APPENDIX H
The International Infrastructure Project Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

The purpose of this appendix is to present the concepts put forth for an international standard WBS that have been recommended by Paul Hewitt.¹ The principles and recommendations are directly comparable to and compatible with those addressed in this book. Rather than attempt to summarize Hewitt’s approach or to include it in Chapter 9, the main themes of his article are presented with some minor editing.

This standard WBS attempts to format the project into a multilevel WBS suited to estimate, schedule, track cost, and measure performance on international infrastructure projects. The breakdown is also designed to facilitate the data transfer of a standard work breakdown between common estimating, scheduling, and cost control software applications.

The following paragraphs outline the various sub-projects and phases within the Civil Infrastructure WBS.

THE SUB-PROJECTS WITHIN A CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

Traditional WBSs in the past have identified only the Construction Divisions within a project. This proposed work breakdown includes all phases within the life span of the project cycle, including Development, Engineering, Operations, Maintenance, Transfer, and Risk. Figure H-1 presents the top-level WBS.

FIGURE H-1 Proposed Top-Level WBS

PROJECT CAPITAL COST

The Project Capital Costs are normally the initial cost of the project, also referred to as the initial investment for the project. It is within this phase that the project is designed and built. Traditional work breakdowns have included only direct construction divisions. This WBS includes Site and Head Office Overheads and Construction Equipment, as well as Rolling Stock and Engineering. The recommended breakdown is shown in Figure H-2.

FIGURE H-2 Proposed Project Capital Cost WBS

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

With the advent of the “Build Own” procurement model, the activities and costs associated with the financial development of the project also have to be accounted for and tracked. On major Civil Infrastructure projects, separate entities called “concessionaires” have evolved to take on this responsibility. The concessionaire is often a joint venture company comprised of the contractors involved with the project or can be a separate entity on its own. The activities performed by the concessionaire have to be defined within the WBS. These activities are split into three distinct phases: the Proposal Phase, during which the proposal and financial models are prepared; the Financial Close phase, during which the concessionaire negotiates with banks and financial institutions to procure financing for the project; and the Operations phase, during which the concessionaire manages or oversees the operation of the facility (see Figure H-3). On some international projects, it may take several years to finalize all the legal agreements in order to get to financial close.

FIGURE H-3 Proposed Project Development WBS

OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE

In addition to building and owning infrastructure facilities, the concessionaire (developer) is normally required to operate and maintain the facility over an extended period of time. The concession period can extend for 20 to 30 years. At the end of the period, that facility is then transferred back to the municipality or government agency. The WBS must include the ability to estimate, schedule, and track these operations and maintenance activities over the concession period. Figure H-4 presents the recommended breakdown of this element.

The staff involved with operating infrastructure facilities can include management, supervisors, system controllers, fare collectors, and vehicle operators. Energy Consumption can include electric power consumption for transit vehicles and fuel for buses. Consumables include tickets.

Maintenance can include such things as the cost of maintaining and cleaning buildings, repairing highway pavements, cutting and watering grass, replacing bridge bearings, and maintaining ticket vending machines. Maintenance can also include the labor and parts required to operate transit vehicles over the concession period.

Transferring the facility back to the government includes demobilization costs such as cleanup costs, staff severance, and audit fees required to transfer the assets.

FIGURE H-4 Proposed Operations and Maintenance WBS

THE CONSTRUCTION PHASE OF WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

The Construction phase of the Capital Cost portion of the project is still where most of the detailed scheduling and cost control tasks are required. Most current WBS layouts have addressed the direct construction costs in detail. The following paragraphs describe how current breakdown structures have been adapted and revised to form part of the proposed Civil Infrastructure WBS.

Summary Levels within the Construction Cost Breakdown

The cost of construction has been summarized into definable levels that can be estimated, scheduled, and procured. These sections are structured to help the estimator, scheduler, or cost control engineer group the project into definable work packages. These work packages can also serve as subcontract procurement packages. Figure H-5 lists the main summary levels within the Construction Phase of an Infrastructure Project.

FIGURE H-5 Construction Phase Summary WBS

CSI MasterFormat™ 2004 Divisions of Work

It is under construction summary levels that Mr. Hewitt has followed the basic divisions of work as defined by CSI MasterFormat™ 2004. In the 2004 version, the term “Building” construction was replaced with “Facilities” construction. Building Services that used to be classified under division 15 for Mechanical and division 16 for Electrical were shifted to divisions 20 through 29. New divisions were created covering Civil and Infrastructure from divisions 30 through 39. There are over 3,000 lines within this section of the WBS. We have included sample breakdowns of two of the main CSI divisions here for illustrative purposes—the Building divisions, which remained the same from the original CSI breakdown, and a new breakdown for the Earthworks level, included with the new CSI divisions for Site Work (Figure H-6).

FIGURE H-6 CSI MasterFormat™ Modified WBS²

New Infrastructure Items and Activities

For Infrastructure work, where similar activities can be included in multiple items, the traditional CSI breakdown does not work for estimating and scheduling purposes. For example, if a Retaining Wall and a Bridge are to be constructed on the same project, they have to be estimated and scheduled separately, yet they both include similar CSI divisions of work such as excavation, setting and stripping formwork, and placing concrete. For this reason, the WBS must include different WBS codes for these similar activities in the various infrastructure summary levels. The proposed Infrastructure Breakdown includes the following classifications:

Walls, Bridges, Tunnels, Rail, Airfield, Marine, and Dams

Figure H-7 shows the breakdown required for a Wall as opposed to a Bridge, although each performs essentially the same activities.

FIGURE H-7 Wall versus Bridge WBS

CONCLUSION

A comprehensive WBS is essential for the proper communication of construction cost estimating and scheduling data between all participants in an international infrastructure project. The Work Breakdown must include all phases of the project life cycle, from conception through development, engineering, construction, operations, maintenance, and transfer. To accomplish this task, the WBS must also be available in formats compatible with the common software applications used to manage these projects.

NOTE

1. The material in this appendix is reproduced with permission from Paul Hewitt. “International Infrastructure Project, Cost Estimating WBS,” Construction International, Copybook Solutions, Ltd. Online at http://www.construction-int.com (accessed February 2008).

2. Division codes reprinted with permission from Construction Notebook News, CSI MasterFormat™ Division List. Online at http://www.constructionnotebook.com/ipin2/CSIDivisions.asp (accessed April 16, 2008).