2026-11-04 · 8 min read · GeoChantier team · Canalytics Group

Progress Tracking for Road and Water Projects in Morocco: A Guide

To track progress on a road or water project in Morocco, split the contract into measurable work packages (cubic metres of earthwork, linear metres of pipe or canal, square metres of pavement), compare actual against the approved schedule every week, and express the gap as earned value. Quantities must stay consistent with the monthly attachments the CCAG-T requires, and machine data (engine hours, idle time, load cycles) give you the evidence to explain variances to the project owner.

What do Moroccan procurement rules require for measuring progress?

Decree No. 2-22-431 of 8 March 2023 on public procurement sets the basic rule for unit-price contracts: amounts due are calculated by applying unit prices to the "quantités réellement exécutées", the quantities actually executed (Article 14). The same decree (Article 16) refers to the general administrative conditions (CCAG) for execution rules. Your progress tracking is therefore a measurement exercise first: every cubic metre and every linear metre must be traceable, dated and supported.

Attachments and provisional statements: the CCAG-T timetable

The CCAG-T approved by Decree No. 2-14-394 of 13 May 2016 sets the rhythm:

• Article 61, attachments: prepared by the contractor as work progresses and no later than the end of each month. The contractor has 15 days to accept them or submit observations; the project owner must reply in writing within 30 days. The date the supervising agent signs is the date the work is recognized.
• Article 62, provisional statements: prepared from the attachments whenever necessary and at least once a month. They are the basis for interim payments.
• Article 64: a one-tenth holdback on interim payments, capped at 7% of the initial contract amount, plus any avenants, unless the special specifications say otherwise.
• Article 67: if payment is more than four months late, counted from signature of the attachments, the contractor may ask for the work to be suspended.

An attachment signed late shifts the whole payment chain. Check each contract's special specifications (CPS) for the CCAG version referenced and any departures from it.

How do you break a road or irrigation project into measurable work packages?

Start from the bill of quantities. Each price item becomes a work package with its unit, contract quantity and planned curve taken from the execution schedule, which Article 41 of the CCAG-T submits to the project owner for approval (15 days of silence counts as approval).

Typical work packages:

• Roads: cut and fill (m³), subgrade and base course (m³ or m²), asphalt (t or m²), culverts (each), road markings (linear metres).
• Irrigation and water: trench excavation (m³), pipe laying by diameter (linear metres), manholes and valves (each), lined canal (linear metres), pressure tests by section (linear metres).

Keep the same unit from end to end. The schedule, the daily report and the attachment should all speak in m³ or linear metres, never in a percentage estimated by eye.

Measurement methods: which one for which package?

Planned versus actual: how do you calculate earned value (PV, EV, AC)?

Earned value is described in the PMI Practice Standard for Earned Value Management. The CDC earned value practices guide, which draws on the PMBOK, gives the definitions:

• PV (planned value): the budgeted cost of work scheduled up to a given date.
• EV (earned value): the budgeted cost of work actually performed.
• AC (actual cost): the costs actually incurred to perform that work.
• SV = EV − PV and SPI = EV / PV for schedule; CV = EV − AC and CPI = EV / AC for cost.

On a unit-price contract, EV is simple to calculate: quantities achieved × bill of quantities rate (or your internal budgeted cost if you track margin).

Hypothetical example. Earthwork package: 100,000 m³ at 30 MAD/m³, or 3,000,000 MAD. At the end of month 4, the schedule called for 40,000 m³: PV = 1,200,000 MAD. The survey shows 32,000 m³: EV = 960,000 MAD. Actual cost (equipment, diesel, labour) is 1,100,000 MAD: AC = 1,100,000 MAD.

• SPI = 960,000 / 1,200,000 = 0.80: the package is moving at 80% of the planned rate.
• CPI = 960,000 / 1,100,000 ≈ 0.87: each dirham spent produces about 0.87 MAD of work at contract price. Contract prices include taxes, overheads and margin, so AC must cover the same scope. If AC only counts direct site costs, as here, the true position is worse than this figure.

