1843.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



01 



NOTES ON EARTH WORK, EXCAVATION, CUTTING, AND 



FORMING EMBANKMENT UPON RAILWAYS. 



Article V. — Tenders, Schedules, and Securities. 



The preceding paper treated on the supervision of works during their 

 progress ; in the present one I will endeavour to give a sketch of the custom 

 prevailing amongst the various railway works, previous to the actual com- 

 mencement of works, in the prior operation of advertising the works for 

 competition, and the condition and manner of taking securities. In 

 the general form of contracts, plans, sections and specifications are ex- 

 hibited, and printed forms of tender, drafts of contracts, and printed sche- 

 dules are distributed to intending competitors ; in some few cases the 

 approximate quantities of the principal works, as earthwork and masonry 

 are given, but the contractor has to satisfy himself both as to quantity and 

 nature of the ground, the companies furnishing him with sections of the 

 strata from actual borings. The directors do not bind themselves to accept 

 the lowest tender, but reserve to themselves the power of accepting any offer 

 which they may think fit. The successful party has to enter into a bond with 

 two securities to the extent of 10 per cent, on the amount of contract. 

 The amount of contract is generally exclusive of permanent way, which is 

 let separately, as also the keeping of the works in repair for twelve months 

 after completion. As regards the permanent way, the Company furnish the 

 material, and the contract is taken only for laying, and perhaps including keys, 

 wooden pins, or small wares. The keeping the roadway in repair has been 

 tendered for by contractors at sometimes six times the amount that the actual 

 cost has been to them. After experience has tested the amount, it has produced 

 a feeling amongst engineers that it is not expedient to include in the contract 

 the keeping the works in repair, but the contract to be ended on the cer- 

 tificate of completion being obtained from the engineer. When the directors 

 meet to receive tenders, it fs expected the parties tendering, or an autho- 

 rized person on their behalf, will attend. The directors make no allow- 

 ance to the unsuccessful competitors for the expense of their estimates. In 

 some cases the bondsmen of the contractor are bound in a specific amount 

 proportionate to the estimated amount of the contract by the engineer, not 

 a per centage. The time of completion is in some cases stipulated, and a 

 penalty imposed if the works be not completed within the given time, in an 

 increasing ratio, say 100/. for the 1st week, 200/. for the 2nd week, 300/. 

 for the 3rd week, and increasing by 100/. per week for each successive week. 



The design and responsibility of centreing for bridges, &c. and the 

 onus for the execution of the works are thrown upon the contractor, 

 he is to repair all injuries, from whatever cause, during the execution 

 of the work ; he is not to be allowed any day bill for work " expressed 

 or implied " by the specification, and the decision of the engineer is to be 

 final and binding upon the contractor, in all cases where there shall be any 

 dispute or misunderstanding regarding the specification and drawings ; and 

 should an insufficient number of men be employed, the engineer is to have 

 full power to take the whole of the works out of the hands of the con- 

 tractor, seize upon his plant, and cause the work to be finished by any other 

 person. The payments on account are regulated by the certificate of 

 the engineer, and a per centage retained in hand varying from 10 to 20 per 

 cent. Some altercation amongst parties has arisen in their not being 

 allowed to draw for material on the ground and not being in the work. The 

 contractor is made responsible for all damage that may be done to adjoin- 

 ing lands, and for any penalties and forfeitures imposed by the Act of Incor- 

 poration as regards crossing canals or public highways. He, the contractor, 

 is to furnish tools and assistants to the engineer in setting out the works, 

 and the engineer has power to remove all materials insufficient as regards 

 the quality at his mere dictum. 



I think, as a matter of justice, that the lowest tender should have the con- 

 tract, provided he obtains the stipulated securities ; if the tender be 

 not accepted, the party ought to be paid for his estimate. I consider that 

 the present mode of taking security is unfair and inefficient, and that if 

 penalties are to be exacted for delays, that an equivalent bonus should be 

 given to the contractor for any number of weeks that the works may be 

 completed before the stipulated time. I have, I believe, read attentively all 

 the works in the English language relative to railways, and do not think 

 that this important subject has been treated on by any party, even in the 

 splendidly got up works of Mr. Weale, which merely give the specifications 

 of the quality of materials and mode of execution of the works without note 

 or comment. The practice of London for tenders of buildings under an 

 architect is, that when a work is to be tendered for, the architect appoints a 



surveyor, and a limited number of contractors of note and reputation are 

 written to, and they appoint another surveyor, who, with the former, make 

 out a bill of quantities which is supplied to each competitor, as also the cost 

 of the estimate, which is included in each tender, and is generally 1$ per 

 cent, on the amount, and which is paid by the successful party. The 

 architect charges 5 per cent, if he superintend and carry the work into exe- 

 cution, and if the job fails for want of capital or change of opinion, the 

 architect only gets paid at the rate of 1\ per cent, on the estimated cost. 



