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Contracts are the means by which we recognize and enforce agreements
between parties. Every aspect of our lives is affected by contractual
obligations. We contract for our employment, our education, the purchase
of our homes, purchases of goods, the financing of our purchases,
insurance and marriage. In the legal sense, the word contract does not
mean the tangible document containing evidence of an agreement, but
rather the legally enforceable agreement itself.
In the construction industry, the contract acts as a road map for the
project, laying out the course of action for all project participants.
It contains specific rights and obligations, describes the work to be
performed, assigns risk and liability, provides for change and disputes,
and outlines remedies for poor performance.
Contracts are generally negotiated by a team of senior personnel, often
with a wide range of skill and knowledge in contracting issues and
negotiating techniques. Contracts may also be routed through risk
management or legal departments for a "blessing" prior to finalizing.
Our workshops and tools for negotiating better contracts identify
improvements to these common contract negotiation approaches.
Once the contract is signed, full and complete performance of the
contract is required to ensure contract protections are not compromised
and that unintended risks, liabilities and outcomes are not incurred.
Educating the entire project team regarding their contractual
obligations is necessary for optimum performance- reducing communication
errors, misunderstandings, and resulting disputes. Utilization of
contract administration staff ensures contract compliance and allows
technical and management staff to be more productive.
Visit the following pages for greater detail on contracting issues:
Contract Reviews and Risk Allocation
Contracts with balanced allocations of risk and reward enjoy the
highest rates of project success. Standard or industry specific
off-the-shelf contracts must be reviewed in their entirety
(including any attached or incorporated documents) and should
address the unique considerations that accompany each project.
Other topics addressed in this section include:
Standard Contracts
Risk Management
Interpreting and Construing
Negotiating Skills and Strategies
Everyone negotiates something everyday. We all have some
inherent skill and experience in negotiation. Experience and
research demonstrates that negotiation is a well-developed
skill and successful strategies regularly achieve better
negotiated results.
Contract Management
The roles of contract managers are increasingly complex,
requiring a broad knowledge of legal contracting issues,
familiarity with standard contracts of numerous professional
organizations and purchasing and pricing strategies. Significant
skills in negotiations, leadership and teamwork are also
necessary. This section also contains information on:
Contract Administration
Change Management
Lessons Learned
Our workshops require participation by senior staff. The sharing
of these experiences, or "war stories" aspect of the workshop, is
a favorite with workshop participants because of the value of
real life experiences. In this section we share our "war
stories" and hope they become valuable experiences to be shared
within your organization.
Tools
We have found contract summary tools an invaluable method of
insuring full execution of project duties. All too often project
work is focused on the technical performance, with documentation
of project history and change management haphazardly executed.
See our Tools section for descriptions of project tools we feel
are most valuable, organized along the life of a project. See also:
Municipal Project Tools
International Project Tools
Work Smarter! It is our pleasure to assist our friends and
colleagues in the construction industry to find practical, common sense
solutions to specific or everyday concerns.
Please contact us
with your comments, suggestions and
concerns.
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Contracts Design/Build Dispute Resolution
