The development of a rational bill of quantities

The civil engineering industry world-wide has long known that the Conventional Bill of Quantities (BOQ) is inadequate conceptually and functionally. Moreover, the only alternative to it, the Method-Related BOQ (MR Bill), is only marginally better; its development having been constrained by inadequate analysis, problems of inertia attached to current practice, and lack of scientific methodology for the evaluation of comparative performances of alternative prototype forms of BOQ. An analysis and evaluation of the two forms of Bill and of six newly established others, using a newly developed scientific methodology based on worth assessment, statistics, and simulation, is presented. A suitable form of Bill, which is logical and in conformity with the principles of the Measurement Contract with Quantities, has emerged and is recommended to the industry.