Baseline Slippage

With an approved Baseline Schedule, progress is monitored against the same.

If the pitfalls of Target Schedules can be avoided, the Contractor should get used to "owning" the updated Baselines showing the progress to date and the delays that may be apparent therefrom.

It cannot be avoided that the impacts on the Baseline Completion Date are (looking at it in black and white for the time being) the Contractor's fault - and will be subject to Liquidated Damages - or are the Employer's fault - irrespective if due to Engineer's Instruction - and will be subject to entitlement to extensions of time and additional payment.

Even if the fault lies with the Contractor and even if the Contractor wishes to try to hide the facts, the submission of a revised Baseline should be implemented so that the "yardsticks" by which everything will be judged in the remaining time are adjusted to take into account the new and revised "best guess" by the Contractor.

Any Baseline will usually include some "fat" which the Contractor will use to balance out shortcomings as the Works proceed, nevertheless, the purpose of the Baseline is to help establish the Critical Path (the shortest path) and any variations thereto be identified as to whom is responsible.

An instructed Variation (VO) will automatically require the Baseline to be revised simply because the Baseline based upon XYZ now consists of something more than XYZ.

If there is a Variation which has not been instructed, this should also be considered in resubmissions by the Contractor, not least in updated Baselines (based upon original understandings) and with a view to formulating the revised Baseline at some time as when the Employer/Engineer may accept that the Variation identified by the Contractor is actually a VO.

The sooner the revised Baseline can be submitted inclusive of the additional work - irrespective of whether it is agreed or not - the better it will be when updates to said revised Baseline are implemented so that they reflect the actual acitivities being undertaken on site and do not only show what was expected at Commencement i.e., XYZ even though now it is more than XYZ being carried out.