chapter: Survey of A/e Firms Involved in the Military Construction Program

« Previous: Operation of the System
Suggested Citation:"Survey of A/e Firms Involved in the Military Construction Program." National Research Council. 1971. Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/28198.
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Page 198
Suggested Citation:"Survey of A/e Firms Involved in the Military Construction Program." National Research Council. 1971. Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/28198.
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Page 199
Suggested Citation:"Survey of A/e Firms Involved in the Military Construction Program." National Research Council. 1971. Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/28198.
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Page 200

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AFOCE In previous years, depending on bid results, the Regional C i v i l Engineer had the authority to approve contract award, however, apparently because of the state of the economy, each award must receive the approval of the Office of the Air Force Directorate of C i v i l Engineering Once the job i s awarded, the Regional C i v i l Engineer transfers the project t o the appropriate Command for construction surveillance Except for Family Housing, most Air Force construction i s handled by the Corps of Engineers or the Naval F a c i l i t i e s Engineering Command, whichever i s serving as the Construction Agent With the exception of some post construction inspec- t i o n a c t i v i t y , which i s made by the Base C i v i l Engineer's s t a f f p r i o r t o accept- ing the f a c i l i t y after conpletion, the Air Force has l i t t l e involvement during the construction phase Family Housing i s handled somewhat d i f f e r e n t l y from the above procedure i n that the A i r Force i s allowed t o serve as i t s own Design and Construction Agent Family Housing needs are determined annually by base/Command and submitted to AFOCE i n accordance with detailed instructions and c r i t e r i a Design and con- s t r u c t i o n — i e , the obtaining of A/E services, bidding, contractor services— of approved projects are then handled almost exclusively by base/Command per- sonnel The Regional C i v i l Engineer i s involved only m the selection of the V E A summarization of the major steps involved i n the system for obtaining Air Force f a c i l i t i e s i s given m Figure 41 E SURVEY OF A/E FIRMS INVOLVED IN THE MILITARY CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM As mentioned i n the Conduct of the Study Section, personnel associated with several architect/engineer firms located on the west coast and having per- formed work for the design and construction agents of the m i l i t a r y Services were interviewed A t o t a l of fi v e firms were interviewed, and among them, they did practically every type of work Some specialized i n only one area, such as hotising, while others did a variety of work The percentage of t h e i r work represented by mi l i t a r y construction ranged from 5 to 10% for one fir m and up to 50% for another for an average by a l l f i ve of approximately 25% During the interviews, the following subjects were discussed professional fee levels, job acquisition, planning and programming m i l i t a r y f a c i l i t i e s , techni- cal and design guidance provided by the design and construction agents of the Services, s i t e selection, design schedules, the construction process, and areas m which improvements could be suggested Results of these interviews are summarized below (1) Professional fee level A l l firms agreed that the present fee level i s too low (2) Job acqmsition Most of the firms had l i t t l e or no knowledge of how the m i l i t a r y selects architects and engineers However, they were apparently s a t i s f i e d that I t I S being done on a satisfactory basis 131

(3) Planning and Programming There was somewhat of a mixed reaction here, depending i n part on the kind of work done One or two firms have been involved i n u t i l - i t y work and therefore were retained to do ori g i n a l studies which be- came part or a l l of the program under which they did subsequent design They f e l t the present system i s a good one Architects, however, who are brought i n much lat e r f e l t that they should be involved i n the planning process from the beginning They were convinced that the programs would not only be more r e a l i s t i c but the estimated cost (upon which t h e i r fee i s based) would also be closer t o the f i n a l cost of the building One architect who does nothing but hospitals f e l t the present system was f a i r l y satisfactory A l l agreed that the time between planning and design should be shortened (4) Technical Guidance (Codes, Design Guides, etc ) There was general agreement that there i s l i t t l e f l e x i b i l i t y permitted This makes t h e i r work quite routine and simple but results i n less than the best possible job In f a c t , one of the firms indicated that a pro- fessional w i l l lose money i f he attempts changes There was a com- pla i n t that the local people are much more r i g i d than Washington There was general agreement that the project managers are capable profession- als (5) Site Selection While most of them would prefer t o be involved i n s i t e selection, only one cited a serious problem which affected his work (6) Design Schedule Most of the firms f e l t that the design schedule i t s e l f was as good as th e i r experience with c i v i l i a n work However, two firms indicated that the reviews were a problem since, f o r each of two or three reviews, they lost 2 to 4 weeks This meant a t o t a l loss of time of 1 to 3 months on each job One firm also indicated that the design schedule i s 15 to 25% longer than for c i v i l i a n work They f e l t the review process i t s e l f was a f a i r one While there were differences of opinion on the amount of changes, a l l agreed that i f the changes were considerable t h e i r fees were increased A l l indicated that they exercised care m budgeting and brought increases m estimated costs to the military's attention immed- i a t e l y One firm indicated that i t always submitted i t s own estimate which I t kept i ; ^ to date and, i f i t differed from the m i l i t a r y ' s , i t afforded protection for them i n the event of a l a t e r overrun The firms were unanimous m agreeing that the m i l i t a r y was understanding i n handling any professional mistakes (7) Construction Only one of the firms was sa t i s f i e d with the m i l i t a r y construction pro- cess The remainder were convinced that the contractors were poorer than those vised on c i v i l i a n work, that the process i t s e l f and the re- sults were worse, and that the construction period was much longer, sometimes twice as long They were also convinced that the A/E should 132

handle f i e l d inspection and that the proposed Contractor Quality Control system i s unworicable Interestingly enou^, one f i r m conplained of the inordinate amount of time spent on answering phone calls from the f i e l d because of unqualified inspectors, while two firms complained that the inspectors were so poor they didn't know enougjh to c a l l when i t was reqiured (8) Suggestions f o r Major Improvements A l l agreed on the need for increased fees IVro f e l t that consolidation of m i l i t a r y construction i n t o a single AgdJicy would inprove efficiency, while two doubted i t The l a t t e r two f e l t that the Amy and Navy systems were id e n t i c a l . One o f them i n - dicated there was no need for a separate A i r Force ponpetence althougji they adna.tted that A i r Force projects presently add conpllcations be- cause of additional review There were suggestions fo r the reduction of reviews, the granting of greater responsibility to the A/E, the elimination of design and drafting m government o f f i c e s , and a c a l l f o r the quality control team being responsible to the government One f i r m which indicated i t had no senous complaints with the pres- ent system was c r i t i c a l of Contractor Quality Control, value engineer- ing, turnkey, and the construction manager system 133

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