Contracting Strategy

2016 For companies where its capacity for effective governance has degraded slowly, but consistently over the course of a long chain of rhetorical excesses, guidelines corruptions, sentimental hyperbole and philosophical high-falutin…. They have basically abandoned traditional, well-designed and time-after-time tested project management tools and techniques in favor of distorted methods based on personal beliefs that challenge any existent fraud index to their core and by doing so they are inviting and finding contractual claim disputes on every corner of their business development.

The need for oil producing countries to protect their interestsand benefit sufficiently from their natural resource has led to a growing trend in the introduction of Local Content Policies. On realizing that about 80% of the capital budget of an oil and gas project is spent on contracting, the subject matter is now treated with great importance. In response to this statistics, the Nigerian government has included clauses in their policies to get the local contractors involved in the projects to reduce capital flight and achieve technology transfer.

The objectives of this research were to review literature related to contracting strategies, understand and appraise the framework of the Nigerian Content policy and finally suggest how local participation can be improved. Primary data was collected from a survey via web-based questionnaires and a telephone interviews. After careful analysis and comparisons of findings, certain conclusions were drawn. A strategy for successful participation of local contractors in oil and gas projects was identified and developed. This served as a recommendation for the Nigerian government and the relevant authorities.

The model showed that Nigerian Content promotion is all encompassing. The Local environment, Local Content capacity building, local infrastructure, Local Content linkages were shown to be dependent on one another, and a mixed contracting Strategy was recommended for effective Nigerian Content promotion.

This article takes a look at the some of the common boilerplate clauses and their use in commercial agreements. The article has by no means exhausted the issue but also goes further to appreciate the seemingly “harmless” use of boilerplate clauses, while suggesting ways to optimize their legal benefits when incorporating boilerplate clauses into commercial agreements.

Volatility and ambiguity are generally thought to create exchange situations more conducive towards opportunism. We examine the effectiveness of contractual and relational governance in constraining opportunism under volatility and ambiguity. We hypothesize that
relational contracts will be robust to volatility but not ambiguity, whereas formal contracts will be robust to ambiguity but not volatility. The hypotheses are supported using data from 125 interorganizational relationships involving R&D for new product development. Our findings
suggest that formal and relational contracts each may have advantages and disadvantages relative to the other in specific situations, so that they are not simply substitutes. The results have important implications for transaction cost and relational contracting theory, and challenge the
view that relational contracts are not so susceptible to opportunism. A revised comparative governance schema is theorized for future research.

As a growing number of companies reject intellectual property (IP) monopoly-based business models to embrace libre product development of free and open source hardware and software, there is an urgent need to refurbish the instruments of university-corporate research partnerships. These partnerships generally use a proprietary standard research agreement (PSRA), which for historical reasons contains significant IP monopoly language and restrictions for both the company and the university. Such standard research agreements thus create an artificial barrier to innovation as both companies using a libre model and universities they wish to collaborate with must invest significantly to restructure the contracts. To solve this problem, this article provides a new Sponsored Libre Research Agreement (SLRA). The differences between the agreements are detailed. The advantages of using an SLRA are provided for any type of company and include: (1) minimizing research investments on reporting requirements; (2) reducing delays related to confidentiality and publication embargos; and (3) reducing both transaction and legal costs as well as research time losses associated with IP. Moving to libre agreements both speeds up and reduces costs for setting up collaborative research. Under the SLRA, university researchers can spend more time innovating for the same investment.

Contracts are designed to govern the relations between business partners and allocate risk among them, yet they cannot mitigate all risks; hence, dispute resolution mechanisms have been developed to assist. According to research, arbitration is considered one of the most efficient legally binding dispute resolution mechanisms. Since initiating an arbitration case against business partners often severs the business relationship between them, predicting the arbitrator's decision becomes valuable to the arbitrating parties. To do so, arbitration prediction models are suggested in this paper through modeling the arbitrator's award in two stages: evidence admissibility and evidence evaluation. While arbitrators currently admit evidence in a relatively unsystematic way, this proposed admissibility framework systemizes the current practice by preserving its subjectivity, yet aligning it with the widely deployed rules of arbitration. This research further proposes an evidence evaluation model, providing a rapid answer to the famous commercial arbitration battle, discovery. While the current arbitrators' practice in allowing discovery is not systematic, the proposed optimization model is a tool that could systematically assist arbitrators trading between the arbitration key characteristic, efficiency, and justice. This is achieved by assigning weights to evidence parameters such as sufficiency and credibility, which in turn provide numerical measures to reduce the decision's subjectivity.

