CE 301: PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Professional engagement & role of civil engineers in project development

Dr. Tanvir Manzur

Department of Civil Engineering, BUET
Professional Engagement
 Professional engagement is defied as
 To secure professional services, to hire
 Major issue:
 Difficulty in defining & communicating the specific needs and/or tasks
required to arrive at a solution
 Potential clients may realize they have a problem to be solved, most do not
understand engineering or what it takes to define and communicate their
problem to the engineer
 Engineers recognize this situation and refer to it as the need to
create a scope or statement of work (SOW)
 One of the challenges for engineers is that sometimes learning and
understanding the client’s operation and/or objectives takes quite a bit of
time, and there may be several ways to address the problem with a variety of
capital and/or expense scenarios

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Professional Engagement
 In the course of assessing the client’s needs,
 The engineer may spend quite a bit of their own (or their company’s) time
and expenses to provide a detailed SOW
 The SOW needs to include a
 Cost estimate
 Project schedule
 Tabulated labor categories (which may include subcontractors, so that the
client may choose an appropriate path forward)
 Occasionally the engineer may find that the client is surprised at
the depth of their own needs or the costs associated with resolving
them
 The client may then provide the engineer’s SOW and proposal to a
competing engineer for an alternative approach or lower cost.

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Professional Engagement
 To increase the chances of preparing a winning proposal and
securing the professional engagement, engineering firms
often create and follow a business development process
 This process involves the civil engineering firm identifying
potential leads early in the project initiation phases and
following these projects through to the RFP (Request for
Proposal) and proposal phases
 Savvy firms work to position themselves strategically with
exceptional project experiences, talented staff, and other
differentiating factors that can give them distinct advantages
to win these projects

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Professional Engagement

Business Development Process by

DAVID EVANS & ASSOCIATES
Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET
Professional Engagement
 Professional engineering services are probably best provided
when the client knows and trust the engineer
 This is why large clients have their own engineering staff
 These staff engineers know the mission and requirements of
their own employer and can act in the latter’s best interest
 Sometimes, the staff engineer may require assistance just as
companies that doesn’t have engineering staffs
 The engineering staff nay be in a good position to prepare a
SOW for outside engineering support
 Alternately, a firm could establish a support contract with an
engineering firm to provide these services as the need arises

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Professional Engagement
 Working Relationship & Trust Factor between the client and
engineer are extremely important factors
 However, professional engineers are bound by ethics,
business law, and contracts so the trust factor is not usually a
problem
 In practice, it’s human nature to hire or work with someone
one knows rather than a perfect stranger

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Professional Engagement
 Writing engineering proposals
 Regardless of the specific client situation, it is imperative that the engineer have a clear
understanding and demonstrated skill to communicate problem solving
 These key components to problem solving include
 Identifying the client’s particular problem/s
 Possessing background knowledge, the ability to work as a team member, and
preparing a clear and comprehensive SOW
 Understanding the client’s requirements and constraints
 Having the ability to communicate clearly
 Formulating technical alternatives
 Providing the client with alternative evaluation and/or selection
 Performing engineering design including engineering plans, specifications, and cost
estimates
 Offering construction assistance, construction monitoring, or construction
management
 Providing start-up assistance and/or operations and maintenance assistance
 Creating a realistic project schedule

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Project Development
 The architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry
always has operated on the “virtual” organization principle and is
infamous for its fragmentation
 Constructed products involve a staggering number of players.
These include
 Private owners
 Developers
 Government agencies
 Engineers & architects
 Other designers
 Builders
 Product & material suppliers
 Real estate agents
 Lending institutions
 Inspectors etc.

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Project Development
 The industry is design-intensive because most projects are one-of-
a-kind
 AEC professionals in most cases have to produce unique products
with stringent cost, schedule, and quality standards
 The owner typically thinks in terms of quality, as well as short and
long term costs
 Architects and engineers have a different perspective; often they
are motivated by the desire to avoid mishaps and to minimize their
costs relative to billable hours
 Civil engineers must work with a staggering number of
determinant and non-determinant processes, a vast array of
participants, and the need to evaluate outcomes and manage risk
in order to develop and evaluate perspective design

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Participants in Project Development
 A need for civil engineers to be problem solvers, innovators,
analysts, critical thinkers, and communicators has remained
constant for millennia
 Another uninterrupted theme throughout the history of civil
engineering is the involvement of three key players in the project
development & delivery process
 Owner
 Designer (engineer and/or architects)
 Builder or contractor
 These three main groups coexist and interact with a fourth group
composed of various legislative bodies and interested groups (see
figure in next slide)

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Participants in Project Development

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Flow of Work in Project Development
 The typical project moves through several phases:
• Pre-design, design, bid, construction, occupancy, and eventually
adaptive re-use, and decommissioning and/or demolition

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Predesign
 In predesign or planning, clients enter a “discovery” phase
where needs and wishes are explored
 If a client is large, client staff may be responsible for
preparing a general plan of action & outlining requirements
 A client without in-house capacity may hire a consultant
 These consultants may hire additional consultants to support
their efforts
 The table provided in the following slide gives examples of
professional services available in predesign

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Predesign
Professional services
available in predesign

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Predesign
 At this initial stage, the entity responsible for the evaluation
forms a working organization and identifies the information
needed
 Data should include
 History of the events leading up to the decision to build
 Purpose & function of the project
 Policy decision
 Timescale for the project
 Cost limit, or budget, of the project
 Details of the site and services
 Basic details of building requirements
 Comparable best practices

