Maintaining a Contract Payment Estimate
In this Topic
The Contract Payment Estimate Summary lists all of the information recorded for a contract payment estimate. A payment estimate is an estimated payment to the contractor for work performed on a contract. This can include a percentage of the total contract amount, a percentage of the total for a contract project, or payment for individual work items on the contract.
To access the summary, go to the Contract Payment Estimate Overview and click the Number link on the payment estimate row. You can also access the component by navigating to the Contract Progress Summary, clicking the Payment Estimates tab, and then clicking the Number link on the payment estimate row.
The summary opens on the General tab, which lists read-only information about the contract payment estimate. In the upper portion of the component, you can view current values in these fields:
The lower portion of the component displays the information available on the Contract Payment Estimate Summary report. The report header displays current values in these fields:
Below the report header, the report lists three columns of data: Previous Pay Est, This Pay Estimate, and Total (All Pay Est). In each column, information is displayed in these fields:
When payment estimate exceptions are addressed and the payment estimate is still in Draft status, you can recalculate exceptions to view the results. Select Recalculate Exceptions from the Actions menu on the component header. The system recalculates exceptions for the payment estimate, deletes line-item adjustments generated by payment exceptions, and recalculates funding and retainage.
Note: If the Funding Check payment estimate exception is reported, the exception must be resolved by correcting funding allocations, deleting the payment estimate where the exception occurred, and then recreating the payment estimate. The Recalculate Exceptions action does not clear the Funding Check exception because the payment records with missing funding allocations still exist on the payment estimate.
To maintain additional information for the contract payment estimate, click the following tabs:
Notes |
Click this tab to view or maintain notes for the payment estimate (see Maintaining Notes for a Payment Estimate). |
Exceptions |
Click this tab to view and address payment estimate exceptions (see Maintaining Exceptions for a Payment Estimate). |
Time Charges |
Click this tab to view a list of contract times associated with the contract (see Viewing Time Charges for a Payment Estimate). |
Projects |
Click this tab to view and maintain vouchers for projects on the payment estimate (see Maintaining Project Vouchers for a Payment Estimate). |
Items |
Click this tab to view information about each item paid on the payment estimate (see Viewing Item Information for a Payment Estimate). |
Contract Adjustments |
Click this tab to view and maintain item adjustments for the payment estimate (see Maintaining Contract Adjustments for a Payment Estimate). |
Item Adjustments |
Click this tab to view and maintain item adjustments for the payment estimate (see Maintaining Item Adjustments for a Payment Estimate). |
Approval Tracking |
Click this tab to track all of the approval decision records for the payment estimate (see Tracking Payment Estimate Approval Decisions). |
Accounting |
Click this tab to view and maintain accounting information for the payment estimate and its vouchers (see Maintaining Accounting Information for a Payment Estimate). Note: The Accounting tab is displayed only after the payment estimate has completed the approval process. |
Changing the Status of a Payment Estimate
The Contract Payment Estimate Summary enables users to change the status of a payment estimate to Pending Approval, Approved, Rejected, or back to Draft. The commands and possible status changes that are available for you vary depending on the approval level and security access rights assigned to your user role.
To change the status of a payment estimate, your active user role must be assigned the current approval level for the payment estimate. For information about setting up approval levels for payment estimates, see Maintaining Contract Payment Estimate Approval Levels.
If you want to approve or reject a payment estimate and enter comments for the status change, use the Payment Estimate Approval Decision Overview instead. For more information, see Making Payment Estimate Approval Decisions.
Note: When you change the status of a payment estimate to a status other than Draft, exceptions for the payment estimate can no longer be modified.
Submitting for Approval
When exceptions for the payment estimate have been addressed as needed, you can submit the payment estimate to progress through the levels established for the approval process (see Maintaining Contract Payment Estimate Approval Levels). When you submit a payment estimate for approval, the system changes the status to Pending Approval.
The system will not update the status to Pending Approval if the payment estimate includes exceptions that must be resolved, acknowledged, or overridden, based on settings for the payment estimate exception type on either the contract or the underlying reference data (see Maintaining Exceptions for a Payment Estimate and Maintaining Payment Estimate Types).
To submit a Draft or Rejected payment estimate for approval, select Submit for Approval from the Actions menu on the Contract Payment Estimate Summary component header.
Note: The Submit for Approval command is available only for payment estimates with a status of Draft or Rejected, and only if your active user role is assigned approval level 1 (the first approval level in the series) for the payment estimate.
If the payment estimate does not include exceptions that would prevent a status change, the system updates the status to Pending Approval and displays a message to confirm that your changes were saved in the database.
When you change the status of a payment estimate from Draft or Rejected to Pending Approval, the system deletes any existing approval records for the payment estimate, creates new approval decision records for the payment estimate for each approval level, and displays the new records on the Approval Tracking tab. Users cannot modify information about a payment estimate that is Pending Approval except to change its status back to Draft, or to enter an approval decision and comments on the Payment Estimate Approval Decision Overview. For more information, see Making Payment Estimate Approval Decisions.
Changing to Draft
To change the status of a payment estimate from Rejected or Pending Approval to Draft, select Change to Draft from the Actions menu on the Contract Payment Estimate Summary component header.
Note: The Change to Draft command is available only if the payment estimate status is Pending Approval and your active user role is assigned approval level 1, or if the payment estimate status is Rejected and your active user role has been assigned "Change Estimate to Draft" access rights.
The system changes the status of the payment estimate to Draft and displays a message to confirm that your changes were saved.
Approving a Payment Estimate
When you approve a payment estimate, the status of the decision record is changed to Approved, and the status of the next sequential decision record for the payment estimate is changed to Pending Approval.
If your user role is the final approval required in the series of decision records for the payment estimate, the status of the payment estimate is changed to Approved, and the system updates information on the contract with amounts and quantities from the payment estimate. This includes the Amount Paid to Date, Percentage Complete Award, Percent Paid, and Overrun Balance values for the contract, as well as quantities and extended amounts for contract project items.
If the approved payment estimate includes available contract time, the system increments the Current Time Units Charged on Approved Estimates as appropriate. If the approved payment estimate includes any incentive, disincentive, or liquidated damages amounts, the system updates the Extended Total Amount Applied for the contract time. In addition, balances and item adjustment amounts are updated to account for the amount of material used for the work covered in the payment estimate. Stockpile amounts are updated to account for the amount of material used for the work covered in the payment estimate unless the stockpile is paused.
After a payment estimate receives final approval, it cannot be modified except for information about the voucher and voucher number.
To approve the payment estimate, select Approve from the Actions menu on the Contract Payment Estimate Summary component header.
Note: The Approve command is available only if the payment estimate status is in one of the approval levels for the payment estimate type, and only if your active user role is assigned the correct services in access rights (see Maintaining Contract Payment Estimate Approval Levels).
The system displays a message to confirm that your changes were saved in the database.
Rejecting a Payment Estimate
To reject a payment estimate, select Reject from the Actions menu on the Contract Payment Estimate Summary component header.
Note: The Reject command is available only if the payment estimate status is in one of the approval levels for the payment estimate type, and only if your active user role is assigned the correct services in access rights.
The system displays a message to confirm that your changes were saved in the database.
Managing Contract Payment Estimates