I cannot forego this opportunity of directing attention to an article in the 

 Companion, to the British Almanac, page 21, 1843, on the sanatary condition 

 of the people, where Mr. Chadwick observes that " In the execution of other 

 local works, as sewers, roads, and drains to houses, no care is at present 

 taken to ensure the superintendence of persons of competent skill. Noisy 

 parish brawlers obtain appointments of this nature, and are paid at an 

 extravagant rate for inefficient services occupying only a part of their time. 

 A case is mentioned of an illiterate person receiving a salary of 150/. a year, 

 or as much as a lieutenant of engineers and a private, or as much as three Ser- 

 jeants of sappers and miners." Mr. Chadwick, with respect to the other 

 works alluded to, states, a hundred thousand pounds have been received in 

 fees for surveys of new buildings per annum, and that "this sum would be 

 sufficient to pay the whole corps of Royal Engineers, or 240 men of science, 

 and the whole corps of sappers and miners, or nearly 1000 trained men." 

 Mr. Chadwick also observes that under the Tithe Commutation and Parochial 

 Assessment Acts, that "amongst the most satisfactory surveys were those exe- 

 cuted by a retired Serjeant of sappers and miners." In respect to railways, 

 the point of the government wedge is already introduced, and I would warn 

 the assistant engineers to unite boldly against this attempt to interfere with 

 them. 



Whilst extracting from the Companion to the Almanac, I cannot 

 forego the temptation of extending my extracts to the " Notes on railways," 

 and the new position assumed by them in page "8, alluding to the Norwich 

 and Yarmouth line : " the difficulty in obtaining the capital was so great, 

 that the scheme was all but abandoned, when a new mode was devised 

 whereby the contracts for the whole works were secured to compe- 

 tent parties, on condition of their investing a large portion of their contract 

 prices in the undertaking ; in this instance the contracts were taken at the 

 original estimates of the engineer ; still the principle thus adopted might 

 obviously lead to a good deal of jobbing, and is so far to be reprehended." 

 In the above observations I perfectly agree, and have made the extract that 

 this vara avis in terra may be more fully known through the Journal. 



Since writing the above, a special meeting of the London and Birmingham 

 Railway Company has been held (Jan. 16), to consider the expediency of 

 applying to Parliament for an act to make a branch railway from the main 

 line at Blisworth to the city of Peterborough. This meeting is reported in 

 the Railway Times (Jan. 21), from which I take the following conversation 

 bearing on the subject. A proprietor asks, " Am I to understand that there 

 is to be no specific contract for the completion of the work from end to end, 

 and that the contract will be advertized in the usual way ? I presume it 

 will be a common contract." The chairman replies, " In one sense it will 

 be so certainly, but I trust that in another sense it will be an uncommon 

 one, for I hope it will be done within the amount of the estimate. We do 

 not, however, mean to advertise, but to adopt the now usual course of writ- 

 ing to a certain number cf first rate contractors, requesting them to send in 

 tenders within a specified time." Proprietor. — " Then there is no actual 

 guarantee on the part of the contractor that the engineer's estimate will not 

 be exceeded." Chairman. — " We certainly are not now in that position, 

 although, as I said before, the engineer's estimate was accompanied by a 

 tender with a full guarantee for the execution of the works within the sum 

 named." Another proprietor is replied to by the chairman, who says, " I 

 think the honourable proprietor may fairly presume that the estimate will 

 not be exceeded by the mode of tender now proposed. The view of the 

 board was that there ought to be a probability of reduction in the terms of 

 the tender, rather than the chance of an increase, and it was that conside- 

 ration which induced us to determine on competition, as far as it can be done 

 with safety. As far, therefore, as the execution of the work goes, I consider 

 that we are in a state of perfect security, and that they will be finished 

 within the estimate." In the above conversation we have the results of the 

 most experienced men as capitalists and engineers that the world has pro- 

 duced, and with as much natural talent as perhaps ever will be produced. 

 From which we learn that the London practice as regards contracts for 

 buildings will be applied to railways, and that competition to too great au 

 extent is unsafe, and that the guarantee of the contractor was for the exe- 