The complex nature of construction projects and the involvement of a large number of unpredictable correlated factors make them susceptible to disputes. Although a wide range of dispute resolution mechanisms exists, experts in the construction industry favor arbitration over litigation when legally binding dispute resolution mechanisms are concerned. Because initiating a litigation or arbitration case against a business partner often severs the business relationship between them, predicting the arbitrator’s decision becomes valuable to the arbitrating parties. Because arbitration has been extensively treated as a game, and because the proposed approach relies on the wealth maximization concept, which is in turn dependent on the sum of utility sources of a firm, modeling arbitration is best achieved as a game with disputing parties’ utility profiles that would have an agreement zone. A construction-specific utility framework for the disputing parties arbitrating before a single arbitrator is proposed based on the additive expected utility theory. The proposed additive utility framework preserves the industry practicality and, most importantly, considers direct short-term factors and indirect long-term factors that would address factual disputes related to claim entitlement and quantification. It is expected that such a framework could then be used to identify utility equilibrium points between the disputing parties, which would serve the purpose of predicting the arbitration outcome.

RESUMO O presente trabalho busca analisar os contratos de pesquisa, inovação e desenvolvimento tecnológico da Administração Pública, destacando especificidades em relação aos demais contratos administrativos no contexto da atual doutrina, legislação e jurisprudência. Principalmente no Poder Executivo, é frequente que se almeje desenvolver produtos e/ou serviços cuja a tecnologia ainda não é existente para aquisição e pronta-entrega no mercado. Diante da lacuna, a Administração pode celebrar contratos a fim de viabilizar tais inovações, as quais se dão, principalmente, nas áreas de defesa, tecnologia da informação e petróleo. O artigo intenta aprofundar o estudo sobre as principais características comuns a estas contratações. Palavras-chave: contratos da Administração, inovação, pesquisa e desenvolvimento, novas tecnologias, licitações ABSTRACT The present work seeks to analyze Administration's contracts of research, innovation and technological development, highlighting specifications in comparing to other administrative contracts in the context of current doctrine, legislation and jurisprudence. Especially in the Executive Branch, it is often desired to develop products and/or services whose technology are not yet available for acquisition and prompt delivery. Facing the gap, the Administration can contract in order to make feasible such innovations, which happen mainly in the areas of defense, information technology and oil. The article tries to deepen the study on the main characteristics common to these hirings.

Non-competitive bids have recently become a major concern in both Public and Private sector construction contract auctions. Consequently, several models have been developed to help identify bidders potentially involved in collusive practices. However, most of these models require complex calculations and extensive information that is difficult to obtain.
The aim of this paper is to utilize recent developments for detecting abnormal bids in capped auctions (auctions with an upper bid limit set by the auctioner) and extend them to the more conventional uncapped auctions (where no such limits are set). To accomplish this, a new method is developed for estimating the values of bid distribution supports by using the solution to what has become known as the German tank problem. The model is then demonstrated and tested on a sample of real construction bid data and shown to detect cover bids with high accuracy.
This work contributes to an improved understanding of abnormal bid behavior as an aid to detecting and monitoring potential collusive bid practices.

