Preallocation of Total Float in the Application of a Critical Path Method Based Construction Contract

Under current scheduling practices, total float time is considered “free” and does not belong exclusively to any specific party in the construction process; rather, it belongs to the project and can be used by both owners and contractors to mitigate the potentially negative impact of delays. Utilization of float is, hence, on a “first-come, first-served” basis. Within this usage protocol and guided by the Common Law’s Proximate Cause principle, the party that encounters critical delays in the later stages of a project is more likely to be held responsible for delays to the overall project completion time. Given these practices, float ownership and its utilization has continued to become a major source of disputes when project delays occur. The objective of this paper is to introduce the concept of float preallocation and management for critical path method based construction schedules. The principles for preallocating and managing “total float” include recommending contract clauses to direct its use and to explain the manner in which responsibility for any resulting delay may be assigned. The paper also introduces a bookkeeping procedure to facilitate the application of this concept on project schedules. The proposed concept continues to recognize that total float is an asset for both parties.