Circular 17/2019/TT-BXD guiding the measurement of work construction volume

CIRCULAR

Guiding the measurement of work construction volume^[1]

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 81/2017/ND-CP of July 17, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Construction;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 68/2019/ND-CP of August 14. 2019, on management of construction investment costs;

At the proposal of the Director of the Institute of Construction Economics and Director of the Construction Economics Department;

The Minister of Construction promulgates the Circular guiding the measurement of work construction volume.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.Scope of regulation

This Circular guides the measurement of work construction volume as a basis for determination and management of construction investment costs for projects using state budget funds or non-budget state funds and investment projects in the form of public-private partnership (below referred to as PPP projects).

Projects funded with official development assistance (ODA) must comply with relevant treaties and relevant provisions of the Law on Treaties.

Article 2.Subjects of application

This Circular applies to agencies, organizations and individuals involved in the determination of work construction volume to serve the management of construction investment costs for projects using state budget funds or non-budget state funds and PPP projects.

Article 3.Principles of measurement of work construction volume

1. Measurement of work construction volume means determination of a specific construction volume carried out by the method of measurement, counting, calculation or inspection based on dimensions and quantities stated in design drawings, design explanations or requirements of project implementation, construction process, technical instructions, dossiers and other relevant instructions, and Vietnam’s construction standards and technical regulations.

2. The measurement of work construction volume must conform to use purposes and methods of determination and management of construction investment costs under regulations.

3. Measured volumes must reflect nature and structure of works, main materials used and construction methods and facilitate determination of construction costs.

4. For a number of work sections and construction jobs pertaining to works or work items, the volume of which cannot be accurately and specifically measured, temporarily calculated volume may be used. Temporarily calculated volume shall be determined when certain jobs are stated in design dossiers and project implementation requirements but their volume cannot be accurately measured according to measurement principles. Temporarily calculated volume shall be officially measured and calculated upon pre-acceptance test, payment and settlement of final accounts or in accordance with specific provisions of construction contracts.

5. The determination of construction volume upon pre-acceptance test, payment and settlement of final accounts of construction costs must comply with contract terms and measurement principles prescribed in this Circular.

Article 4.Requirements on measurement of work construction volume

1. A dossier of measurement of construction volume must comprise a summary table of construction job volume, a breakdown table of construction job volume and detailed statistics tables (if any).

2. Requirements on a summary table of construction job volume

a/ A summary table of construction job volumes means a table summarizing results of measurement of the construction job volume of a work or work item, providing information about construction volume and other relevant information for use as a basis for determination of construction costs.

b/ All construction jobs/groups of construction jobs that need to be performed must be indicated in a summary table of construction job volume. Such table shall be made for the whole work or separately for each work item or bidding package under project implementation schedule and requirements.

c/ Principal contents of a summary table of construction job volume: a list of construction jobs/groups of construction jobs, units of calculation, methods and results of volume determination, job description information (if necessary). Contents of a summary table of construction job volume must be arranged and presented in a simple and concise manner. The form of a summary table of construction job volume is provided in Appendix 2 to this Circular.

3. A breakdown table of construction job volume for a work or work item may be used to explain in detail calculation method and results of volume determination in the course of measurement. The form of a breakdown table of construction job volume is provided in Appendix 3 to this Circular.

4. A list of jobs that need to be performed for volume measurement must conform to design drawings and order of work construction and fully reflect contents of construction jobs the volume of which needs to be determined, positions of work sections, and construction jobs pertaining to the work.

5. Units of calculation may be selected to meet management requirements and shown designs and must conform to units of calculation in the system of norms and units of measurement under current regulations.

6. Symbols used in a breakdown table of construction job volume of a work or work item must conform to those used in design drawings. Volume breakdowns shall be clearly stated as statistics of designs and identification numbers of design drawings containing such statistics shall be clearly indicated.

7. Results of measurement of construction job volume from a breakdown table of construction job volume of a work shall be incorporated in a summary table of construction job volume after being processed on the principle of rounding values. In case calculated results are decimal numbers, only three digits to the right of the decimal point (tenths, hundredths and thousandths) will be taken.

Article 5.Use of volume from design and volume measurement software

1. In case of use of volume statistics obtained from design software and special-use software that can automatically determine volume, the volume of these jobs shall be clearly stated together with determination method in a summary table of construction job volume. Organizations and individuals that use software to carry out volume determination shall take responsibility for the accuracy of these statistics and explain to verification and appraisal agencies about the appropriateness of statistics and measurement principles of the software used. Volume statistics obtained from design software and special-use software must adhere to the determination principles guided in this Circular.

2. Persons summarizing volume statistics from the design software and special-use software specified in Clause 1 of this Article shall clearly understand contents of such statistics and add appropriate description information for the determination of costs or application of unit prices and norms.

Chapter II

PROVISIONS ON MEASUREMENT OF VOLUME

Article 6.Measurement of volume based on area, capacity or service capacity stated in work designs

1. Measurement of volume based on area, capacity or service capacity shall be carried out to serve as a basis for preliminary determination of total investment or total construction investment by the determination method based on work construction investment capital ratio.

2. Measurement based on construction floor area for civil and industrial works

a/ Construction floor area means total construction floor areas of all floors, including basements, semi-basements, technical floors and attic (if any). Construction floor area of a floor means construction area of such floor, including also walls (or common walls of the building) and plan area of loggias, balconies, stairs, hoistways, technical boxes and chimneys.

b/ Description information includes height of the work (height of a story or height of the whole building), number of stories (including also basements), structure nature, main materials used, and special methods of ground reinforcement, and other information related to the determination of costs (if any) that need to be included in a breakdown table of construction job volume.

