Holloway Consulting is a Construction Consulting firm with offices in Colorado and Louisiana. As illustrated on our post at Schedule Delay Claims Home, one of Holloway Consulting’s primary practice areas as Construction Claims Experts is in matters involving causation, schedule delay analysis, and damages. This post continues our series on the services we provide to our clients as Construction Experts in matters associated with schedule delay analysis, in this case, Time Impact Analysis .
SCHEDULE DELAY ANALYSIS
TIME IMPACT ANALYSIS (TIA)
Baseline For Measuring Delay
Decisions by courts and boards of contract appeals have acknowledged the dynamic nature of the project scheduling process. Holloway Consulting’s experiences as Construction Claims Experts reveal that numerous decisions indicate that courts prefer that the analysis of delays affecting the critical path be assessed contemporaneously as the project unfolds, utilizing the schedule updating process as the reference point. The persuasiveness of contemporaneous determination of delays using techniques such as Time Impact Analysis is reflected in a number of board of contract appeals decisions including two Santa Fe , Inc.3 decisions, in 1984 and 1987; Fred A. Arnold, Inc.,4 and Titan Mountain States Construction Corp5.
The courts’ preference for contemporaneous analysis notwithstanding, the quantification of delays can also be developed in a similar manner retrospectively, through a process of reviewing project records and other data, starting from the beginning of the project. Delay impacts are reconstructed by moving through the various time periods until project completion. Project fact information such as schedules, daily field reports, correspondence and logs are used as the basis of this analysis.
Delay Analysis Summary
Holloway Consulting’s experience has been that, whether delay is being analyzed contemporaneously or after-the-fact, decisions by boards of contract appeals and courts over the last two decades indicate that the current, updated CPM is the preferred baseline schedule for measuring delays. This again emphasizes the need for the contractor to develop and maintain accurate job schedules. During periods where there is no updated or approved schedule, courts will look to the schedule which best reflects the contractor’s intended work plan during the period6.
The value and usefulness of a CPM scheduling system is also dependent, at least in part, upon the owner and/or its agent making timely decisions when excusable delays are reported by the contractor, and upon the contractor promptly revising and updating the CPM schedule to incorporate time extensions, whether they are tentative or final, within a reasonable period of time after occurrence of the delay.
Citations and End Notes
1 The Corps of Engineers Modification Impact Evaluation Guide, EP 415-1-3, and the Veterans Administration VACPM Handbook provide some guidance on time impact analysis procedures.
2 Fragnets are networks of activities used to expand the activities in the overall schedule or another element of work into greater detail. For example, a fragnet could be developed for a new, or impacted “foundation” activity by expanding the work into a subnetwork made up of activities such as layout, excavation, shoring, formwork, reinforcing, embeds, concrete pouring and curing, thus allowing the analyst to demonstrate how a specific component of the foundation was affected by the delay or changed condition.
3 Santa Fe, 1984 VABCA (CCH) ¶ 17340 (Nos. 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, May 15, 1984). Santa Fe, 1987 VABCA (CCH) ¶ 20104 (No. 2168, August 25, 1987).
4 Fred A. Arnold, 1984 ASBCA (CCH) ¶ 17517 (Nos. 27151, 27156, 27170, 27186, 27191, 27200, July 16, 1984).
Read other posts on our Construction Expert Witness cases.
Holloway Consulting
Construction Claims Experts and Witnesses
12081 W. Alameda Pkwy., #450
Lakewood, CO 80228-2701
Denver Phone: (303) 984-1941
International Toll Free: (888) 545-0666
Fax: (303) 716-0432
Email: steve.holloway@disputesinconstruction.com
Blog: disputesinconstruction.com
Web: hcgexperts.com
Selected Pages at hcgexperts.com, 12-20-11
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