Hooks & Chains

Whenever possible, read, read and re-read the Contract Documents over, and over again.

Is it tedious? Will it make you want to pull out your own teeth at times? Yes, of course, and if it doesn't, you probably aren't doing it properly!

Joking aside, one purpose of doing this is to identify certain tasks and elements of the Contract which act like hooks.

Whilst you may think that being snagged on a hook is something to be avoided, the simple fact is that anything in the Contract that seems like a hook will entail some sort of "stop, look, listen, report" aspect.

Sentences that contain the words "must", "will", "has to" should be given special attention.

These are direct imperatives that cannot be avoided else such inaction may come at a cost to you and/or the Project.

Sentences that contain the words "may", "should" etc. should also be given attention and then established with the other Party as to how they are to be addressed.

Note that the need for you will be to ensure that you provide the other Party with that which you have contracted to provide/deliver and anything else (especially those items that will serve you well in the future) are established early on with the other Party so that there is no objection to the regularity of submissions and content therein.

Make sure these matters are formalized and recorded first so that there is no picking-and-choosing by the other Party if and when they believe they need to have you stop making such submissions (if they believe they are to their own detriment).

By reading through the Contract you should then be able to see how these documents link together, in a chain so to speak, and mutually suppport their contents so that when the time comes to record and determine the outcomes of anything in particular (especially potential variations and claims) the other Party cannot deny that the evidence (Contemporaneous Records) support each other and demonstrate your entitlement.

Again, the adage of compiling such records in the hope that no one ever needs to look at them i.e., the Parties can reach agreement on additional items as and when they occur, is admirable but ever unlikely to transpire.

As such, the one thing to bear in mind is that the compilation of such information and the linkage between them all are there for the potential viewing of another Party, and not the one with which you have contracted i.e., this other Party may well be connected with a potential arbitration and in that regard, it is useful to consider if, when reading such submissions in months/years to come, will they make sense to someone with little or no knowledge of the Project and specific issue at hand?

The hope will be that by ensuring that one keeps a consistent thread, the issues will be easier to correlate with other data and show that they do indeed show a true record of events and actions that occurred at the time in question.

If they don't, then you will have an uphill struggle in proving entitlements.