Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ation of this contract is, therefore, to some extent a venture into the un-
known.
Guidance notes are published. Although such notes are certainly useful in
operating the contract, it must be remembered always that they have no
legal significance. In law, what the draftsman intended to mean when the
contract was drafted is irrelevant. It is the meaning in the words of the
contract which is important. Obviously, a court has to interpret a contract in
line with the intentions of the parties, but it is the intentions of the parties as
revealed by the words of the contract, and not some extraneous document
such as guidance notes, which matters.
The form does have its good points. It has a set of nine core clauses which
are intended to be present in every version of the contract. There are then six
options (A, B, C, D, E and F), one of which must be included in every
contract. The purpose of these is to convert the contract for use with
different procurement systems:
A - priced contract with activity schedule
B - priced contract with bill of quantities
C - target contract with activity schedule
D - target contract with bill of quantities
E - cost reimbursable contracts
F - management contract.
In addition, there is a selection of clauses which may, but need not, be
included in the contract. These cover such matters as performance bonds,
advance payment to the contractor, sectional completion, delay damages.
Before turning to a consideration of the relevant clauses, it is worth noting
that there is no architect or contract administrator mentioned in the contract.
The parties to the contract are the employer and the contractor, but a key
player is the project manager whose function it is to administer the contract
by issuing instructions, certifying payment, assessing compensation events
and the like. However, there is also the supervisor, who broadly deals with
standards and quality of the work.
16.2 Compensation events
16.2 .1 Clause 6
The text of this clause, together with clauses imported by the various
options, is as follows:
6
Compensation events
60
60.1 The following are compensation events.
(1) The
Project Manager
gives an instruction changing the Works Informa-
tion except
