The CAP system stretches 336 miles and has innumerable assets from highly specialized equipment to everyday items. Pumps and siphons. Buildings and check structures. Parking lots and maintenance roads. Switch yards and light switches.

With that quantity and variety, when a construction project is started it can be time intensive and inefficient to individually recreate new specifications for each item on each job. Now, that per-job approach is a thing of the past. A year-long effort lead by the Engineering Department resulted in the rollout of CAWCD Standard Specifications for Construction.

Engineering Manager Ryan Johnson said CAP’s standard specifications process dictates the precise requirements and guidelines for acceptable quality, materials and construction methods. These include standards and incorporate CAP’s best practices based on what more than 40 years of experience has taught us works best in the CAP system. A project-specific grouping of special provisions is also utilized in conjunction with the standard specifications to clarify the applicable sections for a project. 

“It was a long process to document,” said Johnson. “What types of flow meters, valves and fire sprinklers do we want? What conduit is acceptable and in what situations? What conductors do we want in our wires and how are those wires supposed to be terminated?”

The list goes on, so it’s not surprising that CAP’s standard specifications documents are extremely long, totaling more than 1,000 pages!

Needless to say, this project wasn’t a one-person job. When Technical Writer Randall Beck joined CAP two years ago, he was asked to examine how CAP handled specifications for all jobs and develop a method that would maximize efficiency and quality. With nearly 40 years of civil engineering experience and expertise, Beck proposed the development of standard specifications, which got approval and immediate traction. He met with each engineering group, ensuring everyone contributed and reviewed the final documents … a challenge given everyone’s busy work schedule. The long-term payoff is undeniable.

“Standard specs ensure quality and consistency across projects at CAP,” said Beck. “And, by providing standard specs to prospective contractors, we provide a level of clarity that will result in more accurate bid prices and cost savings.”

The standard specifications documents are publicly available on CAP’s website, CentralArizonaProject.com, creating a level of transparency. Johnson said that is only one of the innumerable benefits of standard specifications. They also ensure parts are stocked and training is consistent.

“Standard specs make it more efficient for our engineers and consultants, creating consistency across our organization so we’re delivering projects, equipment and systems in the same way across the entire system,” said Johnson.

View CAP’s standard specifications for construction.