The risk of having your cake and eating it: Take care when drafting PCSAs

摘要

FOR several years now, two stage tendering - and with it the use of pre-construction services agreements (PCSA) - has been the normal procurement route for major building projects, at least in the London commercial market. The June 2016 referendum vote was widely expected to mark a watershed and to herald a shift back towards a single stage approach, but in our experience that simply has not happened.Main contractors continue to be risk averse and will routinely decline to bid on a single stage basis, other than for most favoured clients. Carillion's recent collapse has only brought the problem into sharper focus and has highlighted the dangers of bidding for work without a full appreciation of the risks involved. Although widely used, there has until now been little judicial consideration of PCSAs and how they operate in practice. Jefford J's recent decision in Almacantar (Centre Point) Ltd v Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd is both welcome and of particular interest.