Since 1911, when Canada's Public Works Department started to use a standard contract for their construction projects, standard forms have developed. Versions of those standard forms can be seen in CCDC ( Canadian Construction Documentation Committee) 24, A Guide to Model Forms and Support Documents (for use with CCDC 2). Those most common forms are named Certificate for Payment, Supplementary Instruction, Proposed Change, Change Directive, and Change Order.

In a Design office each of the above contract administration forms has had various other names exampled as follows:

NOTE 1: I have personally seen one of each of the examples mentioned.

NOTE 2: Alberta and BC in Canada, have adopted a variation on these forms that look more like the AIA (American Association of Architects) than the CCDC forms.

Certificate for Payment, Certificate of Payment (when certificates were issued independent of Application for Payment or Invoices) Progress Payment and Statement of Accounts are all identical in form and function with slight variation in content.

Supplementary Instruction, can be a Site Instruction, Job Instruction, and Clarification, again all the same.

Proposed Change, can be a Contemplated Change Order, Contemplated Change Notice, Change Notice, and Notice of Change. The purpose is usually to request a quotation for work described.

The relative new comer, a Change Directive, used to be a Proposed Change (with a note to proceed immediately, without a quotation) and issued by the Consultant, whereas the Change Directive has added a space for the Owner's signature.

Lastly, the most common form of all above is the Change Order which is almost universally recognized name for a form to direct work to be done for a quoted amount. In nearly al cases this form needs signatures of the Owner, Designer and Contractor, to be valid.

Speaking of Owners, Designers, and Contractors they are sometimes labelled Clients or Project Managers, Consultants, Architect or Engineers and Builders, Trades or Construction Managers and so on.

With each step in the approval stage for each of the above forms another form and another name can appear. For Instance, the following can happen. An RFI (Request for Information) is issued by the Contractor, to which a Designer can respond with a Supplementary Instruction or Proposed Change, from which a Request for a Sub Quote is issued by the Contractor, and a Sub Quote is returned by the Trade, All Sub Quotes are assembled and issued and a Quotation is issued to the Designer, for which a Change Order is prepared and signed by all, then distributed again as above. There is much pressure to collapse all the above into one place, the question is where and who is the master.

NOTE: The main differentiations of features in software that address this process are:

1. Bulk email, list and track RFIs, Request for Quotes, Quotations and track individual items for billings.
2. Prints each form that automatically logs into a database to list and track approval forms and calculate progress for contract payment process and cost impact.
3. Piggy backed with accounting data with modules for change.
4. Piggy backed with scheduling data with module for change.
5. Individually entered data process for handwritten, typed or spreadsheet listing.  ♦♦♦

by Michael Copas on July 22, 2007
Filed Under: Personal Observations