Frequently asked questions - CEEQUAL Assessments

Q. How does a CEEQUAL Assessment work?

A. CEEQUAL is a self-assessment process that CEEQUAL trained-Assessors use to rigorously assess project or contract performance on management and a range of environmental and social issues of concern, arranged in Version 5 in nine sections (12 in Version 4). Assessors use the appropriate CEEQUAL Manual to score performance against questions relevant to the project/contract, Assessors collect evidence supporting their scores for each question, and use our Online Assessment Tool for capturing those scores and evidence. Upon project or contract completion, each Assessment is externally verified by a CEEQUAL-appointed Verifier. Once the Assessment score is ratified, the project or contract is awarded a percentage score and is then presented with a CEEQUAL Award certificate that demonstrates their level of achievement.

Click here to see the full Assessment Process

Q. What aspects of environmental and social performance does CEEQUAL assess?

A. CEEQUAL assesses project/contract performance across nine areas of environmental and social concern, found in the CEEQUAL Assessment Manuals. These nine areas are:

Project Strategy
Project Management
People & Communities
Land Use & Landscape
The Historic Environment
Ecology & Biodiversity
Water Environment (fresh & marine)
Physical Resources
Transport

Find out more about what these sections cover.

Q. Can the same evidence be used to answer two or more of the Assessment questions?

A. Yes, as long as the evidence provided by the Assessor fulfils the criteria of the questions being answered then you may use the same evidence to answer two or more questions (including a mix of questions in more than one of the nine sections).

Q. Whose roles get assessed in a CEEQUAL Assessment?

A. A CEEQUAL Whole Project Award assesses the role of the client, designer and constructor and/or actions that need to be undertaken during concept design, detailed design and construction.

A CEEQUAL Term Contracts Award also assesses the main roles and stages of work but, in addition, divides the assessment into ‘Contract Management’ questions and ‘Delivery on the Ground’ questions.

Other types of Awards are available for projects where not all project partners can take part or where individual members of the team would like to have their role assessed and recognised separately.

See About Awards for details of the different types of Awards.

Q. How much time will our in-house Assessor need to carry out the Assessment?

A. The time and cost of carrying out the assessment varies depending on the type of project or contract, its complexities, the Assessor’s level of experience and the amount of support the Assessor is given by the project or contract team as a whole.

If the Assessor is brought into the project team only to undertake the CEEQUAL Assessment, they will need to estimate the total time for three main tasks:

Start-up: The Assessor determines which questions should be scoped out and then agrees them with the Verifier. In the case of Term Contracts, the Assessor and Verifier agree how many separate work types and issues are to be assessed through the Contract Management and which by ‘Delivery on the ground’.
Day-to-day assessment: The total hours required for a project assessment spread over the project period will depend on the factors listed above. But a total of 50 hours over the period of the project allows an average of 15 minutes per question, and Assessors report that this is a reasonable basis to work on.
Verification: This includes checking the full assessment, submitting it to the Verifier, and arranging and holding a Verification Meeting.

Our experience on project assessments so far is that for a Whole Project Award applied for early, where the Assessor is heavily involved in the project team (though not necessarily full time), and thus able to identify and capture evidence in a routine manner, the total time taken over the life of a project could be in the region of 12 to 15 working days.

Q. How much will a CEEQUAL Assessment and Award cost?

A. The fee is based on the contract value of the project or contracted works or, if applying early in the process, on the client's or engineer's estimate. A fee is charged to cover the cost of the CEEQUAL-appointed Verifier (but not the time of the Assessor), CEEQUAL’s administration costs, the cost of arranging for the Award presentation at the end of the assessment, and the progressive development of the CEEQUAL Scheme.

CEEQUAL for UK and Ireland Projects

For UK & Ireland Projects the minimum fee is £3,955 for projects up to £1 million and rise non-linearly up to £39,700 for projects of £1 billion project value. Additional fees are charged for Interim Awards on projects up to £500 million in value. Beyond that an Interim Client & Design Award is included in the Whole Project Award fee.
For further details on fees, please download the detailed CEEQUAL for UK & Ireland Projects feescale.

CEEQUAL for International Projects

CEEQUAL for International Projects feescale is dependant on the total civil engineering value of a project and the where it is located in the world (Zone 1: Europe & Northwest Africa; Zone 2: Gulf States & Middle East; Zone 3: Rest of the World). For a discussion about use of CEEQUAL for International Projects please email the CEEQUAL Team including these details. Please download the relevant feescale from the right-hand column.
Please note: that CEEQUAL will allow translation of the Manual into another language upon request, but it will be at the responsibility of the project team to fund the translation.

CEEQUAL for Term Contracts

The cost of a Term Contract Assessment depends on a number of factors including the Terms Contracts annual expenditure, number of works packages being assessed and number of years the project will be assessed under CEEQUAL. For further details about the pricing structure please download the CEEQUAL for Term Contracts Feescale.