Hello Kaythrine,

I did notice you are presently in design related planning. There are lots of scenario here:

Probably 1: The provisional sum relates to construction of structure with no exiting design drawings, say for example bldg A, roads and parking, etc. Solution: you can have a WBS showing this structures at the same time allow for one line activity describing the structure. This is important because you have to capture the duration of its provisional sum relating to the construction of each structure to give a clear picture on what the construction duration might be.

GB, PTL, TY
Scarlett

Its worth remembering the difference between defined and undefined PS’s:

Defined provisional sums are sums of money intended for elements of the Works which have not been sufficiently designed but where there is certain defined information available.

The required information is specified within General Rule 10.3 of SMM 7 which requires the following details to be provided in respect of every defined provisional sum in the Bills of Quantities:

(a) The nature and construction of the work.

(b) A statement of how and where the work is fixed to the building and what other is to be fixed thereto.

(c) A quantity or quantities which indicate the scope and extent of the work.

(d) Any specified limitations and the like identified in Section A35 of SMM 7 (limitations imposed by the Employer e.g. access, disposal of materials found, working hours).

If the information specified in General Rule 10.3 of SMM 7 is not available the Contract Bills should describe the provisional sum as ‘undefined’.

As noted above, General Rule 10.4 of SMM7 states that ‘where Provisional sums are given for defined work the Contractor will be deemed to have made due allowance in programming, planning and pricing preliminaries’.

In my experience a lot of Clients will claim a provsional sum is defined WHEN IT IS NOT.

So, to cap, you need to included all DEFINED PROVSIONAL SUMS ON YOUR PROGRAMMES !!

Hello Kaythrine,

Welcome to Planning Planet, the best planet for planning engineers, planners and anyone interested to know about planning, scheduling, project control, contracts, etc.

I’m also from Philippines and in my college days, I have not heard of provisional sum in the study of contract. During my practice in Philippines, I have not heard of provisional sum because most of the contracts are lump sum.

To answer your question:

Provisional sum are money allocated for certain activities that will be use at the discretion of the Engineer or client representative. Meaning while the Contractor quoted for an activity in the provisional sum, the Contractor needs the approval of the client representative to use the amount in the provisional sum.

for example: road diversion

In some lump sum contract the road diversion can be lump sum, meaning including in the lump sum contract, but
in some contract, road diversion can also be provisional sum. so to continue with the elucidation, in the lump sum contract, the road diversion will be done as shown in the contract plan, however, in provisional sum, the client representative can direct the Contractor to do road diversion here and there until all the sum will be expended.

Does all contract have it? as elaborated above, not all contract have provisional sum since it all depends on each countries practice. In Philippines, it is seldom used, however, in commonwealth countries, it is used most of the time.

or is it present in contract/specs or docs? This all depends upon the practice. Generally, in Philippines it is not present. Of course if you have Davies Langdon and Seah as the Quantity Surveyor consultant, there is a big chance of its present. But the prevalence in Philippines is not having provisional sum since most of our projects are lump sum.

I hope you are not confuse now. but if your contract says so then you have to include provisional sum in your schedule since that is construction activities. It will also guide your client representative when to issue an instruction to use the provisional sum.

GB, PTL, TY,
Scarlett

Hi Kaythrine

Welcome to Planning Planet

Regarding provisional sums everything depends on the definition in your Contract or the Method of Measurement.

As has been stated before there are usually two categories:

Defined PS where a programme task is required and

Undefined PS where no task is required.

The problem is that in most cost plans the Provisional sums are described as defined but are really undefined.

The question you must put to yourself is:

From the information attached to this PS can I realistically draw up a resourced task or set of tasks and place it in my network.

I yes then do so - if no then do not put in a task but put in a linked up milestone where it may fall in the network.

Best regards

Mike Testro