November 22, 2021

Check out the latest issue of The Construction Exchange of Buffalo & WNY's Building WNY Magazine! FOS was featured in an article by Joe Cassata, describing how to determine if a job order contracting (JOC) program is right for your organization. Here’s a snippet from the article, but for the full article, click on the image of the print edition to the right and scroll to page 36.

Is your organization challenged with procuring high-quality construction projects competitively and efficiently? Job order contracting (JOC) can help! As a rapid procurement delivery method, JOC creates value for owners and contractors. By facilitating competitively awarded, task-order based contracts JOC helps save time and money, organizes procurement and contract management for construction programs, and creates a transparent and competitive environment for construction procurement. In this article, we’ll discuss how to determine when a JOC program is right for you and what components are necessary for a successful implementation.

First, you may be asking “what is job order contracting?”

Job order contracting (JOC) is an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) construction procurement method. JOC facilitates competitively awarded, task-order based contracts that help:

-        Reduce or eliminate traditional procurement processes, saving time and money.

-        Organize procurement and contract management for construction programs.

-        Create a transparent and competitive environment for construction procurement.

-        Reach procurement participation goals for small, woman-owned, veteran, minority, & local businesses

Using JOC, task orders for construction projects are governed using a unit price book (UPB). The UPB is a catalog of locally priced construction tasks, used to develop line-item proposals based on scopes of work. Each line item in the UPB contains the costs of equipment, materials, and labor to complete a measurable unit of construction work. UPBs are developed to the specific needs, specifications, and standards of each owner, and reflect actual regional conditions and wage rates. All line items in the UPB are subject to contractor adjustment factors that are submitted when competing for qualified work. With this method, organizations can execute multiple projects under one solicitation.