If you want a shot at winning a government construction contract, you'll want to dive in and tackle the mound of documents you'll need for your comprehensive quality control plan.
Government quality control plans require a substantial collection of documents, records, and forms. Their purpose is to communicate what you do to assure consistent quality results on every job.
A good quality control plan will show your clients that your company can fit into their quality systems.
What documents do you need?Most government agencies with comprehensive QA/QC requirements want specific submittals during each phase of construction. The phases include:
- Bid Qualification Phase
- Pre-Construction Phase
- Construction Phase
Here is a list of most of the documents or submittals you'll need for each phase of construction.
Bid Qualification Phase Submittal Documents - qualify your company to manage and deliver quality work
- Quality Manual - explains your company’s quality methods and policies
- Standard Operating Procedures - (SOPs) detail the work steps you use to carry out your quality methods and policies
Pre-Construction Phase Submittal Documents -part of your project quality plan-- detail how you will manage and deliver quality on this project.
- Organization Chart – identifies the management team responsible for ensuring project quality
- Quality Personnel’s Qualifications form – lists the qualifications of your quality management team
- Quality Personnel’s Appointment letter– gives your quality management team authority for ensuring project quality
- Quality Training Plan – establishes your training plan for quality-related activities
- Regulatory codes and standards form - lists the regulatory codes and standards you comply with
- Industry standards form – outlines the industry standards you comply with
- Inspection and Test Plan form– describes the inspections and tests you conduct
- Selection of key suppliers and subcontractors form – explains you supplier and subcontractor selection process
- Material and equipment specification form – records specifications for the material and equipment you use
- Communications plan form - records a summary of monthly project status reports
Construction Phase Submittal Documents - provide a record of how you carried out your project quality plan
- Inspection and Test Records – records the results from your planned inspections and tests
- Nonconformance Reporting – documents any work or materials found during inspections and tests that don’t meet (conform to) your standards
- Daily Construction Reporting – summarizes what happened on the job site that day
- Training Records – lists training sessions that were conducted for preventive as well as improvement purposes
- Quality System Audits – defines the preventive actions you take because of your monthly project quality system audits and your annual company-wide quality system audit.
- Document Control Records – explains the controls you use to keep your quality system records up-to-date, accurate, and safe
The way you show your client that you have a good QA/QC program with good systems in place is by showing them your system documentation. In other words, you need to show them a good quality control plan.
Get started with developing your quality control plan by documenting the quality processes you do now.
Follow that up with a plan to improve upon your existing quality systems, and you'll be ready for that government construction contract.
And, don't forget... always document your quality processes.
Get Two Free Project Quality Plan Submittal Forms.
About the Author - Ed Caldeira is founder of First Time Quality, LLC, specializing in submittal-ready construction QA/QC plan templates and custom quality plans as well as construction quality inspection and punchlist software.
