Schedule

Despite bold, Italicized, underlined, and yellow highlighted target completion dates, we failed to actually complete the highway last year. As expected, we have a new target completion date, again established by the Client, who sees more votes and tourist dollars slipping away with each month that we remain unfinished. I imagine that his fear of losing power will tend to drive many more activities as we approach the as-of-yet-unscheduled-but-forthcoming elections.

In the current case, he has commanded that the project be complete by the end of March. This dictation is to satisfy a promise the PM made last year about how the road would be completed in 2001. At the time, he meant “calendar” 2001, but has since decided that he actually meant “fiscal” 2001. No matter, he will be lucky to see substantial completion by the end of calendar 2002, but by then, he should have lost the election.

Who knows, though? Maybe the PNP will win again (I think that the gangs in the PNP garrisons may have more guns than the gangs in the JLP garrisons), but I would prefer they did not. Not that the opposition would treat the people any better, but further entrenchment by the Party ‘N Power is bound to bode even more poorly for the future of the common folk. Best to give the other guy a chance to rifle through what remains in the coffers.

Showing his concern regarding this outcome, the Client has firmly stated that there is nothing beyond the end of March. “Any and all steps must be taken to assure that this schedule is met. If not, heads will roll. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah,… blah.”

Coincidentally, this is the same speech they gave last September, when there was nothing beyond the end of December. Ooh, but this time, they are really serious, as indicated by the higher level of bureaucrats delivering the fire and brimstone sermon.

To facilitate this end of the world ultimatum, they have asked that we develop a schedule with which to whack the various contractors and goad them to action. Bear in mind that it has taken fifty-two months to place the first sixty percent of the pavement. And now the Client expects to see the remaining forty percent in the next couple of months.

Tick,… tick,… tick.

The deadline gets closer each day, and although we have seen some increased performance out of some of the contractors, it is nowhere near what they need to do to meet this new schedule.

“Hey”, the Client says to me, as the hovering ten watt bulb delivers a faint and unsteady glow. “Why don’t you redesign more large portions of the project to save money and time?” And I respond, “Uh, won’t that compromise certain established quality and safety aspects of the completed roadway?” And the Client is like, “Huh? But we want to save time and money.” And I am all, “Whatever.” And he is like, “Huh?” And I am all, “It’s your road. Instruct us in writing.”

And my own clock goes, “tictictictictictictic,…..”

Besides his attempts to hack the Job to bits, one other way that the Client has decided to save some time is to provide additional assistance to the most poorly performing contractors. So, at great risk of boring you - the Contract to construct this highway is governed in part by the Fourth Edition of the Conditions of Contract for Works of Civil Engineering Construction (the “General Conditions”) as developed by the Federation Internationale Des Ingenieurs Conseils (FIDIC).

Clause 59 of the aforementioned General Conditions allows the Employer to assign Nominated Subcontractors to the Main Contractor. Presumably, this is to allow the Employer (a.k.a. the Client) some control over certain specialist subcontractors. In our case, it allowed the Client to hire his own cronies to take over once the Koreans defaulted.

In assigning Nominated Subcontractors to complete the Works, instead of taking our advice, sacking The Contractor and finding a new contractor on the international market, the Client got to give the balance of the project to his local friends, because friends always help their friends (nudge, wink). To ease their loss and hold their tongues, the Koreans were promised 7.5% of the value of the works performed by the Nominated Subcontracts as an “Attendance Fee”. This is like setting up a sidewalk superintendent with sandwiches, beer, smokes and a lawn chair so that he can sit on the kerb and kibitz while the real work goes on in front of him.

One of these new contractors, one of the three assigned to the baseworks (anagramatically, Golum), sucks harder than the others. His tendered costs were too low. He has little equipment and fewer qualified operators. In fact, the government contracts committee has said that he has never completed a project successfully. One must wonder why he got the work to begin with,… unless perhaps he was someone’s friend,…

Hmmm.

He should have been sacked long ago, but instead, the Client has recently assigned one of the paving Nominated Subcontractors to be Golum’s Nominated Subcontractor for baseworks and to perform the balance of his work at three times his tendered cost. To ease their loss, Golum has been promised 7.5% of the value of the works performed by this Nominated Subcontractor as an “Attendance Fee”. So (in case you drifted off during the preceding General Conditions explanation, or otherwise failed to pay attention), the Client will again pay the non-performer huge sums because they cannot complete their work, essentially giving him over twenty percent of his contract sum for doing absolutely nothing except sucking.

In this, we all lose.

Except for Golum, and the overpriced paver, and whoever gets kicked back.

Oh, and the completion date is not really in three months,, at the end of March, but the Ides, some seven weeks hence. This stroke of brilliance came from the Client, of course, who probably sets his watch five minutes ahead to avoid being late for appointments, yet always figures that he has an extra five minutes, because he set his watch ahead, and then arrives thirty minutes late anyway.

The Client figures that if he says the Fifteenth, the work will be done by the Thirty-first.

I see it as two missed deadlines in the same month.