With bid prices dropping like the stock market, facility owners and CM firms needs to step up their project controls procedures. Contractors will be looking for every small change or delay as cause for a change order as their profit margins are evaporating from the bidding process. To prevent these potential change orders owners and their CM's will need to make sure every RFI, Submittal and Change order is carefully reviewed and responded to. The traditional approach would be to higher more staff or consultants to oversee these projects and ensure contract compliance. With today's economy crimping clients budgets there is no room for the expense of additional project personnel to push paper around the office. The smart owner and their cm firm will need to look toward technology to reduce project staffing requirements increase accountability and reduce project risk. Engineers are great at reviewing submittals for contract compliance but a good collaborative project management application eliminates the need for them to waste time and money pushing paper or manually logging information into outdated software. Collaborative applications bring the entire team together so they can efficiently share project information and ensure projects are completed on time, within budget for a lower cost.