AWWA CSC95002

In January of 1994, Norfolk Virginia's Department of Utilities accepted bids for construction at the Moores Bridges Water Treatment Plant. The contract documents included two options: one for upgrading the existing facilities and treatment process and a second for expanding treatment capacity from 78 to 108 MGD. Gannett Fleming, Inc. in Newport News, Virginia, served as lead design engineer. Early on, both Norfolk and Gannett recognized that computerization offered several opportunities to enhance construction: electronic mail in a Wide Area Network system to allow prompt, convenient and documented communications; consistent project scheduling, available regularly for review and analysis; document tracking systems, allowing all parties to retrieve and review status information on shop drawings, requests for information, change items, change orders, pay requests and record drawings; and electronic drafting systems, allowing prompt transfer of drawing data revisions and record information. This paper describes the pre-construction systems, the proposed systems concepts, the actual systems installed, and an evaluation to date of this state-of-the-art construction administration process.