CEMP-CE Department of the Army EP 715-1-2

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Engineer Pamphlet Washington, DC 20314-1000 February 1990
715-1-2

A GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE
CONTRACTOR QUALITY CONTROL (CQC)

Distribution Restriction Statement

Approved for public release; distribution is
unlimited.
 EP 715-1 -2
February 1990

US Army Corps
of Engineers

A Guide to Effective
Contractor
Quality Control
(CQC)
This Pamphlet supsersedes EP 715-1-2, dated
November 1980.
A Guide to Effective
Contractor Quality Control
(CQC)

Effective control of construction operations instills

pride in work, gains favorable recognition, and saves
the contractor money. This booklet explains the
Corps* concept of CQC and can assist the
contractor to bring about effective control. It does
not attempt to tell the contractor how to manage its
organization or construction efforts but passes along
some reminders of lessons learned and some
suggestions as to just what the Corps of Engineers is
looking for from the contractor regarding Quality
Control.

Albert J. Genetti, Jr.

Colonel, Corps of Engineers
Executive Director, Engineer Staff
2

The contractor and the Government are both

interested in quality construction simply because it
means to the Government — getting our money*s
worth, and to the contractor — satisfactory
performance and profit.

CQC is a management system for producing

construction complying with the terms of the
contract. It encompasses all phases of the work,
such as approval of submittals, procurement, storage
of materials and equipment, coordination of
subcontractor*s activities, and the inspections and
tests required to be sure that the specified materials
are used and installation is acceptable to produce the
required end product.

The contractor and the Government both have a role

in obtaining quality construction consistent with the
contract requirements. The responsibilities of both
parties must complement each other and work in
harmony.
 3

The contractor is responsible for: (1) producing

the quality product on time and in compliance with
the terms of the contract; (2) establishing and
utilizing a construction quality control program of
the scope and character necessary to achieve the
quality of construction outlined in the contract; and
(3) producing and maintaining acceptable records of
its quality control activities.

The Government is responsible for:

(1) establishing construction standards and quality
control requirements; (2) construction management
activities including, among others, checking
adequacy of contractor*s control (quality assurance
for acceptance), performing specified tests and
inspections as designated in the contract,
determining that reported construction deficiencies
have been corrected; (3) determining payments due
to the contractor; and (4) assuring timely
completion.

For a quality control program to be effective,

there must be a planned program of actions and lines
of authority and responsibilities must be established.
4

It is necessary to analyze, develop, and document

how the designated QC representatives will manage
and control all construction operations. The plan
should be geared to fit the contractor*s needs. A
meeting is required, before start of construction,
between contractor and Government personnel to
discuss the required plan and the interrelationship of
the contractor and Government. Also, the
Government representative is available at all times to
discuss the planned control operations with the
contractor. The quality control plan should include
at least the following key considerations:

# The plan must include the contractor*s system for

tracking construction deficiencies to ensure
corrective action is taken in a timely manner.

# A CQC staff of adequate size and technical

capabilities to timely accomplish all quality con-
trol functions.

# Supervisory staff should have adequate time for

CQC activities, as well as the many management
responsibilities.

# Organizational lines of authority and respon-

sibility must be clear and logical.

# The plan must explain the control, inspection, and

test procedures, both on site and off site, and
assign these responsibilities to individuals on the
CQC staff.

# Qualifications of the staff should match the con-

trol requirements of the plan and an individual*s
qualifications must be adequate for the duties
assigned.

# The plan must show the procedures for process-

ing submittals and who will be responsible for
approving each submittal.
 5

# The plan must strongly emphasize that quality

will be obtained through a preventive type of
control of each definable feature of work. This
requires an understanding of a definable feature,
as discussed later on in this guide. The plan will
include a listing of proposed definable features of
work.

# The coverage of testing must be adequate. The

plan must list the tests to be performed, and state
who will be responsible for the results, and who
will prepare and sign reports.

# Inspection and test report forms must be

comprehensive.

# Frequency of reporting and time for submitting

reports must be indicated.

It may be advantageous for a contractor to make

incremental submittals of the plan or to
supplement or revise the plan. If the plan is
determined to be inadequate by the Government, the
contractor should make the changes necessary to
assure the specified or needed control is provided

From years of experience,

it has been found that
certain procedures work
better than others and,
therefore, these are
usually included in the
contract documents. One
of these is the three
phase control concept.
The contractor*s control
6

of quality should be divided into at least three phases

for all definable features of work. A definable
feature is a task which is separate and distinct from
other tasks and has separate control requirements.
Each control phase provides the opportunity to
prevent problems and deficiencies. Generally,
construction knowledge and experience alone,
although necessary, will not get the job done. The
contractor*s quality control representative (CQCR)
must know in detail the requirements of the specific
contract. The CQCR can then put the general
construction knowledge and experience to work in
control and accomplishment of specific contract
requirements. The complete performance of the
phase controls is the contractor*s responsibility. The
role of the Government is to see that the control
phases are thoroughly and timely performed and
conducted by the contractor designated CQCR and
the CQCR is knowledgeable and adequately
performs the necessary control. The three control
phases are:

Preparatory phase. The preparatory phase, as it

applies to a feature of work, commences with
actions in advance of construction. A few examples
of preparatory actions are approval of shop
drawings, lift sheets, test reports, and mix designs; a
physical check of material on site against approvals
 7

and contract requirements, safety checks of

equipment, and other preparatory steps dependent
upon the particular operation. Certain types of
complex construction will require lift sheets or
detailed sketches to insure proper location and
installation of embedded items by all crafts. This is a
preparatory action which will pay dividends later by
locating conflicts between trade items sufficiently in
advance to permit timely correction. Advance
planning must be performed to determine that all
preparatory actions required prior to construction
have been accomplished.

