Quality
Control & Technical Audit of Works in CPWD
The technical audit of works done by CPWD used to be done in-house
right from its inception. The functions of Quality control and Technical Audit
of works were shifted to CVC in the year 1964. On the recommendation of Ranganathan Committee, the Quality control functions were
again shifted to CPWD in the year 1979.
Quality Control System Of The Department
Multi level Quality checks have been created in CPWD as detailed
below:
Field level
The direct responsibility for ensuring proper control of quality of
work, as per the approved specification, is borne by the team of construction
staff led by the Engineer Incharge i.e. Executive
Engineer. The broad responsibilities of Engineer Incharge
have been fixed as under:
To ensure that material duly approved by the competent authority only
are used in the work.
To ensure that all Lab test, as laid down in the specifications, are
carried out at the appropriate time
and materials failing to conform the required specifications are promptly
rejected and removed from site.
To ensure
that the Quality control procedure as may be laid down by the Core Wing is
strictly adhered to by the construction staff.
Quality Control team at Circle Level
To keep a watch on the effectiveness/adequacy of quality control
measures at site, a quality control team with SE of the circle as its head and
comprising of one AE(Planning) along with his JE for Lab. work was set up.
The functions of quality control team at circle level are as under:
·
To
carryout periodic inspections of works costing more than Rs.2 Lakhs and Technical audit of works within the SE's power of
acceptance of tenders.
·
To
carryout random check of the quality of material used in the work.
·
To
carryout random check in respect of quality of finished items.
·
To
carryout systematic check on the field tests carried out by the field staff
during the progress of work.
Core Wing at Directorate Level
The Core Wing for quality control was set up with following staff:
·
SE(QA) reporting to CE(CSQ)
·
Four
Nos. EEs each having 2 AEs
This Core Wing carries out the following functions to ensure
systematic and comprehensive control of quality in the works: -
·
To lay down the for the total quality management of works in
CPWD.
·
To
provide guidelines in setting up laboratories at various levels.
·
To
carryout periodic survey of new materials coming into the market and make this
information available to field formation.
·
Reviewing
the performance of new materials and techniques introduced in the department from time to time.
·
To
conduct periodic inspections of construction works, and also assess the
effectiveness of quality control procedure followed at site. Thereafter issue a
technical audit memo to filed units.
·
To
lay down the tolerance limit of finished items of work, which are specified in
CPWD specifications.
Quality Assurance units in the Regions
With restructuring and creation of regions in CPWD, Regional Quality
Assurance Units headed by SE (TLQA) were set up in the year 1995 under the
direct control of ADG concerned. The Regional Quality Assurance unit are
carrying out the functions same as of Core Wing except policy matters.
Laboratories
A chain of properly equipped Laboratories are a
essential part of quality control setup to ensure proper watch and control on
quality of work. Therefore the testing laboratories have been set up at
different levels as under:-
·
Field
testing Laboratory under the direct operational control of the Executive
Engineer.
·
Testing
laboratory at the circle level under direct control of SE.
The existing central testing laboratory
of CPWD have been augmented to carryout all routine tests for the works
in
After inspection, Quality Assurance team issues a Memo. Series of
registers to check the quality of materials/method used in the work are
maintained. As the result of series of inspections carried out by the
directorate, sets of instructions in the form of Quality Control Circulars are
issued from time to time.
Chief Technical Examiner
CTE organisation also carries out intensive examination of CPWD works,
costing more than Rs.100 Lakhs and after inspection
issues detailed inspection report.