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Front End Documents

Overview of Front End Documents and Contract Requirements

Front End Documents are the series of contractual documents at the front of Construction Contracts in contrast to the technical specifications that account for the remainder of the Construction Contract Documents. Water Investment Division (WID) requires the use of the EJCDC (Version 2013 or 2018) front end documents on all projects it funds and manages. Other front end document sets may be utilized with WID permission only. The front end documents are written to primarily protect the Owner and the Contractor; during the bid, construction, and warranty phases.  This is accomplished by laying out the circumstances of the Agreement in detail. It is critical that each party review and understand the contents of the Agreement prior to entering into the contract so that misunderstandings and disagreements are resolved prior to the start of construction.

Front End Document Sets

  1. Must be obtained from EJCDC (Version 2013 or 2018).  Note: Affective immediately the EJCDC 2018 Version may be used in place of the 2013 Version.  Documents must be modified to make funding requirements clear.  Ask your assigned construction engineer for a list of changes.
  2. Projects under $250,000 may use the old FED CS5 Set.  (Link)

Use of Front End Document Sets

These documents are intended primarily for the use of Project Owners and their Engineers.

  1. Do not alter or amend the form's format or content. Ensuring the documents have not been altered or amended helps expedite the review process.  The recipient is expected to complete the required fields with the necessary information. However, the user of the documents is not to change the format of the documents (i.e. type size, font, headers, footers, margins, etc). Unapproved alterations to the documents may result in their rejection and require resubmittal of plans and specifications.
  2. Omissions or Errors. If there are any errors or omissions found in these files, please notify the assigned WID Construction Engineer to make the changes.
  3. WID Review.  No project or contract is authorized to go to bid until WID has reviewed and approved the documents (that includes the Front End Documents, specifications, and plans). A project that goes to bid without prior approval puts the Owner at risk of losing some or all of the SRF funding. There are stringent Federal requirements that are attached to the funding. These documents were developed to meet those requirements and proceeding in the bid process without approved plans and specifications indicates a lack of conformance to the program.
  4. WID Updates. The document sets are updated regularly. The Consultant is responsible for incorporating the most up to date accepted set into the contract at the time of bid.

Special Provisions for Front End Document Sets

Please include the following provisions as an addendum to the Front End document set to address requirements for projects utilizing a State Grant as part of the project funding (this includes ARPA Grants)

Grant Conditions for Front End Docs (PDF)

Grant Conditions for Front End Docs (MS Word)