When to Deal With Contractor’s Claims
I have been involved in a large project for 3 years where my role is to provide assessments of the contractor’s claims for extensions of time and prolongation costs. The project experienced numerous delays and to date I have provided assessments of 25 extension of time claims and awards have been made for 11 claimed events. As usual with contractor's claims, some were rejected entirely and some were awarded, but with a reduction in the amount claimed.Read more
First Impressions of a Contractor's Claim
I have just spent half a day reviewing a claim from a contractor on a project where I have been appointed to manage the claims and produce assessments on behalf of the Engineer. My impressions after this first review are that the contractor may very well have a valid case for an extension of time, but to a lesser extent than what was claimed. However, based on the way the claim has been presented, they do not deserve anything because their claim is inadequately expressed. The main issues are that the contractor has failed to link the cause to the effect they are claiming, and the basis of their delay analysis is founded on something that, if they had taken the time to substantiate their assertions, they would have realized was simply not true.
Aside from the fact that the contractor has not established entitlement to an award, their claim is frustrating to read and deal with—something that is hardly going to elicit much sympathy from a reviewer. It is badly organized, the narrative says a lot but doesn’t convey much meaning, and large amounts of records have been quoted without drawing any conclusions from them. Furthermore, the few substantiating documents that the contractor has included are very difficult to locate within the claim submission document.
I have a feeling that the contractor is going to receive the award they deserve based on this submission. Unfortunately for them, that won’t be much.
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