Veach Leads Industry Team on New CMAR Contract Tools
Coy Veach, a nationally recognized leader on project delivery methods, has led development of a comprehensive new library of contract documents to guide owners and contractors in projects using construction manager at risk.
Coy chairs the CMAR subcommittee of the Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee, a collaborative group co-sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Council of Engineering Companies and National Society of Professional Engineers.
The subcommittee developed the 2023 Construction Manager at Risk Series, which contains 27 documents – including contracts, bonds, contractor-procurement documents and administrative forms – for use with CMAR projects. CMAR is an increasingly adopted delivery method through which the owner hires a contractor for preconstruction services through construction.
CMAR shifts some of the traditional design-bid-build alignments and can accelerate project completion by bringing the contractor in during design to review constructability, start lining up materials and equipment, assess risks and organize work packages.
ASCE’s Civil Engineering magazine announced the new documents in a recent article in which Coy explains the need for this toolset:
“Collaborative project delivery has been available to public owners for some time, and while different organizations have written model documents for design-build, there are few industry-standard documents for construction manager at risk for infrastructure projects,” said Coy M. Veach, PE, F.ASCE., vice president, Freese and Nichols, Inc., in Mansfield, Texas, and chair of the EJCDC’s CMAR subcommittee.“Most CMAR documents we see in use are modifications of hard-bid construction documents that do not take advantage of the benefits offered by the construction manager at risk delivery system.” …
“In today’s construction market we are dealing with material cost escalation, supply chain issues, limited resources, and the need for better control of risk by both owners and contractors,” Veach said.“Projects are more expensive to build, and owners are competing to make their projects more attractive to potential builders. CMAR allows owners to work collaboratively with contractors to identify and mitigate risk in ways not possible with traditional project delivery.“While CMAR is not the right delivery system for all projects, it offers advantages that are more important now than in any time in the past.”
Coy is a Freese and Nichols Vice President/Principal and a senior consultant for our construction management and program management practices. He has extensive background in construction contracting, program management, project management, construction management and risk management. He led development of the firm’s quality review program, including the process, procedures and forms used for constructability reviews. He has served as an examiner for the Texas Award of Performance Excellence.