SUBMISSION GUIDE FOR ARCHITECTS, 2016 EDITION 5.16
A. General Change Order Instructions
RETURN SIX ORIGINALLY SIGNED COPIES OF THIS CHANGE ORDER
TO THE PENNSYLVANIA HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY.
1. In order for this change order to be processed by PHFA, it must contain
all original signatures, with required support material attached. If any
required information is missing, the entire submission will be returned.
2. All work shall conform with applicable provisions of the Construction
Contract, Drawings, and Specifications unless otherwise specifically noted
herein.
3. This change order is not valid unless signed by Owner, Contractor,
Bonding Company (see note ‘E4’ hereon), Supervising Architect, PHFA
Technical Services Representative and Division Director as well as PHFA
Finance Personnel.
4. Either the Contractor or the Owner may initiate change orders. All
change orders must be approved by all parties and reviewed by the PHFA
Technical Services Representative prior to being sent to PHFA for its
approval.
5. Please submit change order increases and decreases as separate
change orders.
6. Change order increases must be paid to PHFA. The check must be
payable to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and attached to the
change order. If the Owner has paid more than the final net amount of all
“Add and Deduct” change orders, PHFA will return any overpayment when
the final closing takes place. In certain cases, change orders may be paid
from the construction contingency fund if included in the mortgage. If this is
the case, indicate the amount requested from the contingency account on
the line noted.
7. Change orders are cost certifiable. Savings (when all actual costs are
less than the mortgage amount) may be used to pay for change orders at
the sole discretion of PHFA.
8. PHFA will mail change orders it has signed to the Owner, General
Contractor and Supervising Architect.
9. The Owner, Architect or Contractor may request a change order to
cover additions, deletions or upgrades to the contract documents.
10. When it becomes necessary to make any of the above modifications to
the contract, a change order shall be prepared and submitted to PHFA for
approval within fifteen (15) business days after it has been determined that
the work is required. Changes not processed within this time frame may be
disapproved by PHFA, regardless of funding source.
11. Cost or credit for the work proposed by change orders will be
determined in accordance with the General Conditions AIA Document A201
and related PHFA SUPPLEMENTAL GENERAL CONDITIONS.
12. When the dollar value of the work has been determined by the
Contractor after compiling his/her own construction costs as well as the
construction cost of any and all related Subcontractors, the Contractor will
be allowed to add the following to that dollar value of the work: a)
Builders Overhead defined as expenses necessary to the operation of a
construction business and is limited to 2% of the dollar value of the work; b)
Builders Profit limited to 6% of the dollar value of the work; and c) any
additional bond premium that may be incurred as a result of the change
order work.
13. When work is deleted, the Contractor shall submit a change order for
the full value of the deletion. When an approved item of lesser quality is
installed, a change order shall be submitted for the difference between the
cost of the original item and the lesser substitution.
14. Except under emergency conditions, no changes in contract work shall
be made without a change order signed by the Owner and PHFA. Work
may be authorized on a time and material basis, but the procedure for
obtaining formal change orders remains the same. Owners will contact the
Technical Services Representative on emergency conditions and verify
emergency prior to the Contractor starting work on the change order.
15. Sufficient copies of letters, proposals and change orders must be
prepared so that each signatory has sufficient copies to process. Six
original PHFA Change Order Forms C5 are required for submission to
PHFA but only two complete copies of all change order substantiation
documentation need be submitted.
16. When a development is thirty (30) days behind the original
schedule, a change order must be submitted to the Architect by the
Contractor requesting a 30-day extension of time, with all necessary
documentation justifying the request. Subsequently additional no cost
time extension change orders may be submitted for review and approval
at any time during the course of the work.
B. Contractor Related Instructions
1. If a Contractor determines that items of work not covered in the
Contract Documents must be done, a request will be made by the
Contractor to the Architect within fifteen working days after discovery. If
a request for a Change Order is not submitted within this time, the
changes may be disapproved by PHFA.
2. Independent/unrelated credit change orders must be submitted on
separate forms. The exception being a credit given to accommodate
newly added change order work (i.e., a credit for vinyl tile and an add of
carpet at the same area may be on the same change order request; but
a credit for deleted landscaping and an add for window treatment must
be on separate change order forms).
3. Multiple independent credit change orders may be submitted on one
form.
4. Except for work of an emergency nature, all proposed changes in the
scope of contract work must be discussed during the job meetings prior
to that work commencing. All such changes in work scope must be
agreed to by the Owner, Architect, Contractor and PHFA. The
probability is high that any change order related to “design/build”
scenarios will be disapproved by PHFA.
