October 2014

NSPE TODAY
EJCDC Publishes First P3 Standard Agreement

Committee also releases updated task order agreement.

As public-private partnerships have gained in popularity in recent years, the Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee has launched the first standard agreement in the US for this type of infrastructure delivery model.

The new standard-form P3 document—EJCDC P3-508, Public Private Partnership Agreement—provides a useful resource to public and private entities in jurisdictions where laws and regulations allow the use of P3 contractual relationships on public improvement projects. As of January 2013, 33 states and Puerto Rico had enacted laws authorizing public-private partnerships for highway and bridge projects, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

As a pioneering document in the US, EJCDC P3-508 was developed following reviews of dozens of actual P3 agreements, and with the advice of owners, attorneys, financiers, developers/concessionaires, contractors, and design professionals experienced with P3 delivery, both in the US and abroad.

The new agreement meets the needs of public owners and private entities seeking to enter into a P3 relationship by presenting a contractual framework that is typical among P3 agreements but sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of most public and private entities interested in such a relationship.

EJCDC P3-508 informs the parties of issues for consideration in finalizing a specific agreement for a public-private partnership. The standard-form agreement also provides for the attachment and incorporation of additional terms and contract documents as exhibits to address specific requirements relating to design, construction, financing, operation, maintenance, revenue, and management for a given public improvement. While EJCDC P3-508 can be used with a variety of design and construction or design-build documents, the EJCDC Design-Build (D-Series) documents provide standard design-build contracts that are ideal for use with EJCDC P3-508.

Task Order Edition
EJCDC has also released the new 2014 edition of EJCDC E-505, Agreement between Owner and Engineer for Professional Services, Task Order Edition.

This updated agreement is intended for use when the project owner and the engineer have an ongoing relationship, spanning multiple engineering tasks or projects, for example, when a sewer district uses a specific engineering firm for all the district’s wastewater projects. In such cases, EJCDC recommends using E-505 to establish their basic contractual relationship—in effect a “master services agreement”—and then use short task orders for each specific project or assignment. Use of E-505 can greatly streamline the services contracting process over time.

To assure consistency with EJCDC Construction Series (C Series) and other Engineering Series (E Series) documents, as well as considering industry and legal trends, the updated E-505 closely follows the content and form of EJCDC E-500, Agreement between Engineer and Owner for Professional Services (2014). Where appropriate, E-505 incorporates content and input received in the development of E-570, Agreement between Engineer and Consultant for Professional Services (2014) edition, released this spring.

E-505 was drafted with the intent that it can be used without major editing, or it can be customized while still preserving the primary elements of the document.

Both the 2014 E-505 and P3-508 are formatted in easy-to-use Microsoft Word, which means users can save time and money because there is no software to install or learn. The documents are downloaded at the time of purchase and saved directly to the user’s computer. They can be customized easily to suit each project’s unique goals and regulatory requirements.

The Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee is a joint venture among NSPE, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the American Council of Engineering Companies.

Since 1975, the committee has developed and updated fair and objective standard documents for engineering design and construction projects.

To order EJCDC agreements, visit www.nspe.org/ejcdc.