Contracting plays a dominant role mostly in large scale and complex projects. Its use in construction projects takes the role of risk transference and governance. Despite the developments taking place in the  discipline  of project  management in general and  contracting in  specific, projects  are  still  failing. Literature  attributes  various  reasons  to  these  failures;  however,  a  significant  body  of  literature  on project  seems  to  attribute  failure  to  poor  contracting  practice.  Contractual  failures  give  rise  to
situations  of  litigation  and  long-running  disputes  that  recursively  cause  various  problems  within
projects.  The  effect  of  poor  contracting  has  often  been  observed  in  the  various  components  of  the
project  management  triangle  (that  is,  scope,  quality,  cost,  and  time).  Contracts  are  pervasive  and
contractual  agreements  exist  between  the  project  principal  and  contractors  as  well  as  between contractors and sub-contractors; the review of literature presented in this work, however, is focused on
the  former. This  paper  presents  a  discussion  from  the  perspective  of  the  literature  pertaining  to  the softer issues in contracts and provides discussion on how trust and partnering act within the contracts of construction projects.

In Project Business Management (PBM), companies come together to do projects as customers, contractors, and in other roles. PBM is high-risk business for all these parties involved. Many risks are linked with the mutual obligations among the contract parties, in which shortcomings and problems, but also refusal to meet obligations of one organization may translate into problems or even crises for others.

Careful selection of the organizations, with which one is prepared to have a contract, is therefore a key element of success in project business. A simple collection of selection criteria done early in the project may help ensuring that the right questions are being asked before decisions are made that have implications far into the future.

Despite the scholarly interest in contracts and trust governing interorganizational relationships, our understanding of how contracts influence trust remains limited by the way in which the interaction between the two constructs is conceptualized. By bringing together recent advances in the literature on interorganizational governance, I consider (1) the controlling and the coordinating dimensions of formal contracts, (2) trust and distrust as two distinct constructs, and (3) both the calculative and noncalculative aspects behind the development of trust and distrust. Drawing upon information-processing theory, I develop a series of propositions about how each contractual dimension influences the development of trust and distrust by inducing specific information processing and decision-making mechanisms. My theoretical analysis leads me to discuss the trade-offs inherent in governance choices and I discuss the implications of my propositions for the literature on interorganizational governance mechanisms.

Rivers, M., Truitt, T. (2014). A union representative's perspective of declining union membership.  International Journal of Management, Economics and Social Sciences, 3, 125 – 143. Retrieved from http://www.ijmess.com


© International Journal of Management, Economics and Social Sciences
2014, Vol. 3(3), pp. 125 – 143.
ISSN 2304 – 1366
http://www.ijmess.com

A Union Representative's Perspective of Declining Union Membership

Melvin J. Rivers
University of Phoenix, Southern California Campus, USA

Tim Truitt
Walden University, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Union membership has declined 24.2 percent since 1945. Declining union membership leads to economic losses for labor unions. The problem is relevant to scholars and the labor movement, requiring a deeper understanding of union membership decline. In this qualitative study, experiences with declining union membership are explored with union representatives in Los Angeles County. The conceptual framework uses three models: the utility of union membership, human motivation, and collective bargaining to identify relevant elements of union membership decisions. Twenty face-to-face interviews were conducted with participants who had a minimum of 3 years experience as a full-time union representative. The data were coded, and themes developed using the modified van Kaam method and NVivo 10 software. Three primary emergent themes resulted: (a) globalism is the primarily perceived cause of declining union membership, (b) unions should be more effective in collective bargaining, and (c) communication with union members must increase. The results from this study could be used to improve internal union communication, increase operational efficiency, and develop leadership training. The implications for positive social change include new insights to support labor union leaders in efforts to identify relevant needs, increase membership, retain jobs, and improve the economic health of their members.

Keywords: Unions, Collective Bargaining, Union Membership, Union Study, Union Decline, Trade Unions
JEL: J08, J51, J52, M54

Abstract ⎯ Contracting with suppliers can bring benefits and flexibility to a group located in Germany.
Suppliers send products mainly to the headquarter in Germany where the main assembly of parts are carried
out. Sometimes, some parties are rejected during testing or assembling with other parts if there is any problem
with dimensions and quality, these parties are whether sent back at the supplier’s cost or discarded. Suppliers
and sub-firms have had many problems due to these cases. Suppliers have carried out high risk in this
situation. Many suppliers were unwilling to make long-term relationship if not supported by the group. In this
article, it is suggested that by minimizing costs or maximizing each party profit or benefit, the risk can be
shared by using a dynamic approach. Other terms of options and commitments are stated in contract clearly.
Sharing the profit and risk will be the determinant in this contract.
Keywords ⎯ Contracting, Dynamic Programming, Procurement, Risk Management

