No. The contractor can print their submission only. The CO sees both, the submitted and their statements. Once the VECP has been approved, the CO may wish to print a copy for the contractor, but that is their decision. The CO should never allow a contractor to assess their approval side.

Do I have to evaluate in the order shown?

No. You can go in any order.

How can I benefit from the system if the contractor did not use it?

Enter the VECP yourself. In the CO entry of a VECP for the contractor system, you can create the VECP, then after the first page is completed, you will be returned to the evaluation section where you can complete the remainder of the VECP. You can then use the evaluation system on the result. The contractor side of the VECP will not be present using this approach. If you wish that part present next to your own evaluation for you to compare, you will need to ask the contractor to use the basic or enhanced version of the contractor's create system, and submit it to you.

What is the difference between the manager and CO in the system?

A manager has all the abilities of a CO, plus the ability to examine the results of other CO's for which they have reprting or management responsibilities. Manager levels can be as high as needed [ example ]. For example, a manager might run their own VECP's as a CO, and manages/reports on other CO's. A manager may manage or report that managers activities, plus others, which allows them to report on all activities that they are responsible for too. This can continue all the way up to something like the OMB, or Department's Value Engineering Program Coordinator/Officer.

What can a manager see of the managed CO's information?

Only the summary report issues. For security purposes, if a manager wants to see more than reporting issues, which must be reported by law, they must request the CO send them the print outs.

What about security; can anyone declare they are my manager?

Anyone can send you a request, but you must approve them. For security reasons, the CO is sent an e-mail with an approve or decline. If the person is your manager, you accept and they can now report your VECP results as needed. If not, you decline, and they don't get access at all.

I took over someone's job. How do I get to their information?

They should have given you their user id and password. You simply use them to access the system, and change the name, phone, password, or whatever. (Change the password please.) The only feature you cannot change is the user id, and if that becomes a major issue, you can request we change it, subject to the restriction that only one userid is possible on the system and if someone else has it, you cannot.

how do I use the side by side option?

The side by side puts the contractor submittal on the left, your evaluation in the middle, and your reasoning for any changes on the right. It gives a simple way to show the full evaluation thought process. Note that this printout is considered a working document under FOIA. The pdf printout is the final result and is subject to FOIA.

FAST Diagrams

General description

A FAST (Functional Analysis System Technique) diagram shows the functional elements, and their relative importance. The functions directly to the left and right of the "scope line" are considered essential to the performance of the project and cannot be changed by the acceptance of a VECP. It is helpful to show the prior to change FAST and the FAST after the change. If the FAST shows the essential functions have not changed, it can be used to prove that the essential are not harmed by the change. It is not required to show a FAST diagram. However, almost all instructions from the most governments suggest showing one. Their presence helps the CO demonstrate that they did not harm the purpose of the project by accepting the VECP. [sample FAST]

Prior to change FAST

In most cases, no one need to generate a FAST of the project before the change. The governmental agency has probably generated one during the design as a result of their mandatory value engineering program. All the contractor need do, is request a copy of the value study report from the agency.

After change FAST

Using the governments FAST, in most cases, it is only a small step to show the change. It is not necessary to show all the details of the FAST, only essential areas and how they are unaffected. Again, it is not required that the contractor submit a FAST, just a helpful suggestion, recommended by all consultants and almost all governmental agencies allowing a VECP.

Legal Issues

Can you offer us defense?

That is not the purpose of this site. We can provide access to the records, but so can you. If you need further, this is subject to our terms of service. Expert witness testimony is expensive, and lawyers are even more so. Our design is intended to assure it never gets to that point.

Wow. Sounds scary. How much risk is in the VECP

Our records indicate less than 0.5% of VECPs ever generate a dispute, much less a court experience. However, most of those are related to specific issues, and when they do occur, they can be expensive. We design and modify our systems, partly, with the idea that we can reduce that small percentage to nothing. In all the cases our experts have been involved in, or are aware of; using our enhanced system, by both the contractor and CO, would have avoided the problem entirely.

What about new legal issues?

We modify the system to respond to known new issues on a periodic basis. Chances are that our system knows about the situation before the contractor, CO, governmental group, or even the lawyers know that a change is recommended. In most past cases, recommended practices are the key issue, and our system designed around that concept.

Future Plans

Requesting Enhancements

We request users let us know of enhancements they would like to see. We do not guarantee their adoption but promise to examine every submission,

Planned Enhancements

In addition to the typical updates relating to the industry, we are examining adding additional enhanced printing options, additional reports, methods to search other VECPs for key phrases that may benefit the VECP generator and CO in finding an idea, and CO sharing options for the organization features.

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