In a bid to ensure quality of works executed by the Public Works Department, quality control certificate based on the tests done as per the guidelines of the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Indian Road Congress has been made mandatory for preparing and clearing bills.
The preparation of bill for a work and its payment will henceforth have to be done only with quality test certificates.
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The contractor will have to produce necessary test certificates related to the first tier of the Quality Control Monitoring System that has been stipulated in the revised PWD manual.
The first tier quality control (QC) testing will have to be carried out by the field officers executing the work. For this, testing has to be done in approved laboratories and the contractors will have to bear the expenses.
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PWD Secretary has issued directive to disbursing officers not to clear bills, including part payment, for works costing above technical sanction powers of Assistant Executive Engineer without the first tier quality control certificates from May 15.
“In spite of the efforts taken, it has been found that first tier tests are not being done by field officers regularly and certificates are not insisted for preparation and passing of bills,” the Secretary has noted.
In the second tier of quality monitoring, the QC units of the PWD will have to carry out the necessary tests on materials and works selected randomly.
Laboratories have been set up in 13 districts and the Kerala Highway Research Institute in the capital to carry out second tier quality monitoring of works.
The second tier certificates will also have to be attached if the QC wing has taken samples for testing the items covered in the bill.
The Secretary has asked the officials preparing bills not to entertain those recommended by Assistant Engineers without attaching the required QC certificates.
The Superintending Engineers have been asked to conduct quarterly review of the two-tier QC system and forward reports to the government.
The Director, Quality Management, has been asked to monitor the working of the QC laboratories.