Guidance for drafting specifications for ground improvement

Abstract

As ground improvement becomes more widely implemented, practitioners in both geotechnical construction and consulting have realized that the content of current project specifications is inadequate to consistently promote the selection of the best-fit ground improvement solution. As an example, the specifications often require the use of a single ground improvement technique instead of defining performance criteria that allow the use of several techniques. Further, the specifications frequently do not define the parameters or methods to be used in design and evaluation of ground improvement. As a consequence, the ground improvement bidders often propose scopes and pricing that may not be consistent or directly comparable with each other. These realities prompted the DFI Ground Improvement Committee to prepare this guidance document to improve the consistency of specifications for ground improvement work. The purpose of this document is to help owners prepare specifications that provide broad performance cr...