New specifications: - New Brunswick



NBDTI DESIGN BRANCH

PARTICULAR SPECIFICATIONS LIBRARY

SUPPLEMENT TO THE JANUARY 2006 STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS

GUIDELINES

Updated February 18, 2010

NOTE: The last page of each item in the Library shows the date of the latest revision.

GENERAL

Particular Specifications do the following:

i) Describe the work to be done under the contract;

ii) Add to, correct errors in or modify items of the Standard Specifications; and

iii) Add entire new items.

Proofread your specs to ensure that

i) they make sense and are clear to bidders and DOT field staff; and

ii) they have good sentence structure, grammar, etc.

The plans and specifications are legal documents and should be treated as such.

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

The following are examples of usages to apply in the specs and other contract documents, and in formal writing such as the Design Guide, reports, minutes, letters to the public or outside agencies (especially those for the Chief Engineer’s or Minister’s signature), etc. Spellings are Canadian English, as used in acts and regulations. The US or British “spell check” on your system might indicate that some of them are wrong; however, choose “Add to Dictionary” or “Ignore” instead of “Change.” (Use whatever you prefer in your personal writing.)

Canadian Spelling, Punctuation and Usage

|Use | Do Not Use |

|Colour, labour, etc |Color, labor, etc. |

|Defence (as in Department of Defence) |Defense |

|Practice (noun) |Practise |

|Practise (verb), practised |Practice, practiced |

|Licence (noun) |License |

|License (verb), licensed |Licence, licenced |

|Per (meaning “in accordance with”) |As per |

|In regard to, with regard to, with respect to |In regards to, with regards to |

|Its (possessive pronoun) |It’s, its’ |

|It’s (contraction for “it is”) |Its |

| | |

|Nouns from Latin or Greek |

|Singular (requiring a singular verb) | Plural (requiring a plural verb) |

|Criterion; e.g., the third criterion is… |Criteria; e.g., The three criteria are… |

|Datum |Data; e.g., The soils data are… |

|Addendum |Addenda; e.g., The two addenda were... |

|Formula |Formulae; e.g., The formulae in Tables 1 and 2… |

|Medium |Media; e.g., All the news media were there… |

Possessive Words

Possessive words need an apostrophe with the ‘s’ except for the pronouns its, hers, theirs:

• Singular – before the ‘s’: the Contractor’s expense, the Owner’s forces, one day’s notice.

• Plural – after the ‘s’: other contractors’ work, landowners’ properties, three days’ notice

• Single words ending in ‘s’ are made possessive as follows:

▪ If the word sounds the same, add the apostrophe after the ‘s’: Richards ( Richards’ lot.

▪ If an extra ‘s’ sound is pronounced, add the apostrophe and ‘s’: boss ( boss’s office.

Contractions

• Use an apostrophe to replace missing letters; e.g., Cont’d (not con’t) for continued, don’t (not dont) for do not, etc.

Punctuation

• Use a colon, not a semicolon, at the end of a sentence setting up a list.

• Use a comma or semicolon to separate items in a list; usually a comma for simple items, and a semicolon for wordy items.

▪ There are three criteria: one, two, and three.

▪ The following are required: first phrase; second phrase; and last phrase.

Abbreviations

• Use a period after an abbreviation that ends in a letter other than the last letter of the word; e.g., in. (inch); approx. (approximately); avg. (average); est. (estimate).

• Typically do not use a period if the last letter of the abbreviation and full word are the same; e.g., Blvd (boulevard); Std Dwg (Standard Drawing); Ave (avenue).

• For SI units, see Item 002 of the Std Specs.

• For ‘that is’ use ‘i.e.’ (not ‘ie.’ or ‘ie’).

• For ‘for example’ use ‘e.g.’ (not ‘eg.’ or ‘eg’).

• For abbreviations of agencies, departments and the like, and for acronyms, no periods are required: NBDOT, DFO, DND, WAWA, ROW, CSP, etc.

• For some abbreviations specified on the plans, periods might be used for clarity: L.O.G. (Limit of Grading); L.O.C. (Limit of Contract); N.I.C. (Not in Contract); etc.

