TABLE OF CONTENTS Ted E.Robbins
Technical Services Administrator
Martin County Utilities and Solid Waste Dept.
Stuart, Florida
Specifications are an important tool for communicating with sufficient detail how, where, and when a particular item or project is to be manufactured or constructed to meet an owner s needs. On civil engineering projects, the specifications are part of the contract documents and usually are supplemental to a set of drawings. If the assemblage of contract documents were to be considered a body, then the drawings should be viewed as the skeleton and the specifications as such body parts as muscle, sinew, and skin, which together add up to the whole.
The term specifications is often used to describe a portion of the contract documents that include the bid documents, agreement between owner and contractor, general provisions, special provisions, and technical specifications. The complete document that includes all these subjects is sometimes called the project manual. Throughout this section, the term specifications is used interchangeably with project manual.
Specifications describe the particular requirements that are to be used to bid, contract for, build, test, start up, and guarantee an engineering project. Typically, specifications include:
Sections that describe how a prospective bidder must prepare the bid.
A copy of the agreement (contract) between the owner and contractor to be executed.
A division called general conditions. This division describes procedures generally required to be followed during construction of all projects, including procedures to be followed by...
