DBIA Unofficial Practice Questions IV

Again, I don't know what's on the test, but these are my own practice questions prepared for myself.

Question	Answer
What is the purpose of Notice of Award?	Grants the right to negotiate terms and conditions, scope of design-build within the budget
What's the difference between criteria documents and bridging documents?	Criteria docs are when you only have qualifications/program and schematics, Bridging docs means you have design/construction documents
What are the four components during the proposal stage?	Team alignment, process commitment, conceptual design, cost model
What are the steps in Post Award stage?	Design validation, agree to new benchmarks, develop the Integrated Design Work Plan
What are the Five Dysfunctions of a Team	Absence of Trust Fear of Conflict Lack of Commitment Avoidance of Accountability Inattention to Results
Why do some design-build projects fail?	Failure to commit time and effort by all parties during the design phase, and inexperience and lack of knowledge of Best Practices
True or false: Being a good construction manager will automatically make you a good design-build manager	False, it requires some distinct management practices and incorporating DB Best Practices
What is the difference between construction and design process?	Construction is a sequential process, design is an iterative process
What are four tasks the DB manages?	Design-Value Interface Design-Cost Interface Design-Construction Interface (schedule) Design-Performance Interface
TRUE or FALSE: Cost and design parameters should be made during the design process.	TRUE, don't let the design parameters be figured out after the design.
What are the two components of Design Development Phase?	Design Validation and Design Reconciliation
What assumptions about site conditions are generally made during estimating?	Pre-existing conditions, subsurface conditions, DB created environmental conditions
At what percentage of the the design phase does the criteria documents become bridging documents?	20%
What are some Design Deliverables?	Having disciplined intense involvement (life cycle analysis) and construction sequencing.
How can quality assurance be in design-build?	Establish a performance criteria
What did we learn from Code of Hammurabi?	We need to establish a single point of responsibility
What happened in construction during the Industrial Revoluation?	Split of responsibility between architect and engineers
Who should retain the responsibility for Dispute Resolutions?	Owner
What are some of the benefits from Design Build?	Fast track scheduling, reduce owner liability of design errors, fewer claims
What is important from the Miller Act 1935?	Created a legal separation between design and construction, started Payment and Performance Bonds

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DBIA Unofficial Practice Questions III

Again, I don't know what's on the test, but these are my own practice questions prepared for myself.

Question	Answer
What are the contract formats?	Lump Sum Cost Plus GMP Unit Price Target Price
What is a Reimbursable in a Cost Plus Contract	Reimbursable are materials and labor used in the field, subject to auditing
When should the GMP Price be established?	At 50%
In DB, what are the problems when Performance Specs are not met?	LDs, impossibility, to make good.
What is important from the Dillingham Construction case?	Deviations from specs should be shared, and that have savings should also be shared
What must Liquidated Damages have to be legally sufficient?	Reasonable measure of damage and cannot be a penalty without early completion bonuses
What kinds of Limitations of Liability are there?	LDs, ceilings to liabilities, waivers for consequential damages, no damages for delay
What are Flow-Down Provisions?	Provisions that should be applied to all subcontractors, and incorporate design-related provisions into subcontracts
What are the types of Change/Dispute process in subcontracts?	Claims due to owner responsibility, Claims from others, and pass-thru documents from owners
True or False: The Design-builder is obligated to submit claims from subcontractors to the owner.	True
What type of insurance is for Claim-based insurance?	Errors & Omissions
What type of insurance is for Occurrence-based insurance?	Commercial General Liability (CGL)
What is the difference between O&M and CGL insurance?	CGL covers risks/liability of when a building a built, E&O covers the claims made at the present time
What is the CG 2280 policy?	Insurance that covers bodily injury and property damage resulting from design errors
What is builder's risk coverage?	Coverage for physical damage during construction, but design errors
What is a surety bond?	Payments and performance bond should a contractor default
True or false: A designer should carry a surety bond.	False. A designer does not need a surety bond because they don't have assets.
What are the major liability issues of a contract	Single point of resp, design liability, fair dealings, ownership of docs, contract formation

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DBIA Unofficial Practice Questions II

Again, I don't know what's on the test, but these are my own practice questions prepared for myself.

