Approval of substitutions

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Author Message Shedd Glass, CSI, CCS (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Sunday, July 11, 2004 - 09:13 pm:    Question: According to AIA General Conditions of the Contract For Construction, 1997 edition, does the Architect have the authority to "approve" substitutions submitted by the contractor? (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Sunday, July 11, 2004 - 09:29 pm:    No. "3.4.2 The Contractor may make substitutions only with the consent of the Owner, after evaluation by the Architect and in accordance with a Change Order." The Architect may, however, "authorize minor changes in the Work" (4.2.8). John Regener, AIA, CCS, CCCA, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: john_regener Post Number: 166 Registered: 04-2002 Posted on Sunday, July 11, 2004 - 11:13 pm:    The substitution process is not addressed in much detail in AIA A201. Why? Because AIA A201 addresses how the Contractor shall demonstrate conformance with the requirements of the Contract Documents and not how the Contractor can get around the requirements. If the construction is not in compliance with the Contract Documents prepared by the Architect, and the basis for permits for construction, and the Architect has not approved the deviations or revisions, then the Architect should give notice to the Owner that the construction is not in compliance and that the Architect will not be liable for the consequences of the non-conforming construction. If this is serious enough, then the Architect should also notify the Code authorities and withdraw the Architect's seal and signature from the documents. Let the Owner and Code authorities deal with the issue of the project needing architectural and engineering designers. (And be prepared to deal with heavy-duty conflicts over payment of design services fees.) Ronald J. Ray, RA, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: rjray Post Number: 19 Registered: 04-2004 Posted on Monday, July 12, 2004 - 08:50 am:    Shedd, in case you were asking about substitutions requested during the bidding period, AIA Document A701-1997 - Instructions To Bidders, describes the process for pre-bid substitution request. A701-1997 also states in Subparagraph 3.3.4 that “no substitutions will be considered after the Contract award unless specifically provided for in the Contract Documents.” I use Section 01630 - Product Substitutions to expand the requirements for pre-bid substitutions request, and to clearly state that either post bid substitutions are not allowed, or to define the conditions in which post-bid substitutions will be considered and how they should be submitted. Since an accepted post-bid substitution essentially modifies the Contract Documents, the architect can not simply approve post-bid substitutions, as the architect has no authority to alter the Agreement between the Owner and Contractor. When I allow post-bid substitutions, I require Owner accepted post-bid substitutions to be incorporated into a Change Order, including accepted substitutions which have no change in the Contract Sum associated with them. Shedd Glass, CSI, CCS (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Monday, July 12, 2004 - 09:24 am:    Thanks for the comments guys. Unregistered,that's my opinion too. John, sounds a bit severe to me. Ronald, the question was intended to be during construction. Any substitution reqires a Change Order whether the contract sum is changed or not per General Conditons 3.4.2. I have 6 clients some of which believe they CAN approve substitutions. Thanks again for the comments.