Change Order Request

Change Order Request

About

Change Order Request is a document of proposed change(s) in the current contract (i.e. dollar amount, new requirements, or time outside the scope of a contract and/or the provisions of its changes clause) that become change order when approved by all stakeholders to include the owner and/or general contractor performing the work.

As anyone experienced in healthcare facilities management knows, the situation where a project goes exactly as planned, from the beginning to end, is a rare exception rather than the rule. For this reason, most contract documents provide some means to modify the contract and/or the contractor’s scope of work to facilitate changes needed to achieve the basic objectives of the project. However, it is an unfortunate fact that the required procedures to process a change order are many times not followed in the field, and this usually leads to disputes over the contractor’s entitlement to compensation for “extra” work.

It is vital that all parties understand the change order process before beginning work and have knowledgeable representatives in place to anticipate and react to scope issues as they arise. The mandated procedures to initiate a change order must be followed, and appropriate documentation of all communications and costs associated with the additional work must be contemporaneously generated and maintained. However, even if the contractor has failed to follow the required procedures, there may be potential options available to avoid a claim of waiver or other contractual defenses.

Reasons

Common causes for change orders to be created are:

• The project's work was incorrectly estimated
• The customer or project team discovers obstacles or possible inefficiencies that require *them to deviate from the original plan
• The customer or project team are inefficient or incapable of completing their required deliverables within budget, and additional money, time, or resources must be added to the project
• During the course of the project, additional features or options are perceived and requested.
• The contractor looks for work items to add to the original scope of work at a later time in order to achieve the lowest possible base bid price, but then add work items and fee back on once the contractor has been hired for the work. This is an exploitative practice.

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