While a wide range of dispute resolution mechanisms exist, practitioners favor legally binding ones such as litigation and arbitration. Since initiating a litigation or arbitration case against a business partner may dissolve the business relationship between them, predicting the arbitrator’s decision becomes valuable to the arbitrating parties. This paper proposes a construction-specific utility framework for the arbitrating party through decision theory, and based on expected utility theory. The proposed framework preserves the industry practicality and most importantly, considers direct short term factors and indirect long-term factors as well. It is suggested that the arbitrating parties’ utility functions could be then used to identify equilibrium points among them when interact via game theory principles, which would serve the purpose of predicting the arbitration outcome.

Split off from other U.S. regional commands, AFRICOM is the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) new command for Africa and this new customized organization offers enormous opportunities for the continent, particularly if it is able to fully harness the capabilities of the private sector to support its goal of enhancing African stability. The private sector has long supported international policies in Africa with logistics, peacekeeping support, peacekeeper training, demining, heavy aviation, security and many other services. With AFRICOM’s greater focus on African problems, it is likely that the unique capabilities of private companies will be utilized to an ever-greater degree to improve and expand policies that have been helping to provide stability to the African continent.

Competitive bidding for public subsidy allocation for welfare services has been widely applied in established welfare states since the 1980s. Studies conducted in these countries have inclined to understand competitive bidding as a financing initiative and use an array of ''failure theories'' to explain its challenges and failures. In contrast to these studies, the present study focuses on Hong Kong, a residual and semi-democratic welfare state, and investigates competitive bidding as a governmental policy instrument designed to increase the legitimacy of subsidy award decisions. Based on an analysis of submissions in a recent policy review and a review of existing policy documents, we suggest that the government may have increased its decision-making power over NGOs, resulting in little advancement, neither regarding welfare mix, nor concerning the legitimacy of resource allocation.

Contracting plays a dominant role mostly in large scale and complex projects. Its use in construction projects takes the role of risk transference and governance. Despite the developments taking place in the discipline of project management in general and contracting in specific, projects are still failing. Literature attributes various reasons to these failures; however, a significant body of literature on project seems to attribute failure to poor contracting practice. Contractual failures give rise to situations of litigation and long-running disputes that recursively cause various problems within projects. The effect of poor contracting has often been observed in the various components of the project management triangle (that is, scope, quality, cost, and time). Contracts are pervasive and contractual agreements exist between the project principal and contractors as well as between contractors and subcontractors ; the review of literature presented in this work, however, is focused on the former. This paper presents a discussion from the perspective of the literature pertaining to the softer issues in contracts and provides discussion on how trust and partnering act within the contracts of construction projects.

Abstract: Contracting plays a dominant role mostly in large scale and complex projects. Its use in construction projects takes the role of risk transference and governance. Despite the developments taking place in the discipline of project management in general and contracting in specific, projects are still failing. Literature attributes various reasons to these failures; however, a significant body of literature on project seems to attribute failure to poor contracting practice. Contractual failures give rise to situations of litigation and long- ...

In this case study from Scotland, we demonstrate a successful use of the benefits of
the NEC3 contract in a situation when only limited project funds are available.
Following an action research (AR) methodology and aiming at maximising the value
for the Client and the general public from the available funding, an innovative
approach was devised and used during the procurement process of a £3 million
infrastructure project for stabilisation of a high coastal slope with residential
properties at risk from potential instability. Environmental protection, natural disaster
risk management, as well as sustainability in the built environment featured highly on
the Client/Consultant procurement/design agenda with public participation throughout
the duration of the project. General, fixed, and variable items in the Activity
Schedule, as well as an alternative Activity Schedule, enabled the Client to control
and direct spending on the project based on the risk analysis and design management
by the Designer. This approach offered flexibility to the construction Contractor in
terms of selecting methods, materials and labour that will ensure positive balance
between profit and costs. Practical problems stemming from the innovative approach
encountered during the construction process are discussed in the light of contract
management strategies and use of the same approach in the future. The management
of health, safety, and environmental risks before, during, and after the construction, as
well as the sustainability benefits from the innovative approach are also discussed.

