What is EJCDC?
EJCDC stands for Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee. It is a coalition of stakeholders in the project delivery process who develop and endorse quality contract documents and encourage their use through education and promotion.
What three organizations comprise EJCDC?
The three organizations that comprise EJCDC are:
- The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC),
- The National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE),
- The American Society of Civil Engineers - Construction Institute (ASCE-CI).
- And, in order to include other interested groups, EJCDC allows observers such as ABA; APWA; CMAA; CSI; NUCA; USDA/RUS; FIDIC; DBIA; AIA; WWEMA; American Congress of Surveying & Mapping; American Arbitration Association; CNA/Schinnerer (VOSCO); AXAXL Insurance, and others.
When and why was EJCDC founded?
EJCDC has existed since 1975 to develop and update fair and objective standard documents that represent the latest and best thinking in contractual relations between all parties involved in engineering design and construction projects.
Driven by increased professional liability exposure of engineers, including lack of privity and the absence of a contractual relationship not a bar to a third-party claims, such as injured worker claims and contractor economic loss claims, EJCDC came together to develop objective standard documents that represent both parties in engineer-designed construction projects in the United States. EJCDC documents are intended to be objective, clear, thorough and consistent with current practice and laws, as well as responsive to user needs.
How are EJCDC documents created?
EJCDC documents are developed in subcommittees comprised of experienced engineers and attorney’s advice. These subcommittees consider and review all conditions and contingencies that could take place in the completion of an engineer-designed and lead construction or infrastructure development project in the U.S. Once the committee has agreed on a contract, it is then presented to the full EJCDC Committee for approval.
How should EJCDC documents be used?
It is important to know the content of the document as these documents are tailored for specific projects. One should understand that a change in one may require change in one or more other documents. EJCDC recommends that a legal review be made, especially if any part of a document has been changed.
What document families are published by EJCDC?
EJCDC publishes four families of documents as follows:
- Engineering (Owner-Engineer, Engineer-Subconsultant)
These documents are updated on an ongoing basis and are dated from 2014-2017. They include: Owner-Engineer Agreements (full and short-form), structured as basic terms plus contract-specific exhibits with detailed scope of services. This family includes Agreements between owners and consultants such as geotechnical and design engineer, and engineers and subconsultants, such as architects. The Engineering family of documents also includes a Joint Venture Agreement, Peer Review Agreement, and Program Management Agreement. - Construction
The current edition was published in 2018. It includes an integrated series of 25 documents coordinated with Engineering Agreements and assumes the design Engineer is involved during construction. These documents are intended for engineered construction. Document number C-700, General Conditions, is the keystone of C-series and other EJCDC document families. The document include provisions for payment alternatives such as Lump Sum and Cost-Plus, and consider risk allocation consistent with industry norms. They are CSI and NUCA endorsed. - Design/Build
The current edition was written in 2016. This family includes 18 documents addressing agreements (lump sum and cost-plus), general conditions, performance bond, payment bondOwner-DB, DB-Engineer, DB-Subcontractor. - Procurement (Buyer-Seller)The current edition was updated in 2019. These documents are specific for engineer-designed or -specified equipment, usually procured with a long lead time. These eleven documents include ITB, bid form, agreement, performance bond, payment bond, GCs, SCs, narrative guide Documents use UCC terminology
What user guidance is available?
EJCDC's sponsoring organizations publish occasional white papers, and conduct regular seminars and other educational events. Some of the documents are guidance documents that can be tailored by user. Standard form documents include “Notes to User” to assist specifiers in preparation.
What are the principal advantages of using EJCDC standard documents?
EJCDC documents conform to recognized organizational format (CSI MasterFormat). They have been tested over decades of use and interpreted in courts of various jurisdictions.
EJCDC documents reduce the potential for errors, omissions, redundancies, or conflicts in construction docs. All documents are fully coordinated and integrated. The documents provide for industry-accepted distribution of risk among project participants. Familiarity with these documents by both the Bidder/Contractor may result in improved prices bid to Owner.
The documents are updated approximately every five years to reflect industry trends, court decisions, and changes in applicable laws and regulations.
They are suitable for public works and private sector.
Finally, EJCDC documents are less expensive than alternate standard documents and are created in user friendly MS Word format. In short, EJCDC documents are the most-thorough and best-organized standard documents available.
