Pre-construction services agreement PCSA
Contents |
[edit] What are Pre-Construction Services Agreements?
Pre-Construction Services Agreements (PCSAs), sometimes referred to as Pre-Contract Services Agreements, enable clients to employ contractors before the main contract for the construction of the works has been awarded. Typically they are part of a two-stage tender process, used in the first stage to procure contractor involvement in the design process, where the second stage procures the construction of the project.
Early appointment of the contractor under a Pre-Construction Services Agreement can allow them to:
- Contribute to the design process.
- Advise on the buildability, sequencing, and risk of the construction works.
- Advise on the packaging of the works for sub-contractors and suppliers (and the risks of interfaces between packages).
- Advise on the selection of specialist contractors.
- Help develop the cost plan and construction programme.
- Help develop the method of construction.
- Obtain prices for work packages from sub-contractors or suppliers on an open book basis.
- Prepare a site layout plan for the construction stage showing temporary facilities.
- Draft the preliminaries for specialist and trade contractor bid documents.
- Assist with any planning application on matters concerning the build phase, such as; waste disposal proposals, construction traffic movements, tree preservation protection, etc.
This early involvement of the contractor should improve the buildability and cost-certainty of the design as well as creating a better integrated project team and reducing the likelihood of disputes.
For more information see: Early contractor involvement.
Pre-Construction Services Agreements are often used on design and build projects to obtain early input from the contractor. They can also be used to obtain pre-construction services by specialists, appointed either by the contractor, or by the client (for example on a construction management contract) or on Private Finance Initiative (PFI) or Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects to obtain contractor input to a consortium bidding for a project. The JCT publishes two standard forms of PCSA, one for general contractors and one for specialists.
[edit] What is agreed in a Pre-Construction Services Agreement?
The Pre-Construction Services Agreement will define the services that are required of the contractor during the pre-construction phase and will generally be similar to a consultancy agreement. It should make clear whether the contractor is undertaking design work, whether they will have any design liability, and what will happen to this liability if they are not appointed for the second stage (the construction works). It should also set out the method of payment, and any provisions for deferred payment.
[edit] What are the advantages and disadvantages of Pre-Construction Services Agreements?
The contractor appointed under the Pre-Construction Services Agreement will not necessarily be appointed for the second-stage construction contract. However, the client inevitably loses leverage in the second-stage of the tender negotiation process, as the contractor is already embedded in the project team and potential competitors lose interest once they find out that another contractor has been awarded the first-stage tender.
However, a longer period of familiarity with the project creates better relationships as well as a reduction in learning curves and programme performance, and so, whilst tender prices for two-stage contracts may initially be higher than single-stage tenders, which are subject to full competition throughout, the final account tends to include fewer variations and fewer claims. Competition can be introduced into the second stage by an open-book approach to the tendering of sub-contracts.
It is important that the client ensures they have some means of securing an alternative bid if second-stage negotiations fail, albeit this is likely to result in delays and difficulties regarding design liability.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
- Appointing consultants.
- Construction manager.
- Construction contract.
- Design and build.
- Design liability.
- Early contractor involvement.
- Preliminaries.
- Private Finance Initiative.
- Procurement.
- Public Private Partnership.
- Specialist contractor.
- Sub contractor.
- Trade contractor.
- Two-stage tender.
[edit] External references
- Maxwell Winward: Pre-Construction Services Agreements.
Featured articles and news
Great British Energy install solar on school and NHS sites
200 schools and 200 NHS sites to get solar systems, as first project of the newly formed government initiative.
600 million for 60,000 more skilled construction workers
Announced by Treasury ahead of the Spring Statement.
The restoration of the novelist’s birthplace in Eastwood.
Life Critical Fire Safety External Wall System LCFS EWS
Breaking down what is meant by this now often used term.
PAC report on the Remediation of Dangerous Cladding
Recommendations on workforce, transparency, support, insurance, funding, fraud and mismanagement.
New towns, expanded settlements and housing delivery
Modular inquiry asks if new towns and expanded settlements are an effective means of delivering housing.
Building Engineering Business Survey Q1 2025
Survey shows growth remains flat as skill shortages and volatile pricing persist.
Construction contract awards remain buoyant
Infrastructure up but residential struggles.
Home builders call for suspension of Building Safety Levy
HBF with over 100 home builders write to the Chancellor.
CIOB Apprentice of the Year 2024/2025
CIOB names James Monk a quantity surveyor from Cambridge as the winner.
Warm Homes Plan and existing energy bill support policies
Breaking down what existing policies are and what they do.
Treasury responds to sector submission on Warm Homes
Trade associations call on Government to make good on manifesto pledge for the upgrading of 5 million homes.
A tour through Robotic Installation Systems for Elevators, Innovation Labs, MetaCore and PORT tech.
A dynamic brand built for impact stitched into BSRIA’s building fabric.
BS 9991:2024 and the recently published CLC advisory note
Fire safety in the design, management and use of residential buildings. Code of practice.
Comments
[edit] To make a comment about this article, or to suggest changes, click 'Add a comment' above. Separate your comments from any existing comments by inserting a horizontal line.