We analyze contracting between an innovator endowed with an idea and a project developer. The innovator has private information about the value of his idea, whereas the developer must exert some non-verifiable effort at the development stage. The developer may also threaten to leave the relationship after being informed on the value of the idea. The equilibrium contracts distort downwards the developer's incentives, but differently so depending on the strength of intellectual property rights (IPR). In particular, with intermediate IPR, only pooling contracts arise, with a limited amount of information being revealed at equilibrium.

Abstract: Contracting plays a dominant role mostly in large scale and complex projects. Its use in construction projects takes the role of risk transference and governance. Despite the developments taking place in the discipline of project management in general and contracting in specific, projects are still failing. Literature attributes various reasons to these failures; however, a significant body of literature on project seems to attribute failure to poor contracting practice. Contractual failures give rise to situations of litigation and long- ...

Contracting plays a dominant role mostly in large scale and complex projects. Its use in construction projects takes the role of risk transference and governance. Despite the developments taking place in the discipline of project management in general and contracting in specific, projects are still failing. Literature attributes various reasons to these failures; however, a significant body of literature on project seems to attribute failure to poor contracting practice. Contractual failures give rise to situations of litigation and long-running disputes that recursively cause various problems within projects. The effect of poor contracting has often been observed in the various components of the project management triangle (that is, scope, quality, cost, and time). Contracts are pervasive and contractual agreements exist between the project principal and contractors as well as between contractors and subcontractors ; the review of literature presented in this work, however, is focused on the former. This paper presents a discussion from the perspective of the literature pertaining to the softer issues in contracts and provides discussion on how trust and partnering act within the contracts of construction projects.

Contracting plays a dominant role mostly in large scale and complex projects. Its use in construction projects takes the role of risk transference and governance. Despite the developments taking place in the discipline of project management in general and contracting in specific, projects are still failing. Literature attributes various reasons to these failures; however, a significant body of literature on project seems to attribute failure to poor contracting practice. Contractual failures give rise to situations of litigation and long-running disputes that recursively cause various problems within projects. The effect of poor contracting has often been observed in the various components of the project management triangle (that is, scope, quality, cost, and time). Contracts are pervasive and contractual agreements exist between the project principal and contractors as well as between contractors and subcontractors ; the review of literature presented in this work, however, is focused on the former. This paper presents a discussion from the perspective of the literature pertaining to the softer issues in contracts and provides discussion on how trust and partnering act within the contracts of construction projects.

The contingency contracting industry has shifted markedly in recent decades. The events of 9/11 led to a complete reorientation of military and stability operations activities worldwide such that the primary operating theater of many existing companies shifted almost entirely to Afghanistan and Iraq, while government demand also allowed for the creation of a myriad of new private entities to provide contingency contracting services. As U.S. Government (USG) contracting requirements react to drawdowns from these two concurrent large-scale ground engagements, the nature of the primary goods and services provided by the private defense industrial base will respond accordingly.

This transition away from private company support of large military engagements has also been coupled with a reorientation of industry focus away from combat environments towards support operations in increasingly frequent, but risky, stability operations. These types of operations necessitate augmented private sector support for commercial efforts in austere environments, as well as international missions that have shifted from UN “Chapter VI” peacekeeping missions to increased peace enforcement missions of the “Chapter VII” variety. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) states that, “‘Contingency contracting’ encompasses all contracting performed in a contingency environment (declared and non-declared), including military operations, stability operations, natural disasters, humanitarian, and other calamitous events.”

The activities of private companies in combat operations and complex environments have traditionally drawn minimal attention when compared to their historic presence in such settings; yet in the last twenty years the services of these companies have grown to become a seemingly indispensable part of the modern western stabilization arsenal, as well as the subject of much media attention. The governments that procure these companies’ services put a great deal of faith and trust in their operations. While government contracting practices trend away from massive life support operations (accommodations, catering, facility maintenance, etc.) and back to the provision of people-based services, it is important that this manpower be sourced and monitored responsibly and ethically in order to uphold the principled aspirations of the U.S. and align policy practice with preaching.