Those two numbers tell you there is a problem. Field data tells you which one.

When should you use a drone to measure earthwork volumes?

The US Federal Highway Administration's tech brief FHWA-HIF-23-058 states that small drones are used to estimate and verify earthwork, stockpile and paving quantities, and that these estimates feed into project payments. It cites a study with a 1 to 2% volume variance, within acceptable tolerances, and recommends five or more ground control points (GCPs) placed strategically across the site. The FHWA EDC-5 fact sheet also points to a bird's-eye view of progress and exact quantity calculation for paying contractors.

For accuracy, the reference is the ASPRS positional accuracy standard. According to LIDAR Magazine, Edition 2 requires at least 30 checkpoints for a full assessment, checkpoints twice as accurate as the product being tested, and results reported as RMSE.

In practice: fly a baseline survey before stripping, then survey active areas at each attachment, always with the same checkpoint grid. Get the method approved by the supervising engineer before the first attachment.

What belongs in a daily site report?

The CCAG-T defines the site log as a register in which operations, incidents, suspensions and inspections are recorded, dated and signed (Article 3). A daily report that supports progress tracking includes at least:

• quantities achieved per work package and per section (chainage);
• equipment on site, hours worked, breakdowns and downtime;
• headcount per crew;
• weather and interruptions (rain, water supply cuts, access issues with residents);
• service orders received and inspector reservations;
• tests performed (compaction, pressure).

When these lines are entered every evening, the monthly attachment becomes a sum you can verify.

How does machine data explain a delay?

ISO/TS 15143-3, which grew out of the AEMP format, defines the telematics data that manufacturers make available: location, operating hours, cumulative fuel used, idle hours, load count and cumulative payload. Matched against cubic metres achieved, these data separate the causes:

• normal engine hours, falling cycles: a queue at the loading point or a degraded haul road;
• falling engine hours: a breakdown, a missing operator or an imposed stoppage;
• high truck idle time: an undersized excavator or too many trucks assigned.

GeoChantier is being built for this role. Still under development, it is designed to geolocate machines (GPS units or manufacturer telematics), calculate hourly cost per machine, per work package and per day in MAD or CAD, with fuel litres, engine hours and idle time, and measure progress per package against schedule (volumes moved, linear metres laid, haul cycles). For how queues affect MAD/m³, see our article on construction digital twins and haul cycles.

What does the project owner expect in a monthly progress report?

• progress per work package in quantity and as a percentage of the contract;
• planned versus actual curve, with SPI for critical packages;
• variances explained by dated facts (site log, machine data, service orders);
• costed corrective actions and a revised finish date for the package;
• consistency between the report and the draft attachment.

CPI is mainly for the contractor's internal control. SPI and dated explanations of variances also help document any request for a time extension.

What about elsewhere in Francophone Africa?

The method carries over: measurement by work package, jointly signed attachments, earned value and field data as evidence. Deadlines, frequency and forms depend on each country's procurement code and CCAG, so review those articles before you lock in your report template.

GeoChantier is also designed to offer costed recommendations (reassign a machine, shorten a loading queue, cut idling). The platform is under development: to join the pilot programme, tell us about your fleet. Questions about your project: contact@canalytics-group.com.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Decree No. 2-22-431 of 8 March 2023 on public procurement (Kingdom of Morocco, French text)
2. CCAG-T, Decree No. 2-14-394 of 13 May 2016 (English version)
3. CDC Unified Process Practices Guide: Earned Value Management
4. PMI, Practice Standard for Earned Value Management (ANSI preview)
5. FHWA, Use of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Construction Quantity Estimation (FHWA-HIF-23-058)
6. FHWA, Every Day Counts EDC-5: Unmanned Aerial Systems (fact sheet)
7. LIDAR Magazine, The ASPRS Positional Accuracy Standards, Edition 2
8. ISO/TS 15143-3, Earth-moving machinery and mobile road construction machinery, Worksite data exchange, Part 3: Telematics data

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