CONTRACTUAL BENEFITS OF PERFORMING A GEOTECHNICAL BASELINE REPORT

The Salado Creek Water Recyling Center (WRC) to Dos Rios WRC Interconnect Project is one of the first projects initiated by the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) incorporating the use of a Geotechnical Baseline Report (GBR). This project will link two of San Antonio's wastewater treatment plants. It includes approximately 3.5 miles of 90-inch raw wastewater transmission line, a 36-inch recycled water transmission line and a fiber optic cable. Two tunnels are located along the pipeline alignmentThe Baseline Report was written during the final design phase after the project geotechnical reports were completed. The GBR was incorporated into the project contract documents and was the basis for the geotechnical assessment of the project by bidders. The geotechnical reports were also incorporated into the contract documents and labeled as the Geotechnical Data Report (GDR). By placing the GBR in the project contract documents, the GBR becomes a contractual statement of the subsurface conditions that are to be encountered during construction. Based on this contractual agreement, the GBR serves as a foundation on which “changes” or “differing site conditions” are evaluated.