As the government increasingly uses commercial augmentation to perform many of its most basic functions, it is critically important that all employees understand the rules, expectations and boundaries that define the government-contractor relationship. The enormous shortfall of experienced acquisition personnel has left much of the burden of oversight and accountability to employees who are not trained in contracting regulations and procedures. Now, more than ever, all government employees and supervisors must possess a basic understanding of contract administration best practices and familiarity with rules and regulations governing the conduct of contractors in the workplace. This handbook introduces the fundamentals of managing government-contractor relations in a blended workforce.

In Contractors in the Government Workplace: Managing the Blended Workforce, author Glenn Voelz offers best practices and tips for employees and junior supervisors tasked with managing hybrid government-contractor teams. Focusing primarily on service-based contracting, the most rapidly expanding element of government acquisitions over the past decade, he provides an understanding of the tools, techniques, rules, and regulations relating to supervision of contractors in the workplace. He also discusses legal, ethical, and security tips to help avoid common mistakes and violations of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) guidelines. Voelz explains in a straightforward way all aspects of government contracting that acquisition personnel need to know, including the basics of service-based contracting, the government-contractor relationship, acquisition team responsibilities, administration procedures, contract language, common mistakes government managers may make, methods of evaluation, Performance-Based Service Acquisitions, and ethical and legal concerns. An extensive bibliography supplements the text along with several appendices which include a glossary of key acquisition terms, a checklist for reviewing and analyzing contracts, tips for writing Performance Statements and Statements of Work, and guidelines for contingency contracting and contracting in forward locations or austere environments.

 O presente trabalho busca analisar os contratos de pesquisa, inovação e desenvolvimento tecnológico da Administração Pública, destacando especificidades em relação aos demais contratos administrativos, no contexto da atual doutrina, legislação e jurisprudência. Principalmente no Poder Executivo, é frequente que se almeje desenvolver produtos e/ou serviços cuja a tecnologia ainda não é existente para aquisição e pronta-entrega no mercado. Diante da lacuna, a Administração pode celebrar tais contratos a fim de viabilizar tais inovações, as quais se dão, principalmente, nas áreas de defesa, tecnologia da informação e petróleo. O artigo intenta aprofundar o estudo sobre as principais características comuns a estas contratações.

I am attempting to find academic literature to support my hypothesis that the adoption of a Lump Sum Fixed Price (LSFP) contracting strategy during the development phase (Front End Engineering Development : FEED) of Large Engineering and Construction Projects (LECP) will negatively impact the overall project value realization of the project or asset due to the fact that the Engineering Contractor(EC) can only price for a limited number of conceptual or design evaluation cases within the competitive bidding environment prior to the start of the project.
Current research has shown that even though the overall cost for the development phase of a LECP is typically between only 1-3 % of the Total Installed Cost of the project (Berends , 2006) , the development phase is in many ways the most critical part of the project life cycle.
To this fact the type of contract should then be suitable to ensure that the most optimum functional parameters are obtained during the development phase of the project life cycle , but due to the client’s preference to utilize competitive bid LSFP contract strategies even during the development phase of LECPs limits the number of design development cases(required to optimize the functional parameters)  due to the very restrictive cost and schedule ( nature of LS contracts and (inevitable) client penalties for schedule over run) should then have a negative impact on the overall project realization (TIC) and final asset project life cycle cost ( TIC + operational cost)
I have been able to find an abundance of academic research on the impact of the type of contract utilized during the implementation phase (Detail Design & Construction) of the project , but I have been unable to find specific research related the type of contract (and it’s subsequent potential financial implication) used during the Development phase on the overall project value realization.

Any guidance in this regard would be highly appreciated.

