Subsequent to the Structures Failure Conference in 1983 in Santa Barbara, California, and a 1984 ASCE workshop in Chicago, ASCE accepted the role of producing a guide to quality in the constructed project. A steering committee was selected to plan and oversee the work. The steering committee developed an outline, statement of purpose, and principal themes for the guide and then enlisted some 40 authors and 90 reviewers to do the writing. ASCE also appointed a managing editor and a technical editor for the manual project. After several preliminary drafts, a preliminary edition text was developed. Some 12, 000 copies of this text, which was designated for trial use over an 18-month period, were distributed. Comments were voluminous. On the basis of the comments, a completely rewritten text was prepared and published. This text reduced both the number of pages and the number of chapters and was rewritten by the editors rather than the chapter authors to provide consistency in style and format. The final text addresses the complete facility construction process from procurement of designers through construction, operation, and maintenance.Methods of improving quality include involvement of the design professional in construction, project peer review, quality assurance and control programs, clear definition of responsibilities, and appropriate compensation
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