DELAY AND DELAY ANALYSIS: ISN'T IT SIMPLE ?

The intended purpose of schedule delay analysis is to determine what happened, what was the impact on the schedule, and what was the cause ? At the outset delay analysis should determine what events occurred and when. From this preliminary review , delay analysis should then determine with some specificity, what was the outcome in terms of the schedule? That is, was th e project delayed and, if so, by how much? Finally, delay analysis should be used to determine who was responsible (the proximate cause) for the events whic h resulted in the project delay. From this analysis, legal and contractual conclusions can be reached as to what type(s) of delay occurred and what, if any, damages are owed as a result. Simple? No! Why not? Because there is no industry-wide agreement on what a delay analysis consists of nor on which schedule delay analysis technique should be empl oyed. Does it matter? After all, scheduling is “quasi-scientific” and “objective” (i.e., fact driven). All analytical techniques should render the same result, shouldn’t they? This presentation discusses the status of a Recommended Practice that AACEI has had underdevelopment for nearly two years now – the Recommended Practice on Forensic Schedule Analysis. This Recommended Practice defines, describes and explains the various forensic schedule analysis techniques currently employed in the construction industry. The Recommended Practice neither excludes nor endorses any of the methods discussed. Rather, it classifies and discusses the known methods, offers caveats on the us e of each method and discusses best current practices and implementation of each technique. This paper summarizes portions of the Recommended Practice and provides a status update on the document.