Archimedes and the art of Contract Facilitation.

Archimedes had his Eureka moment in a bath, I had mine at a law conference in Southbank.

Ever since graduating with a second class honours degree in Quantity Surveying from Newcastle Polytechnic I have struggled to describe what I do for a living. This has not been helped by job titles that have been vague at best and at worst could have resulted in a successful prosecution under the Trades Description Act.

Quantity Surveying is a profession that dates back to the 18th century in the United Kingdom, when construction projects were measured and valued after they were designed and built. QS’s would, until relatively recently, meticulously count bricks and ensure that they deducted for things such as the small amount of paint behind door handles. This led to the profession being pilloried by the likes of Monty Python, as being full of boring people in grey suits called Nigel (Apologies to all Nigel’s out there).

I certainly don’t recall counting any bricks on my first project (widening the M5 in the South West of England). What I do remember, all those years ago, is being encouraged to come up with as many creative ways as possible to skin the Client whilst simultaneously trying to deny legitimate subcontract claims (excluding the Irish steel fixers with alleged links to the IRA - who always got what they asked for!).

Things did not improve when I received a promotion to the role of Commercial Manager. If ever there was a nondescript role title covering a multitude of functions and industries, Commercial Manager must be it.

The Institute of Commercial Management helpfully describes Commercial Managers as having chameleon qualities by which I think they are referring to the ability of Commercial Managers to undertake many different roles such as contract negotiator and project accountant ....as opposed an ability to blend in with the office furniture.

So back to the law conference…….

I learnt there are plans to merge the existing Australian Standard contract forms AS2124 and AS4000 into a new standard called AS 11000. Amongst other things, this standard will introduce new dispute avoidance and management procedures and will be accompanied by AS 11004 - Avoidance, Management and Resolution of Disputes under Contracts.

One of the dispute avoidance provisions will be Contract Facilitation. Briefly, an independent Contract Facilitator will be appointed at the start of a project to provide advice and non-binding determinations during the course of the contract.

Eureka! 

Contract Facilitator! That’s me!

Well perhaps not in terms of AS 11004 (at least not yet) but it certainly describes many of the areas on which I currently advise and provide assistance, such as; contracting strategy, contract reviews, contract negotiation, contract administration and contract dispute resolution.

This revelation may not be on the same level as Archimedes’ discovery but thanks to Standards Australia I now have a role title that better describes what I actually do (although I suspect this will still be a mystery to Mrs D).

Jon Davies

Principal of Brackenway Consulting

QS, Commercial Manager & Contract Facilitator