What are the architect's responsibilities when reviewing submittals provided by a design professional under the contractor's scope of work?

• A. The architect is responsible for checking the work provided for conformance with information given and the design concept expressed in the contract documents. The contractor is not responsible for the adequacy of the performance and design criteria specified in the contract documents.
• B. The contractor is responsible for all submittals.
• C. The architect approves all shop drawings automatically.
• D. Only the owner reviews the submittals.

Answer: (A)

The key idea is who reviews submittals and what that review actually checks. When submittals come from the design professional under the contractor’s scope, the architect’s job is to verify that what is being proposed conforms to the information and design concept shown in the contract documents. This means checking that the shop drawings, product data, and samples align with the overall design intent, dimensions, interfaces, and performance criteria laid out in those documents.

Importantly, this review is not a guaranty of the design’s adequacy or the performance criteria themselves. The contract documents establish the design criteria and the architect reviews for conformity to those criteria and to the contract documents as a whole. The contractor remains responsible for coordinating the work, following the contract requirements, and implementing the means and methods to meet the design intent.

The other options don’t fit because the submittal review is not a blanket contractor responsibility for all submittals, nor is it an automatic approval by the architect, and the owner is not the sole reviewer of submittals.