5. The Contractor will submit the CHANGE ORDER FORM C5 to the
Architect with adequate substantiation as outlined below.
C. Owner Related Instructions
1. The Owner, with written approval of PHFA, may request extra work or
request changes by altering, adding or deducting from the contract work.
All such changes will be processed in accordance with PHFA’s change
order procedures. If the change order is an “add” and the contingency
has been expended, a check in the amount of the change order must be
attached to the change order request.
2. PHFA reserves the right to require the Owner to fund from sources
other than the contract contingency account, any/all change orders for
the provision of work which may have been previously removed from the
contract via Addendum, value engineering or similar agreements. This
stipulation is true regardless of the contingency account balance.
3. PHFA reserves the right to require the Owner to fund from sources
other than the contract contingency account any/all change orders for
provision of work, for fees, for permits, for design costs or similar
required to satisfy utility providers and/or Governing Municipalities.
Design and/or review fees associated with additional utility work, hook-
up fees, service extensions, etc., also fall under this stipulation. This
stipulation is true regardless of the contingency account balance.
4. These change orders must be submitted within fifteen working days
after it has been determined that the work is required. Any change
orders submitted after this time frame may not be approved by PHFA.
D. Architect Related Instructions
1. Upon receipt of a request for a change order and after review as
indicated in the change order procedures, the Architect will forward
his/her recommendations to the Owner, together with all proper
substantiation. The recommendations shall be in written form and refer
to the Contract Documents defining where and why the change is
warranted.
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2. The Architect will forward this information to the Owner after it is
received from the Contractor. Any change orders not processed and in
the possession of PHFA within the fifteen day limit may be disapproved
by PHFA.
E. Change Order Submission Procedures for All Parties
1. Following the request for a change in the work, the Architect shall
address a letter to the Contractor (with copies to the Owner and PHFA)
including the following information and requesting a change order from
the Contractor: Nature and extent of work added, deleted or changed,
supplementary drawings as required, reason for change. Should the
Contractor discover a necessity for a change or substitution, he shall
first call the Architect and obtain approval to proceed with the request.
2. The Contractor shall prepare and submit the final PHFA Change
Order Form C5 to the Architect indicating the following: Nature and
extent of work added, deleted or changed, supplementary drawings,
specifications and other pertinent documentation, reason for change,
detailed cost breakdown (labor and materials, supporting invoices) or
lump sum as required by Contract Documents), the effect the change
order will have on the construction schedule indicated as the number of
additional or fewer days required to complete the contract work.
3. The Architect, upon receipt of the Contractor’s change order, and
after review as indicated below, shall forward his recommendations to
the Owner, together with all proper documentation. The observing
Architect, when applicable, shall: Review the change for technical
correctness and comment, review the change for reasonable cost,
include a statement explaining why the modification to Contract
Documents was required, and recommend acceptance, rejection, cost
revisions or alternate solutions. Sign the change order and forward it to
the Owner.
4. The Owner will review the change order and suggestions received
from the Architect and accept or reject it. If accepted, the change order
shall be signed by the Owner, Contractor, Bonding Company,
PHFA Technical Services Representative and other required governing
agencies. In order to expedite processing of change orders, the
Contractor may secure documentations from their bonding company at
the start of the contract work indicating the bonding company’s intent
and dollar value limit to which they will provide coverage. Such
documentation must be on official bonding company letterhead and
must bear the seal of that bonding company along with appropriate
signature(s). A copy of such document may be affixed to each change
order request in lieu of the bonding company’s individual
approvals/signatures. If the contingency fund is exhausted or if PHFA
requests owner funding, the Owner shall attach a check to the change
order in a sufficient amount to cover the cost.
5. Upon receipt of the data in “E4” (immediately above) and the check
from the Owner, PHFA shall: Review the entire package, accept, reject
or suggest modifications, authorize payment when included in the
Contractor’s regular requisition, execute and return three copies of the
change order to the Owner.
6. Change Order Log - At the first inference that a change is eminent,
it shall be numbered and recorded on the Change Order Log with an
estimated cost. When changes are approved, they shall be renumbered
and entered on the approved side of the log. This log is the responsibility
of the Architect and shall be updated and submitted to the Technical
Services Representative at each payout meeting.
ALL INSTRUCTIONS AND PROCEDURES ARE SUBJECT TO
CHANGE BY PHFA AT ANY TIME. SHOULD CHANGES OCCUR
DURING THE WORK THE PHFA TECHNICAL SERVICES
REPRESENTATIVE WILL ALERT AND INSTRUCT ALL PARTIES AS
TO WHAT THE CHANGES ARE AND HOW THEY MAY AFFECT THE
CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT OR THE WORK.