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Predesign
 The results of this effort is a Statement of Need
 The Statement of Need indentifies the need for a new or remodeled
facility based on business objectives or public policy and enables the client
to gain internal approval for the project
 The Statement of Need states the problem, not the solution
 All options should be considered
 Relative benefits, drawbacks, and risks need to be analyzed
 Feasibility studies may be conducted
 Alternative may be tested to determine their financial, economic,
technical, or other advisability

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Predesign
 Key activities
 Confirming that options have been identified
 Agreeing upon which option(s) to pursue
 Identifying potential problems with items in the budget and agreeing on a
total budget
 Establishing a timeline
 Carrying out a risk assessment
 Defining clear objectives
 Preparing a Program or Statement of Need or Brief
 The Statement of Need or Brief captures the essence of the project
 During the proposal phase, the Brief forms a key component of
the RFP

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Predesign
 The Brief or Statement of Need is usually written with the help of
a designer
 This document is developed following certain well defined steps

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Predesign
 Key Briefing issues
 Getting requirements right early results in significant payoffs:
 Improved product quality
 Saving of time & budget
 Better client relation

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Key Briefing Issues
Design
 After the client has developed a program or brief and has
selected a designer, the client & designer enter into a
contract for professional services
 In addition to being a legal document, the contract is a
communication tool
 It spells out the
 Design tasks to be performed
 Parties’ (client’s & designer’s) specific responsibilities during design
 Client approvals required
 Schedule, including start date, end dates, & major milestones
 Budget, including any contingencies

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Design
 The design effort can be divided into several phases:
 Schematic design
 Design development
 Construction document
 Bidding
 Construction
 Schematic design
 Involves establishing the general project scope, relationship
among project components, basic geometry, and client
understanding & acceptance
 As part of schematic design, the designer also validates the
program or brief that client has provided

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Design
 Design development
 The design concept is elaborated in this phase
 Major systems are defined
 Important decisions are documented
 A clear, coordinated description of the project is developed
 Construction documents
 Provide the contractor with sufficient information to build the project
 Delineate the responsibilities of the two parties who sign the construction
contract
 Also provide information about the role of designer
 Who usually is not a party to this contract but who has responsibilities during the
bidding & construction phase
 Comprise of drawings & a project manual, made up of bidding requirements
and technical specifications

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Design

Summary of the purpose, activities, & deliverables

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET associated with the various project phase
Design Thinking
 The design process works with information as well as “flash of
insight” on many levels
 In pursuit of appropriate & acceptable solutions, designer must
process:
 Client requirements
 Technical variables
 Physical, budgetary, and schedule constraints
 Permitting & code issues
 Political realities
 If design begins with analysis, it proceeds with synthesis
 Through a combination of sketching, talking, calculating, and
thinking, designers must reach sufficient understanding to form a
concept

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Design Thinking
 Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, offers a methodology for making
this transition that he calls “design thinking”
 Outlines three phases of design thinking:
 Inspiration
 Ideation Next slide
 Implementation
 Designers are encouraged to :
 Explore the circumstances
 Generate, develop, and test ideas
 Chart the path to completion

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Design Thinking

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Design During Bid & Construction
 The work of civil engineer usually not end with the completion of the construction
document
 Most clients rely on their prime designers to help them through out the bid phase
 As part of the bid process, civil engineers may be responsible for including following
procurement & contracting requirements in the project manual:
 Advertisement for bids
 Invitation to bid
 Instruction to bidders (contractors)
 Prebid meetings
 Land survey information
 Geotechnical information
 Bid forms
 Owner-contractor agreement forms
 Bond forms
 Certificate of substantial completion form
 Certificate of completion form
 Conditions of the contract
 Procedure for answering bidders questions

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Design During Bid & Construction
 Civil engineers usually attend prebid meetings
 To acquaint prospective bidders with the project
 Following contract award (the owner & contractor enter into a
contract), civil engineers may be responsible for
 Attending a preconstruction meeting
 Responding to field question, called request for information (RFIs)
 Making field observations
 Reviewing submittals, including shop drawings
 The process used by civil engineers for reviewing submittals &
shop drawings should be referenced in the general conditions of
the construction contract and discussed at the prebid and
preconstruction phase

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Quality Control Plan
 Throughout the design process and particularly in the
construction document phase, a quality control plan (QCP) should
be implemented
 QCPs are an important aspect of any successful project
 Important elements of a QCP
 A knowledgeable project manager adept at implementing a QCP
 An experienced QC Team capable of reviewing contract documents
 An extensive & successful QCP outline
 Implementation of a comprehensive QCP includes the following:
 A clear & concise organizational chart outlining roles & responsibilities f the
QC team
 Proper scheduling of review
 Including ample time for each review
 Good project management practice to ensure the reviews are completed

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET

Quality Control Plan
 A comprehensive QCP
 Reduces the risk associated with incomplete or poorly completed work
products
 Improves the overall quality of the work
 Enables a final review for any missing items or incorrect standards
 All these attributes lead to a better end product and will
increase client satisfaction
 It maximize the client’s desire to solicit the designer for
future work
 Repeat business is paramount for sustaining a successful &
profitable organization
 Any steps that can be taken to ensure this should be implemented

Dr. Tanvir Manzur, CE, BUET