ESD150-SpecificationsStyleGuide-Rev01.pdf

SDCWA

San Diego County Water Authority Engineering Department

SPECIFICATIONS

STYLE GUIDE

ESD-150 July 2004

ESD150 Specifications Style Guide

8/6/04 i REV 01

Purpose The purpose of this document is to outline the standard format and style to follow in developing San Diego County Water Authority specifications.

Revisions and Maintenance

The guide is a living document that evolves to meet the changing needs of the Water Authority.

Users may suggest changes or additions to this by following the procedure described in ESD 510 Engineering Policies, Procedures, and Practices, Section 3.9, Engineering Standard Documents Guidelines.

Personnel entrusted with this guide are responsible for maintaining it in a current and updated condition as revisions are published.

Disclaimer The information provided herein is for the convenience and use of the Water

Authority. Any use of the information by any entity other than the Water Authority is at such entity’s own risk, and the Water Authority assumes no liability for such use.

Validation The San Diego County Water Authority Engineering Department’s ESD 150

Specifications Style Guide is hereby accepted and approved.

John Economides, Director of Engineering San Diego County Water Authority

REV 01 8/6/04 1

Water Authority Preparation

Water Authority staff will prepare the following items:

• Notice Inviting Bids

• Bid Proposal (Consultant to prepare the bid sheet)

• Contract

• Bond and insurance forms

• Schedules B-1 and B-2

• SCOOP forms

CSI Format Prepare final technical specifications in CSI format.

Margins One-inch inside margin. .5-inch top, bottom, and outside margin. Mirror margins.

Header Do not include a header.

Footer 8 point, Times New Roman, specification #, file path\file name, section name, and section #-page #. Example:

Specification # Section Name File Path\File Name (automatically updated) Section #-Page #

Headings 11 point, Times New Roman, all capitals, regular font style (not bold).

Body 11 point, Times New Roman.

Abbreviations & Acronyms

Use “San Diego County Water Authority” on first use of name. Subsequent occurrences may be shortened to “Water Authority”.

Minimize the use of parenthesis.

Use industry-standard abbreviations and acronyms on first (and subsequent) occurrences.

Include abbreviations and acronyms, which are not industry-standard, in the Abbreviations section of the specification.

Numbers Spell out numbers from zero to nine.

Spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence.

Use numerical figures for any number with ”percent”, a fraction, or a decimal point.

Use a preceding zero for any number with a decimal point and a value of less than

1.0 (for example, “0.25” instead of “.25”).

Units of Measure

Spell out units of measure (for example, “feet”, “foot”,” inches”, “degrees”, and” percent”).

Hyphens Hyphenate number and unit of measure when followed by a noun (for example, “ten-foot pipe”).

Hyphenate compound numbers (for example, “thirty-four”).

Dates Format dates as per the following example: “November 10, 2003”.

Do not use weeks; specify calendar or working days (for example, “14 calendar days”).

8/6/04 2 REV 01

Words & Phrases to Exclude

• “insofar as possible”

• “as soon as practicable”

• “adequate”

• “satisfactory”

• “in the opinion of”

• “competent”

• “it is preferred”

• “appropriate”

• contractions (for example, use “is not” instead of “isn’t”)

Shall Use “shall” in place of “should”, “is”, “are”, and “be” (for example, “The dials shall be white, with black scale markings.”).

Use “shall” for the Contractor (for example, “the Contractor shall be responsible for…”).

Use “will” for the Water Authority (for example, “The Water Authority will…”).

Avoid using “shall” (except when following examples above); replace with command verbs (for example, “Design, prepare, and submit full line interconnection diagrams for all the equipment furnished under this Contract.”

Consistency Use terms consistently throughout the document (for example, use ”plans” not

“drawings”, etc.).

References Refer to other parts of the Contract Documents per the following example:

“Refer to Section #, Part #, Paragraph #, Item #, Sub-Paragraph #, Sub-Item #”, etc.

QA/QC all references to other sections of the Contract Documents to ensure accurate cross-references.

Approval If approval is needed, specify per the following example:

“Engineer will approve in writing” or “obtain written approval of the Engineer”

Additions & Revisions

If additions or revisions exist, specify per the following examples:

“Delete Section 01530, Part 1.03, Paragraph A, Item 1 and replace with the following:”

“Delete Section 01530, Part 1.03 “in its entirety” and replace with the following:”

“Add Section 01530, Part 1.03, Paragraph B as follows:”

Cover Format cover sheet per the attached example.

Printing Print double-sided.

Stamp Stamp cover sheet of the specifications with Registered Engineer stamp per the attached example.

CONTRACT DOCUMENTS

FOR

CONSTRUCTION OF

RANCHO PENASQUITOS

PRESSURE

CONTROL/HYDROELECTRIC

FACILITY

SPECIFICATION 546

DECEMBER 2003

Place Registered Engineer stamp here