Impact of Inaccurate Engineer’s Estimated Quantities on Unit Price Contracts
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 135, Issue 11
Abstract
This paper discusses the issue of unbalanced bid prices in unit price highway contracts. It analyzes the reasons contractors unbalance their bids and looks for ways that allow public transportation agencies to discourage this practice. It reviews the results of a study of quantity estimating accuracy of 462 transportation projects in Oklahoma, and finds that one method to reduce unbalanced bid prices is for the agency to ensure that the bid quantities used in the engineer’s estimate are as accurate as possible. Doing so reduces the need for contractors to unbalance to protect fixed costs and target profit on bid items that will underrun the quantity used in the engineer’s estimate.
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Acknowledgments
The writers acknowledge the support of the UNSPECIFIEDOklahoma Department of Transportation and especially the kind assistance of George Raymond, who allowed access to the data, Brian Schmitt, who edited the report of outcomes, and Joel Hysmith, who assisted in establishing the study database from AASHTO SiteManager.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 135 • Issue 11 • November 2009
Pages: 1138 - 1145
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 22, 2008
Accepted: Apr 30, 2009
Published online: May 2, 2009
Published in print: Nov 2009
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