Once the contract is fully executed, a written Notice to Proceed (NTP) is issued to the contractor to commence the work and start at the contract time as defined in Special Provision “Time of Completion and Liquidated Damages.” The Notice to Proceed date is the first day of the contract time.
Using Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) like PMWeb, project owners can better manage the issuance of this critical letter and ensure that it is aligned with the project’s contract clauses and best practices. PMWeb custom form builder will be used to create the template for the Notice to Proceed letter where the header captures the date, project, contract, contractor, and document approval status as per the set workflow. The customs form also includes fields that are specific to the Notice to Proceed letter including Conditional Award Date, Bid Guarantee Expiry Date, NTP Effective Date, Contract Duration in Days, Contract Duration Spelled Out in words, and Project Completion Date. Other fields can be added if it is required for the NTP letter template. In addition, the customs form has a predefined checklist that needs to be verified by the assigned project team member before the NTP letter is issued. The checklist items need to be verified that they are available and if not or not applicable, then the comments field needs to be used to explain why. The checklist items could be also referenced to the relevant contract clause. The checklist items represent the project owner’s knowledge in issuing such letters and what needs to be checked to ensure it is correct.
The attachment tab will be used to upload and attach all documents and PMWeb records that could be relevant to the Notice to Proceed Letter. For example, those could be the conditional award letter or letter of acceptance or award which was generated using PMWeb as well as the bid bond guarantee issued for the relevant contract. Other documents could include permit clearance among other documents that were used when responding to the checklist.
To ensure that needed approvals for issuing the Notice to Proceed Letter, a workflow will be assigned to this form to ensure that all needed reviews, approvals, and final approvals are secured before issuing the letter. The workflow steps can be configured to Fulfill the internal review requirements for each project owner.
Finally, PMWeb Word module will be used to create the output letter template for the Notice to Proceed. The variable content of the letter will be picked up from the Notice to Proceed Letter form. The letter can be merged into MS Word should there is a need to make any changes or modifications to the automatically generated letter.