Question	Answer
What is the Liability Gap?	The owner is liable for what is built by the prescribed plans (strict liability) and ends up paying for design defects (professional negligence).
What is the Spearin Doctrine?	Owner is responsible for defective plans given to the contractor.
Why is the Spearin Doctrine flawed?	There is no liability for poor performance by the contractor or the designer.
What is the advantage of Design-build delivery method?	The design-builder is the single point of responsibility
How does Design-build differ from Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)?	The degree of owner involvement, Public projects can't usually be used IPD.
How does Design-build differ from CM at Risk?	The CM does not take full responsibility of the design
What is a Joint Venture?	A fiduciary partnership to share losses and profits equally.
What is a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC)?	A fiduciary partnership to manage by members, and avoid double taxation.
What is a Teaming Agreement?	An agreement between the design-build team, assignment of responsibility, contingency, and shared costs.
What must be agreed after potential work?	Key post-award obligation of parties, termination of relation, confidentiality and exclusivity.
What is important from the Mortenson case?	It is the corollary to the Spearin Doctrine. Contractor should get paid for work performed, and bidders can't be expected to perform a site investigation
What happened in Donahue Electric?	Specified equipment was not compatible, owner had to pay for the change.
When is there a potential Conflict of Interest in project delivery?	A contractor assists in preparing work statement for competitively acquiring a system or service

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DBIA Unofficial Practice Questions

So I am preparing for the DBIA exam, and decided to share my notes. I have no idea what is on the exam and I can be held responsible for the accuracy of the information posted on this blog, so please use caution if you plan on using my notes.

Question	Answer
What components are need to make a contract?	Offer, Acceptance, Consideration, Capacity, Authority
What is Consideration?	Value or money exchanged for performance
What is Capacity?	The parties entering the contract are legally able to do so, ie understand what they are signing
What is Authority?	The parties entering the contract are authorized to do so.
What is Course of Performance?	Performance defined in this contract.
What is Promissory Estoppel?	Protection to party who is dependent on someone to complete an action
What is Privity of Contract?	A third party cannot sue on a contract to which he or she was not a party.
What is Detrimental Reliance?	A rationale that one is making a promise and not fraud
What is Expectation Damages?	To award the non-breaching party what is reasonably expected from the contract
What is Rescission Damages?	If Expectation Damages were not available, courts will proceed was if contract had not existed
What is Specific Performance?	If the scope is unique, the court may order the the party to complete its obligation.
What is Quantum Meruit?	Court will help injured party if the other party is unjustly enriched (ie owners fail to inform a bidder that they are extremely too low).
What is Tort Law?	Remedy for someone wrongfully harmed.
What is Betterment?	An improvement on a property that needs to be paid for at least once.
Why is Mounds View vs Walijarvi important?	Professionals are expected exercise the same skill and judgement as other professionals.
What is the concept of Economic Loss Doctrine?	To try to make both parties healthy.

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What is that waterfall off the I-5 and 14?

What is that waterfall off the I-5 and 14? 

Answer: Los Angeles Aqueduct Cascades

Every seen that weird man-made architecture off the I-5 freeway. I have driven by it a dozen times and finally decided I needed to do some investigations.

So I did some heavy researching. What are we looking at? It is actually two aqueducts, the first aqueduct opened in the 1913 (green on your left). The second was built 1970 (shown in yellow). This is actually a small portion of the Los Angeles aqueduct since the actual aqueduct spans roughly 300 miles. This portion is know as the "Cascades". Some times the water is running, sometimes it stays dry. I believe one of the reasons is due to the fact that Mono Lake was being drained dry back in the 1990s. The new rules stipulate that the water level of the lake must reach elevation 6392 ft before Los Angeles can use it water. So why the cascades? This portion of the aqueduct is made of cement blocks and stones. The way it is configured means it is for aeration and to absorb energy as the water comes crashing down.

Is that all? No, the Cascades plays an important role through a function of copper sulfate aeration. Copper sulfate kills the bacteria/algae in the water. It was supposedly used as part of the water treatment during transport. But as it arrives to Los Angeles, the water is in poor health and needs a higher oxygen level, thus the aeration process of having it pour down the cascades.

References:
http://wikimapia.org/12399531/First-Los-Angeles-Aqueduct-Cascades
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Aqueduct
http://clui.org/ludb/site/los-angeles-aqueduct-terminus-cascades

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Phase III - Relabeled as enable SD storage

Well I have my servos on order, and tried to move forward with Phase III. Turns out Arduino Wireless SD requires an XBEE chip which isn't clearly stated and it doesn't provide Wifi internet access. The module mainly communicates between two XBEE chips. The actual WiFi shield is $100. So with that said, Internet access will be postponed indefinitely and I'll just make use of the SD port.

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x-Luxo - Phase II Update - A road block

I ran some rough calculations. Looks like I'm going to be spending a lot of $$ on servos. I need to trim some fat. To be continued...

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x-Luxo Update Phase I

Phase I is in beta testing. Code's 90% finished. Need a 100W relay and an extension cord.

Phase II in progress. Need to purchase a bag of servos and figure out the mechanical/physical restrictions. Stupid gravity always making my life hard.

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