The 1990s witnessed the spread and broadening in Europe of different types of relationships between public administration and private organisations (both for-profit and non-profit), derived from the two main categories of contracting out and accreditation. These models, linked to the process of developing new modes of governance, also focus on forms of contracting between providers and users of services. This contractual configuration of local welfare systems appears to encourage 'civil society' and recipients to play a more active role in designing interventions and putting them into practice. Nonetheless, several questions still remain to be answered, mainly concerning the different position adopted by the beneficiaries in the case of intervention theoretically aimed at ensuring or increasing their 'freedom of choice'. This article sets out to analyse these questions with specific reference to the implementation of the Italian legal reform of social services. The field of observation covers interventions based on economic benefits looking to promote recipients' independence. Our intention is to focus on whether and how the present structures incorporate and elaborate this impulse towards change, with particular reference to the new configuration of the users' own position.

This paper examines the Risk Management and Contract Design aspects of Public Private Partnerships. Part I begins with the question: How is a public private partnership distinct from public-private interaction over history? From this question, it identifies risk allocation and risk sharing as a central feature of PPPs today. Part II attempts to see when PPPs to be used, as well as the potential advantages and disadvantages of PPPs. These lead us to the central part of the study. Part III examines Risk in four parts: a profile of risk in PPPs, risk categories, risk allocation principles & strategies, and some common mistakes. All risk management is manifested in the contract specifications. Part IV therefore focuses on Getting the Contract Right, from the structure as well as the key aspects of contract formulation.  The paper draws on the PPP experience, drawn from the UK, Australia, Asia and India for illustrations. The paper ends with concluding remarks.

The New South Wales (NSW) government created the Sydney Metro Authority to design, build and operate a completely separate underground Metro rail system to supplement the existing public transport network in Sydney. By the time the NSW government abruptly cancelled the entire Metro project in early 2010, the Authority had conceived and designed a contract that was proceeding to procurement.

In this case study from Scotland, we demonstrate a successful use of the benefits of the NEC3 contract in a situation when only limited project funds are available. Following an action research (AR) methodology and aiming at maximising the value for the Client and the general public from the available funding, an innovative approach was devised and used during the procurement process of a £3 million infrastructure project for stabilisation of a high coastal slope with residential properties at risk from potential instability. Environmental protection, natural disaster risk management, as well as sustainability in the built environment featured highly on the Client/Consultant procurement/design agenda with public participation throughout the duration of the project. General, fixed, and variable items in the Activity Schedule, as well as an alternative Activity Schedule, enabled the Client to control and direct spending on the project based on the risk analysis and design management b...

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Roughly half of all project managers have to lead customer projects as profit centers on contractor side with two big objectives: making the customer happy and bringing money home. There colleagues on customer side have another problem: Making complex Project Supply Networks (PSNs) adopt a Mission Success First culture, prioritizing completing over competing.

Customer projects are a high-risk business on both sides, customers and contractors, but the dynamics of this business have so far been mostly ignored in literature. The book is intended to fill this gap. The book helps project managers better understand the dynamics of customer projects under contract from business development through handover and find solutions for common problems. A central aspect is international contract laws, an often underestimated factor in projects.

The UK Government challenged construction to achieve 50% faster delivery and a 33% reduction of clients' capital costs by 2025 – prevailing business models won't meet these targets. Eliminating waste from construction design and delivery as advocated by lean ideals is therefore a necessary step towards these goals. However, waste understood simply as the improvement of current processes rather than fundamental system redesign will not be enough. Obtaining a better understanding and conceptualisation of waste in construction is therefore becoming more crucial. One aspect of this is to challenge the apparent coherence of prevailing procurement practices generated by the institutional, organisational, and commercial environments that surround the design and delivery of construction projects. This paper contributes to this by examining Tier 1 contractors and presents examples of practices that open debate on how to challenge prevailing procurement models for construction. Through literature review and interviews, the study discusses the factors influencing the 'Principal-Agent' relationship demonstrating how procurement arrangements often mirror institutional forces. These forces do not necessarily guarantee better value services, they are more likely to serve the interests of large industry players with the bargaining power to create new rules (North, 1994). A radically different delivery model, where the client intends to eliminate the management fees and confrontational behaviours of their Tier 1 contractors is described.