3. Measurement based on bridge passage area

a/ Road-traffic bridge passage area can be measured by its width to the outer edge of banisters and by its length to the end of abutments.

b/ Description information includes type of bridge, type of bridge beam, bridge width, span length, type of pile, and length of foundation pile, and other information related to the determination of costs (if any) that need to be included in a breakdown table of construction job volume.

4. Measurement based on capacity or service capacity of works

a/ For works included in the investment capital ratio list issued by the competent authority, units of calculation to be used in measurement must conform to corresponding units of calculation in the issued investment capital ratio list.

b/ Upon measurement of volume based on capacity, technical parameters or service capacity stated in work designs, description information must clearly show the nature, characteristics and type of materials used as indicated in base designs and other necessary requirements of the project.

Article 7.Measurement based on groups of construction jobs, structure units or work sections

1. A list of groups of construction jobs, structure units or work sections shall be drawn up based on objectives of performance of main jobs in the construction process.

2. Units of calculation

a/ Units of calculation shall be selected to conform to main construction jobs, structure units or work sections to best facilitate the measurement and counting in drawings or at construction site upon work construction and to the units of calculation based on announced norms (if any).

b/ For groups of construction jobs, structure units or work sections included in the list of norms and unit prices issued by the competent authority, their names and units of calculation stated in breakdown tables of construction job volumes or summary tables of construction job volumes for works or work items must conform to those in the issued list of norms and unit prices.

3. Volume measurement based on groups of construction jobs, structure units or work sections shall be carried out by the measurement, counting, calculation or inspection method based on dimensions, quantities and statistics in design dossiers of works, technical instructions and requirements of to-be-performed jobs of works.

Article 8.Measurement of volume based on construction jobs

1. Work construction volume shall be measured, counted or calculated in an order conformable with technological process and order of work construction. Detailed guidance on measurement of volume of main construction jobs is provided in Appendix 1 to this Circular.

2. For jobs included in the list of construction norms or unit prices issued by the competent authority, their names and units of calculation are stated in a breakdown table of construction job volume. A summary table of construction job volume for a work or work item must ensure conformity with names and units of calculation of relevant construction jobs in the system of work construction norms or unit prices.

Article 9.Determination of volume in pre-acceptance test, payment and settlement of final accounts of construction contracts

1. When making a bidding dossier, a project owner shall clearly prescribe principles and method of measurement of volume upon pre-acceptance test, payment and settlement of final accounts of the contract.

2. Unless it is otherwise agreed upon in the contract, principles of measurement of volume of main construction jobs must comply with guidance provided in Appendix 1 to this Circular and other relevant regulations.

3. Completed construction volume shall be checked, calculated, measured and certified by the project owner, construction contractor and supervision consultant on a temporal basis or based on construction stages specified in clauses of the construction contract and compared with the volume in approved designs for use as a basis for pre-acceptance test and payment. For package contracts, breakdown measurement of completed volume is not required. Any volume arising outside approved designs and cost estimates shall be accepted and approved by the project owner or investment decider for use as a basis for pre-acceptance test, payment and settlement of final accounts of the contract.

Chapter III

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF PROJECT OWNERS, ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS IN THE MEASUREMENT OF WORK CONSTRUCTION VOLUME

Article 10.Rights and responsibilities of project owners

1. Project owners have the following rights:

a/ In case of necessity, to hire capable and experienced construction investment consultants to carry out measurement, examination and control of construction job volume.

b/ To request consultants to clarify results of measurement of volume and provide information and documents related to such results.

c/ Other rights related to the volume management in accordance with law.

2. Project owners have the following responsibilities:

a/ To organize inspection and pre-acceptance test of products of measurement of construction volume upon pre-acceptance test of dossiers for formulation of projects, designs and construction cost estimates, payment and settlement of final accounts of construction contracts, following set dossier formats and satisfying prescribed requirements.

b/ To select capable and experienced consultants to appraise construction volume portions upon request of agencies and organizations appraising cost estimates and total investment levels.

c/ Other responsibilities prescribed by law.

Article 11.Rights and responsibilities of organizations and individuals carrying out measurement of work construction volume

1. Organizations and individuals carrying out measurement of work construction volume have the following rights:

a/ To request project owners or their representatives to provide information and documents to serve the measurement of work construction volume.

b/ To refuse to record results of measurement of volume portions not stated in designs or attached technical instructions.

c/ Other rights provided in contracts with project owners or other relevant laws with regard to measurement and determination of work construction volume.

2. Organizations and individuals carrying out measurement of work construction volume have the following responsibilities:

a/ To carry out measurement of work construction volume as permitted by their capacity under regulations.

b/ To assign professionally capable persons to assume the prime responsibility for volume measurement and take measures to control quality of volume measurement.

c/ To provide adequate dossiers of volume measurement and explain or modify contents of such dossiers before submitting them for examination and appraisal upon request of project owners.

d/ To take responsibility before law and project owners for construction job volume breakdowns they have measured.

dd/ For individuals, to study and check for firmly grasping information in design drawings and attached instruction documents upon performing measurement jobs. In case of necessity, they may request designers to clearly explain designing matters related to the measurement.

e/ Persons in charge of measurement of work construction volume shall take the prime responsibility for contents and quality of information and data in volume measurement tables. Persons carrying out measurement of work construction volume shall coordinate with, and explain and clarify contents related to measurement results to, persons in charge of measurement of work construction volume.

g/ Other responsibilities prescribed by relevant laws.

Chapter IV

ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

Article 12.Transitional handling

Transitional handling must comply with Article 36 of the Government’s Decree No. 68/2019/ND-CP of August 14, 2019, on management of construction investment costs.

Article 13.Effect

This Circular takes effect on February 15, 2020.-

For the Minister of Construction
Deputy Minister
BUI PHAM KHANH

*The appendices to this Circular are not translated.