Contracts Administration

Contact

Ian Jolly RSK Geosciences Associate Director +44 (0)7825 943833 ijolly@rsk.co.uk

The remediation and development of land is an inherently risky activity. Those risks can be effectively managed through a bespoke procurement and contract strategy, developed with the client to incorporate its own priorities with respect to risk, cost and time.

RSK offers bespoke services to ensure potential risks are managed correctly and opportunities are realised. Our experienced Geosciences team is knowledgeable in a wide range of disciplines within contract administration and can support projects of any scale, at every stage of their development.

Bespoke strategies

Our team of engineers, programme managers and quantity surveyors provide advice from scheme inception all the way through to verification. Each project is unique, which is why we develop bespoke procurement strategies taking every factor of the project into consideration. Assessing and allocating risks and opportunities early in a project enables our clients to obtain the ideal balance between best value and price certainty.

Consistent and reliable services

Development projects come with many challenges and uncertainties. Poorly drafted and/or managed contracts can lead to delays, disruptions and additional costs. We consistently deliver comprehensive, high-quality contract documentation, with likely risks allocated in the contract or allowed for in the client’s budget.

Pragmatic expert advice

We focus on our client’s goals to identify suitable contractors for work, and prepare tender documents, invitations and assessments. We pride ourselves on our team of pragmatic contract administrators who can produce contract documents to the high-quality expected by our clients. Throughout the project, we develop and maintain a risk register to track items and their probable financial impact for inclusion in the client’s budget. In addition, we can offer a range of services to support development projects alongside contract administration, including ground and site investigation, remediation and civil engineering.

Client-focused

We endeavour to support our clients in achieving their goals on time, within budget and to the highest quality. From the outset, we ensure that the procurement strategy and form of contract reflects the blend of best value and price certainty the client requires.

Our Expertise

Bespoke procurement

We develop procurement strategies tailored to our client’s requirements. To do this, RSK will
• define the time, cost and quality priorities and objectives
• establish the requirements of the client’s procurement system and/or public funding rules
• draft a project brief to confirm the project’s objectives and the documentation describing how these objectives and any quality standards will be met
• prepare an initial risk and opportunity register to capture potential issues and then review, revise and implement measures to control risks and create opportunities
• develop a project programme to identify the timescales, milestone activities and a critical path
• prepare an initial cost plan for the project by estimating the quantities and applying market rates to develop a cost for the known work
• agree the allocation of risk responsibility with the client, particularly for unforeseen risks
• prepare a contract strategy and propose a standard form of contract.
Contractor identification

To identify a suitable contractor for completing work, RSK will
• complete public notices advertising for expressions of interests in European or other journals where necessary in accordance with procurement rules
• write pre-qualification questionnaires and an assessment method for identifying the relevant information from the contractors
• assess completed pre-qualification questionnaires to determine the most suitable contractors to bid for the work and then prepare a report
• obtain expressions of interest from suitable contractors and make an assessment to develop a tender list where public procurement rules do not apply.
Tender documents

For preparing tender documents, RSK will
• write contract amendments based on a standard form contract to allocate the risks and opportunities, as agreed with the client
• draft a contract agreement, a parent company guarantee and bond and third-party warranty documents for the client’s legal adviser to review
• prepare specifications, drawings and other work information to define the client’s requirements accurately
• prepare an activity schedule, so that the costs submitted by the contractors are comparable
• write a set of tender instructions and a method for tender assessment
• fulfil the role of principal designer and prepare a pre-construction health and safety plan.
Tender invitations and assessments

At the tender invitation and assessment stages, RSK will
• issue documents to tenderers and answer their queries
• arrange a mid-tender site visit for the contractors and, if beneficial, conduct mid-tender interviews to explain the scope and context of the work
• receive and open tenders to record the documents and information submitted and identify incomplete tenders, and then request additional information if permissible
• fully assess each tender returned and summarise the potential benefits and pitfalls
• assess the contractors’ project programme, including calculating resource usage before the programme is finalised to avoid overallocation of resources, and confirming that the programme clearly shows the links between tasks and any dependencies to show the critical path and float
• the sales value for each task to determine the monthly expenditure profile
• arrange and complete post-tender interviews
• make contractor recommendations based on the most advantageous tender submission.
Contract agreement and pre-commencement

At the contract agreement and pre-commencement stages, RSK will
• prepare the contract documents
• receive and review the method statements required from the contractor before work can start on site
• as principal designer, receive the construction phase health and safety plan and advise on its suitability.
Contract administration

To administer the contract, RSK will
• provide experienced site personnel to observe the work and confirm contract fulfilment
• provide site scientists to collect and log verification samples and arrange on-site testing, as necessary
• complete accredited geotechnical and chemical laboratory testing at its in-house facilities to ensure the verification criteria are met
• issue variations or instructions in accordance with the contract conditions and assess requests for change to quality, time and cost from the contractor
• check that the logic and milestones in the programme will deliver the critical path and the completion date
• receive applications for payment, assess the amount due, issue any payless notices and issue a certificate of payment to the client
• chair regular progress meetings to assess programme cost and quality, and review the risk register with the contractor to assess the likely final cost
• agree with the contractor when the work is substantially complete and prepare a list of items for completion or correction
• receive the as-built information from the contractor and incorporate it into the project’s verification report
• if the principal designer, receive the health and safety file from the contractor and pass it to the client
• make a final inspection and issue the final payment certificate for the work.

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