Cost assurance and audits on infrastructure projects and contracts: Part 3: The legal perspective

摘要

CONTRACTS and their processes create the foundation for a good construction project. Without doubt, those processes help create success, particularly for projects with a large supply network which needs to be coordinated and managed. A successful project team will proactively use the contract and its processes as a tool for delivering the works; for managing, controlling and verifying cost; for reviewing problems, mitigating their consequences; and avoiding disputes. Regardless of how sophisticated and well-crafted a contract may be from a legal perspective, unless it is read, understood and used by the project team, the contract will be more of a hindrance than a help, especially to the biggest cause of friction on a project; price, payment and changes to price. The contract should instead help with cost assurance and cost management.