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The "Responsibility Gap" is Growing

10/1/2006

If you are involved in the design and construction industry today, you are no doubt experiencing higher project costs and longer project durations in spite of tremendous advances in communication and project management tools. The commencement of a globally-driven inflationary construction cost cycle took many owners and contractors by surprise a few years ago. Even though the dramatic effects of this cycle related to material cost escalation seem to be much more predictable and manageable, other significant factors are in play that continue to drive project costs and durations spiraling upward. I believe that one of these factors is the "Responsibility Gap" between Owner, A/Es, and Contractor-a gap that continues to grow and intensify.

FMI, one of the construction industry's most highly regarded management consulting firms, has been highlighting this problem for several years. In their 2005 Annual Survey of Owners, the top reasons for project cost overruns were incomplete plans, poor preplanning process, escalating cost of materials, and the lack of timely decisions by the owners themselves. The problem of incomplete and inadequate plans was the leading cause for cost overruns. More than 74% of the owners said that they have experienced a decline in the quality of design documents. Put another way, only 30% of the projects start out with construction documents that are "adequate" or better. The problem is compounded by inadequate owner direction and late owner approvals, all of which lead to higher costs and delayed schedules. This year's FMI Survey of Owners again points out the need for key improvements, including the need for A/Es to be more conscious of the cost to build their designs; the need for more attention to critical technical design details; the need for coordination and collaboration among team members; the need for quality reviews by the contractor early in the design phase; and the need to bring contractors and subcontractors on board early in the design phase. The dilemma for the industry lies in the fact that the design-bid-build delivery system makes responding to most of these demands virtually impossible.

Insurance and other risk management factors, coupled with the proliferation of litigiousness in the industry, tend to widen the responsibility gap further. In a 2005 American Institute of Architects document titled "Best Practices in Risk Management-Drawing the Line," the author begins: "It may surprise some people to hear that the architect's documents cannot be used for construction. Many are of the opinion that the architect prepares the documents and gives them to the contractor, and the contractor takes them and builds the building from the information contained therein. But nothing could be further from the truth." The article goes on to say that the architect's design is a "concept," the term "concept" is by definition "an abstract or generic idea," and it's important that all the parties understand that construction documents are not intended to be a complete set of instructions on how to construct a building. It's clear from the article that the A/E community is concerned that the industry will continue to hold their "conceptual" drawings (construction documents) to "buildable" standards. And the "responsibility gap" widens...

What's ACI doing about this? Certainly ACI can't cure this broad and pervasive gap for the entire industry, but it has made strides to bring this issue into focus as it pertains to concrete design and construction matters. In 1995, the ACI Committee on Responsibility in Concrete Construction prepared its "Guidelines for Authorities and Responsibilities in Concrete Design and Construction." The ACI Board of Direction adopted the guidelines in March 1995. These guidelines describe practical ways to handle responsibility and to help ACI technical committees prepare documents. There are two overriding principles in these guidelines: one is the simple notion that "responsibility and authority must go hand in hand"; second, that "every entity is responsible for its own work."

Architects, Engineers, Contractors, and Owner/Developers are some of the most creative people on this planet. Unfortunately, in many instances the game has been set up to keep us at odds with one another, diverting attention from our core business as we deal with the fallout. Instead, let's align our collective energies and together try to close this widening " responsibility gap."

Thomas D. Verti, President
American Concrete Institute
tverti@pankow.com

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