HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW OR ARE AWARE OF THIS ?
What is an often carried out but dangerous exercise commonly made by Engineering Consultants when compiling the Contract Documents for signing.
CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION TIP : NO 2
I would say it is a very common practise to include tender clarifications as part of the contract documents. This is by virtue that it could be abused subsequently and lead to unnecessary claims. As such it is a dangerous practise to adopt unless it is associated with a price reduction during negotiations.
Tender clarifications which is strictly for the purpose of ascertaining that the tenderer is aware of his work obligations as contained in the tender documents. As such it should not be made part of the contract documents.
The above is a very common and dangerous mistake that Consultants entrusted with handling the procurement process should be warned of and be made aware.
The above tip arise from a recent Case Law : Havant BC v South Coast Shipping (1996).
In that case, the CLAC Programme was inncorporation as a method statement into the contract — Making the method statement a contract document.
The job was a beach replenishment scheme. The contractor was required to provide a “method statement” as to how he was going to carry out the works. He did so and the statement became a “contract document”.
The method involved mechanical screening of the filling material, which was to be carried out on the beach. It was inevitably a noisy operation.
A local resident obtained an injunction preventing the contractor carrying out the screening outside restricted hours (fewer hours than the contractor was planning to work).
The court held that this screening had become “a specified method of working” and, when it proved impossible, the contractor was entitled to a variation order and payment for that variation.
Did you find the above useful ?
For those of you who found my weekly musings informative and helpful, I have posted 45+ posts at www.medium.com. You can access them there. You can use this link to find me at :-
Hope to see you guys signing up as my followers.
Want to know more about rules of Construction Law that most of you are unaware of (by virtue of what you are taught in college are too shallow to be of any use in your career path ) ?
Then check out my “Construction Dispute and Claims (CDC) Conversations,” a revolutionary program designed to empower construction leaders with the knowledge and tools needed to excel in the face of industry challenges.
This unique initiative provides an open, free, and easy platform for your team leaders to discuss anything that comes to mind during a weekly 1.5-hour session. Whether addressing site and operational issues or delving into the intricacies of construction law, our curated answers go beyond normal conversations, presenting legal basis and possible solutions, all while enhancing knowledge retention through a lessons-learned approach.
The CDC Conversations are essentially a weekly 1.5 hour meet where I will (over 30 sessions) mentor/coach you to attain a solid foundation on the nuances, intricacies and modalities of Construction Law under the Common, Civil and Sharia Law legal system at :-
** USD 150 (group of 5 pax) per session ) to as low as
** USD 15 to USD 30 per person per session*** (You don’t have to worry about finding a group yourself, we will do it for you ).
*** Please choose either the 5 or 10 person group.
Interested ? Please fill out the registration form at www.hqcontrol.com, or
send a message to me :-
What’s App at +6012–2673918,
My LinkedIn messenger,
or lhchin@hqcontrol.com
OR book an exploratory chat with Steven Chin (the Contract Claims Guru) before you decide to enroll at https://lnkd.in/gQRYKqSg
……………………………………………….
I have also created one What’s App Discussion Group and 3 LinkedIn Forum Groups and if you wish to join, please click on the one which interest you the most.
1# The International Construction Law Group on What’s App at https://chat.whatsapp.com/GCpIFSS63hR51XDoAYxynU
2# “FIDIC 1999 & 2017 Suite of Contracts | Group” | LinkedIn.
3# “Contract Claims Management Group — Construction Industry” | Groups | LinkedIn.
4# “ PAM 2018 and Construction Law in Malaysia” | Groups | LinkedIn — For those residing or working in Malaysia —
Cheers, Happy Reading and Wishing you Good Health Always.
