Hardcopies

With technology available today, there is less and less desire for people to keep hardcopies within reach as historic documents can be accessed on line, searched and even edited to some degree (highlighted/annotated).

However, a hardcopy is advantageous in many ways and should not be dismissed just yet.

Not only is it good sense to take a break from a computer screen but also, it is much easier to compile adjacent notes and annotations - ones which may only be discernible by you - as one proceeds and as one gains more and more insight into the nuances of the Contract and Contract Documents.

Again, reading and reading then re-reading the Contract Documents is a necessary part of the contractual administration of the Project and should not be underestimated as to its importance.

The other issue that may materialize is the continued reference to documentation that one had not previously considered nor even reviewed on-line or otherwise.

One such document or repository would be the UAE Civil Code (if one is in the UAE and subject to its Laws) plus many other references to Entities extolling the virtues of their Standards and Codes of Practice - American, British, European, Japanese etc. - which you will be held accountable to unless one identifies any conflict and/or contradiction.

Some such documentations will not be free and it is not necessarily expected that each individual Project will require copies however, it must be made known to Management that the Company/Party in question should at least have access to such publications for reference by those on Site as and when required.

If one does not have access, one is blindly following a reference to a document which may well be in conflict and which could have serious repercussions, indirectly or otherwise, at a later date.

Presupposing one can amalgamate an entire lexicon of such references and determine which hardcopies are likely to be relevant, such action will enforce one's better understanding of what is required and reasonable and what is not.

The easiest place to start would be a combining of the Form of Contract (General Conditions) with the Particular Conditions.

From there onwards, follow the order of precedence documents, obtain hardcopies (combined if/where necessary) and then delve further into the same to see what other sub-references are made to particular publications and/or notifications.

It may not be an easy or quick matter to undertake and the physical "cutting/pasting" of new passages directly opposite extinct/deleted ones may make one think they are back in Junior School, however, one only has to consider that this need only be done once and that once done, may well show non-descript sections in a very different light when viewed in toto.