Instructor Eli T. Abdallah, P.E. Mr. Abdallah is Principal Professional Associate, Senior Supervising Engineer and Manager of the Specifications Department with Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB). He has 47 years of professional engineering experience and has prepared specifications for numerous projects and directed teams of engineers in such preparation. For selected projects throughout the firm, he also provides quality reviews of the specifications and contract documents prepared by the various responsible offices. In addition to specifications, he often directs and coordinates the preparation of complete contract documents and assists client agencies inpreparing the bid proposals they must issue as contracting agencies. He has been with PB since 1977 and has managed and prepared specifications for tunnels in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC, Vancouver, and Denmark. His experience also includes bridges, highways, exploration shafts, underground oil storage, and marine structures. He has authored papers on “How to Prepare Better Specifications, ”“Constructibility Review of Documents for Avoiding Contract Disputes, ”“Implementing Specifications in the Field, ”and “Standards and Specifications on a Database, ”published by ASCE. John R. Morey, A.M.ASCE Mr. Morey has had extensive experience in the preparation of contract documents and specifications for many projects. With TCB/DMJM Houston-Los Angeles he has been responsible for the preparation of contract documents and specifications for numerous projects within an Engineering environment. With Turner Collie & Braden (TCB) and AECOM firm, he was responsible for the continuous upgrade and maintenance of TC&B’s standard specifications, updating codes,standards and contract documents for the home office and six satellite offices. He worked on the preparation of job-specific standards, contract administration and specifications and provided regular training to staff members relative to standards. He developed the system, using  network/ server for accessibility and modification as necessary, for contract documents, specifications and other data for the firm. In addition, he serves on ASCE’s Specifications and Documents Committee, producing guidelines for the preparation of specifications.He functioned as a Technical Specification Coordinator for the Hanford Waste Treatment Facility for the U.S. Department of Energy and prepared project design guides for the standardization and preparation of the project specifications. His publications include “Preparing specifications for Design-Bid-Build Projects.” Back to Top

Course Description It is crucial to the success of a project that engineers responsible for the preparation of specifications understand the importance of specifications and their impact on the schedule, cost, and quality of the completed project. This seminar provides a standard rhythm in developing contract specifications – to provide precise and up-to-date industry standards and methods of construction. You will learn how to prepare contract documents to provide consistency in the preparation and the quality of presenting these very important documents of any project. The seminar will be very beneficial to design engineers, contract engineering support staff, and contractors in interpreting specifications. The seminar will cover the basic guidelines, how to develop specifications, and the preparation of specifications and proper presentation of the required standards for engineering projects. Topics to be covered to include: Guidelines for the development of an individual specification section Detailed description of section format Outline for specification preparation Audience participation in development of a specification Advantage of development of standard specifications using a standard outline You will learn how to produce a quality project with uniform plans and specifications. In addition, this seminar will help take the “fear” out of producing contract documents and will help to avoid loopholes that are costly during the construction phase of issuance of change orders and contract revisions. Back to Top

Seminar Benefits Understand the roles of each member of the design team Avoid costly and time-consuming errors due to poorly written contract documents and related specifications Find out how to avoid common mistakes Learn how to prepare contract specifications Keeping up with the state-of-the-art industry standards Become more efficient in producing a set of contract documents Learn how to reference standards properly Learn how to coordinate the specifications with the plans Learn how to prepare a uniform project without causing any delay in releasing a project knowing your plans and specifications are uniform Learn the advantage of producing standard specifications and "How to" produce non-standard job-specific standards for individual projects Understand how to do a step-by-step analysis of the preparation of contract documents and the proper use of language and formats to minimize ambiguities and claims avoidance Back to Top

Who should attend This course will benefit CE's in training and Contract Owners representatives. It will also benefit technical staff including engineering administrative staff and contract field personnel. Back to Top

Summary Outline Introduction Project Specifications Standard Specifications Project-Specific Specification Construction Contract Documents Guidelines For Development  of an Individual Specification Detailed description of section format (extensive description) Reference outline for Specification preparation Example Standard Specification preparation Audience participation in preparation of a Specification Advantages of producing Standard Specifications Summary Questions and Answers Summary Back to Top