Civil Engineering Project Management (4th Edition)

44 Civil Engineering Project Management
bonus, delay damages, and price adjustment. A short form for minor works
and a short sub-contract form are also available.
The contract requirements are defined in separate sets of data – Works
Information and Site Information supplied by the Employer, and Contract
Data which set out various pieces of information depending on which options
have been chosen.
A project manager appointed by the employer administers the contract on
behalf of the employer, assisted by a supervisor on site. A separate adjudicator is
appointed to whom the contractor (but not the employer) can take disputes
with the project manager or the supervisor for adjudication. But if the employer
or the contractor disagrees with the adjudicator’s decision either can have the
dispute referred to any final tribunal set out in the contract.
The contract attempts to overcome some old problems by several new
approaches, but the latter may present some new difficulties. A list of eighteen
Compensation Events is prescribed, each of which entitles the contractor to claim
extra payment and delay. They include the usual matters of claim such as variation
of work, unforeseen conditions, etc. but add unusual weather. The latter
is defined as – Weather recorded ‘within a calendar month … at the place
stated in the Contract Data … which by comparison with the weather data, is
shown to occur on average less frequently than once in ten years.’ The weather
data is that supplied by the employer in the Contract Data, and a ‘weather
measurement’, could, for instance be rainfall. This definition could give rise to
problems of interpretation and may lead to claims even when the weather
causes no delay.
Another provision is that the contractor’s claims when he experiences a
compensation event take the form of quotations which the project manager can
accept, return for revision, or reject by advising he will make his own assessment
in lieu. The problems with this approach are discussed in Section 17.12
below. Strict time limits of 2 weeks apply to stages of action and response
by both contractor and project manager in respect of such quotations and
other submissions. These times are tight and may cause difficulties; failure
of the project manager to reply within a specified time limit being itself a
compensation event!
The stated intent of the drafters of the ECC contract is to stimulate good
management. This seems to be achieved by requirements for meetings in a
variety of situations, so as to seek advantageous solutions to potential problems,
and the tight timetables for responses between the parties.
(g) Partnering Addendum
This addendum has been issued by the ICE in 2003 to provide for the partners
setting down their objectives and any risk sharing provisions formally. The
addendum acts as an addition to individual contracts, which may be of any
type, and allows for revision as partners leave or are added to a project.