The Professional Engineer - BQ vs Lump Sum for Mechanical Services.

                                                                                                       ِبِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيْم

Salam Syawal,

My mistakes in this posting is of my own. 

Allah SWT is Perfection.

I only have the best of intentions. 

All that are beneficial comes only from Allah SWT. 

Have you ever tried preparing a bills of quantities (BQ) for cold water and sanitary plumbing? 

not the lump sum basis Schedule of Prices (SoP), which sometimes can mistakenly termed as bills of quantities. 

so, why not 'bills of quantities?', one might ask. 

based on real experience.. 

i've seen the BQ on cold water plumbing prepared by the QS. it took me awhile to really understand how they worded the bills (very inspiring, by the way - which we have somewhat adopted in our SoP but still we stick with SoP, and not 'BQ'... sorry :-) 

so, we try as much as possible to copy and retype the sentences under 'Description' and modify here and there to suit our intent and then comes to the part of having to take-off quantities. 

so, we use our due skill and since we're familiar with AutoCAD, we can draw plines on the pipes and list that pline to get the measurement, and then add everything up based on size and material and add some extras to account for contingencies and possible wastage. 

then comes the fittings, not so bad for cold water though but sanitary can be quite challenging especially with the bends and wyes and whatever not. 

sometimes there's not much time left so, fittings in the BQ is described as a list of fittings that we can determine from the drawings and specs and on the right hand side, stated as QTY = 1 Lot, UR = LS beside the AMOUNT (RM) column. 

so that becomes a lump-sum basis SoP, where drawings and specs takes precedence. 

Imagine ACMV with the ductwork in square meters and the fire damper that is normally priced based on square meters and other items that is priced based on per certain length.

most of us wouldn't go to that extent to quantify items because although we know how to quantify our items but quantifying some items can be tedious - cables especially and of course sanitary pipe fittings.

hence the SoP, the lump sums and drawings and specs taking precedence over the SoP. 

hence, the item "Other Items" must be in the SoP. to give the tenderer the chance to pick up something we might have missed but then again, it'll be good to check if we really missed it anywhere in the drawings or specs or scope of works complying with the Codes of Practices that we spelled out in the General Conditions of the Specifications.

sometimes we can acknowledge the items stated in the 'Other Items' section but the price can be struck off if the item stated in the 'Other Items' is mentioned either in the drawings, or the specs which are deemed included in the Scope of Works. 

sometimes the idea behind the FIDIC contract is really amazing. no spoonfeeding the trades contractor. as a professional trade, the contractor must know the requirement of the Codes of Practices also if that contractor wants to be registered with CIDB under code M02 - Fire Protection. so as SP, we just make sure that the design intent is as per the Fire Codes, applying due care, skill and diligence. 

if the Fire Contractor proposes an alternative design, then it should be fit-for-purpose (PAM 2006). 

yeah. strictly by the book. 

We would love to stick with SoP, Lump Sum and Drawings and Specs. 

without asking the QS, i was wondering why did he called it 'Lump Sum' basis tender when he described the nature of a particular Builders' Work Contract. 

being a QS, i'm pretty sure that he would have prepared a bill of quantities and have appended also our SoP for cold water and sanitary plumbing services plus all other M&E services which are lump-sum based. and i'm pretty sure that the Form of Contract employed is the PAM 2006 with quantities - which implies 'bq takes precedence over drawings'.

then again, without asking the QS as professional courtesy to know whether it's a PAM 2006 with or without quantities, we'll be in a little bit of doubt, so better to ask, just to be sure. 

but logically it should be with quantities - after all - most of the main building works is BQ'ed while M&E items go as lump-sum basis, based on drawings and specs, where both takes precedence over the SoP. 

this is the case of a packaged contract with domestic sub-contractors. 

another way to go would be to pass the cold water and sanitary plumbing drawings to the QS and he'll do the taking-off the and BQ. 

i don't think that will be a problem to the QS but what about ACMV, Electrical and other M&E Services? (packaged contract).

so, somehow or rather, there'll be items which are of lump-sum basis in the Builders' Work Tender. 

On another note, with regards to the domestic sub-contractor... 

relate that with the CCC G Forms such as G4, G5, G6, G7, G9, G10, G11 G16 and G18, where the domestic sub-contractor, being a specialist trade has to co-sign the above G Forms with the Submitting Person (the PEP-C). 

relate that with that double round stamp on submission of Clean Agent Systems, one by the PEP-C from the vendor, who is professionally liable for his design and that's not duty of care anymore but it's actually a fit-for-purpose concept. the vendor has the propriety software to design such systems, which i never asked any of the vendors for a 'pirated version' because i leave it to their professional expertise to design the system but have a PEP-C sign off the designs as this is also going to be submitted to JBPM. 

the Submitting Person (the PEP-C) signs off the drawing, with limited liability to duty of care. the SP cannot supplant the vendor's PEP-C (Code of Professional Conduct - RoER 1990 amendment 2015), but the SP can always, as a professional ensure that the vendor has designed it based on the design of the building and hazard classification, the information that the SP provides to the vendor. The SP can always ask the vendor about the calculation process and how that relates with the requirement of NFPA 2001. 

the vendor can only come in after the fire sub-contract has been awarded, either to the Main Con (in case of packaged contract) or the Fire NSC. 

my thinking is that it is advisable that the Active FF submission be done after the award of the Main Contractor (packaged contract) or the Fire NSC, since the Clean Agent drawings, which form part of the Active Fire submission drawings requires dual endorsement. 

Wassalam, 

Peace,

FbI