Plural nouns and abbreviations

• These have no apostrophe; e.g., photos (not photo’s); 2 km (not 2 kms).

Matching the verb to a compound subject

• ‘And’ requires a plural verb: This and that are required.

• ‘Or’ requires a singular verb: Either this or that is required.

Hyphen

• Use a hyphen to join two words used as an adjective: two-way two-lane roadway; the crusher set-up; in-place item; Borrow A-quality material; Engineer-approved method;

• Do not use a hyphen to join two words that aren’t an adjective: opened to two lanes; after the crusher is set up; once the bedding is in place; etc.

Me, Myself and I

• The pronoun ‘I’ is a subject: ‘I looked into it.’ Do not use it as an object, as in ‘Please send it to Joe and I.’ Instead, use ‘Please send it to Joe and me.’

• The pronoun ‘myself’ is reflexive and points back to the subject ‘I’: ‘I visited the site myself.’

• The pronoun ‘me’ is the objective form of ‘I’: ‘If you have any questions, please call me.’ Do not use ‘If you have any questions, please call myself.’

• The same holds true for ‘you’ and ‘yourself’: ‘The plans will go to you’ NOT ‘The plans will go to yourself.’

PREPARATION OF PARTICULAR SPECIFICATIONS FOR A CONTRACT

Designers shall prepare their Particular Specs as described herein.

• Clauses that are in a box shall be included in all contracts.

• The “Notes to Designers” explain the use of clauses and/or sub-item numbers for different types or classes of work or materials. These are to be read and followed.

• The font type and size shall be Arial 12.

• Left and right margins are 0.6”; the right margin is not justified.

• Top margin is 1” and bottom margin is 0.75”.

• The footer (Contract Number and Page Number) will be added by others.

• Do not use page breaks.

• Cross-references to other parts of an item or to other items shall be made as follows:

• To refer to a section or paragraph of an item, cite the section number or paragraph number, such as 101.4 or 106.4.2.2. Do not use Item 204.4, Item 203.4.1, etc.

• Reference in Item 203 to “under Item 205” or “per Item 205” means that everything included in Item 205 applies, including payment.

• Reference in Item 203 to "per 205.4" or "in accordance with 205.4" means that the work described in 205.4 is done as part of Item 203, with no separate payment under Item 205.

• If not all of the referenced section applies, use wording such "in accordance with 301.4 except that 301.4.3 shall not apply."

Paragraphs

• Paragraphs can be one sentence, or two or more sentences if the subject matter is directly related. Avoid unnecessary subparagraphs or awkward compound sentences.

• Use double space between paragraphs and triple space between items.

• Add, replace or delete paragraphs under the appropriate heading (bold and underlined):

Add

Replace

Delete

• Typically use “Add” to introduce contract-specific clauses, such as follows:

Add

xxx.1.2 This Item also consists of….

xxx.4.1.1 The Work shall.....

• Use "Replace" to correct an error in, or make a contract-specific change to, a paragraph in a Standard Specs Item.

• Use “Delete” to nullify any paragraphs of a Standard Specs item that do not apply to your contract. Cite only the number of the main paragraph and not its text or any sub-paragraph numbers; they are automatically deleted.

• Put the paragraph number(s) under the heading (double-space separation):

Replace

xxx.1.1 Replacement text

• For two or more paragraphs in an Item, maintain the paragraph number sequencing.

Replace

xxx.1.1 Replacement text

Add

xxx.2.2.1 Added text

Delete

xxx.4.3.2 No text cited

TABLES

• Tables are added, replaced or deleted in the same way as paragraphs.

• If only part of table is changed, use the format of the example below::

Replace

In Table 261-5 Replace Note 1 with the following:

Note 1. The percentage……

WHOLE ITEMS

• An entirely new item does not have an “Add” heading, but identify it as “new”:

ITEM XXX – ITEM NAME (New Item)

• Existing items that are completely rewritten are replaced as follows:

Replace

ITEM XXX – ITEM NAME (Replace Entire Item)

May 29, 2010

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