Initial phase. The initial control of each separate

feature or segment of work is made at the outset of
the operation. Here is the best opportunity to get the
work off to a proper start in full compliance with
contract requirements. This is the time for the
contractor to establish standards of workmanship. If
there are differences of opinion in the interpretation
of contract requirements, the issue can be discussed
and settled at the outset of work much easier than
after the work is in place. The initial inspection
phase is a practical method of performing preventive
inspection and reaching agreements in advance.
8

Follow-up phase. Follow-up inspection and testing

is geared toward a level of effort to determine
continuation of compliance and workmanship
established during preparatory and initial phases.
Follow-up inspections and testing may be on a daily,
routine, or predetermined basis as required to assure
strict contract compliance. Follow-up inspections
become more productive when they are preceded by
thorough preparatory and initial phases. With
advance determination that material and equipment
are in compliance with the contract and with
workmanship standards established, follow-up
inspection becomes more effective.

Control of construction materials, fabricated

items and installed equipment. The contractor is
responsible for management and control of
submittals and the timely arrival of approved
materials and equipment. The contract will include a
listing of the required submittals. The contractor*s
 9

management operation includes reviewing this list to

determine that all submittals are included. A
submittal register will be prepared using this listing
and, if applicable, included in the network schedule.
This can be performed in conjunction with the
planning of the procurement operation. It has been
found that at least 60 days lead time is necessary to
maintain adequate control; therefore, the contract
usually requires monthly updating of the register or
network actually projecting submittal need date 60
days in advance. This procedure should eliminate
construction being delayed by missing or
unapproved materials and equipment. The schedule
must allow adequate time for Government approval
when this approval is required.

The contractor is required to thoroughly review

each submittal to assure complete compliance with
all contract requirements, and certify compliance on
all submittals required in the technical provisions of
the contract.
10

The contract should be reviewed to determine the

control that will be necessary for off site
fabrication items to be procured and to arrange for
this control. The control procedures will be included
in the quality control plan.

Testing is a very important part of controlling

quality. Except for verification tests, the testing is
usually the responsibility of the contractor. This
responsibility includes:

# Checking the con-

tract to determine
tests to be
performed.

# Selecting qualified
personnel or
laboratories.

# Making
arrangements for
timely conducting
of test.

# Selecting test
facilities, equipment,
and procedures that
comply with
required standards.

# Compiling and sub-

mitting the required
test documentation
in a timely manner.

# Seeing that all necessary follow-up tests are

made.
 11

The Government may check laboratories,

equipment, and procedures for compliance with
requirements. The Government may also reserve the
right to use contractor*s laboratory equipment to
verify contractor test results.

A necessary phase of control not always spelled out

in the contract, but very important is the
completion phase or last follow-up. When a
segment of work is complete, the contractor should
carefully examine this work and prepare a list of
anything not completed or not conforming to
contract requirements. Work yet to be accomplished
could include paperwork, such as submittal of test
documents, certificates, diagrams, etc. An effective
control system closes out as many segments as
rapidly as possible. This also allows full payment to
be made. Therefore, effort should be spent
scheduling and following-up to assure early
completion of the items on the list and a sign-off
from the Government.

Documentation is the
proof of quality control
accomplished. The
necessary reports must
be designed to prove
adequacy of control,
completed in a way to
show accurately all
actions taken and, last
but not least, they must
be timely.

Reports should list for each phase of control the

factual results of control actions taken, observations
made and any remedial and corrective actions. In
addition, they should include complete information
on tests, rejected work, instructions received from
the Government and all prime and subcontractors*
activities during the reporting period.
12

The Government will be continually reviewing work

and studying reports to determine the adequacy
and effectiveness of the contractor**s control
system. The Government*s interest is in maintaining
the necessary control to prevent deficiencies and tear
out and it will therefore emphasize inadequacies in
the control system instead of individual construction
deficiencies. Also, by noting inadequacies in the
contractor*s control system as well as assuring that
defective work is corrected, the Government obtains
a true double check on quality.

When deficiencies are found in the control system,

there are many actions that the Government may
take, depending on the circumstances. Some of these
are: improving the quality control plan, correcting
deficient management, removing incompetent quality
control personnel, correcting defective work,
refusing to allow work to continue on defective
work, requiring personal superintendence by the
contractor, disallowing payment for the defective
work, and issuing an interim unsatisfactory
performance appraisal (may result in future low bid
rejection). Aggressive and effective application of
contractor*s quality control program minimize or
eliminate the need for the Government to take these
actions.

Through effective
quality control, the
contractor can instill
employee pride in their
work, gain a reputation
and recognition for
quality work and, at the
same time, increase the
profit margin.

j U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1991 - 321-093 - 1302/21414