Boost Your Ability to Evaluate EOT ’ s
A practical guide for principal agents to improve results
By Kobus le Roux Le Roux Consulting kobus @ lerouxconsulting . com
Resolving extension of time claims amicably and expeditiously seems an elusive concept for many parties involved on construction projects . In this article I ’ ll attempt to offer a practical approach and roadmap for principal agents to ensure they create a solid foundation from which they can make informed adjudications on extension of time claims .
I ’ ve devoted much of my professional career to the study of time in construction contracts and over the years , I ’ ve consulted on this topic for many companies . Often ( perhaps too often ), these organisations have sought my assistance during a crisis , at which point they required a quick fix or someone to make a case where none were possible .
But this approach is akin to hacking at the leaves of an invasive plant , without striking at the root . Quick fix solutions don ’ t yield effective long-term systems . Many of the companies I ’ ve assisted on this crisis-by-crisis basis never develop the required repertoire to effectively manage and mitigate this risk . As such , they keep throwing money at problems , they could solve otherwise .
By adopting a systemised approach to managing time , at tender stage already , parties can resolve matters much quicker and avoid unnecessary disputes later on in the project .
THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT One of the key obligations of a contractor under the JBCC , GCC , FIDIC and NEC contracts , is to provide a programme , which can be broadly defined as a diagrammatic representation of the planned execution of work by the contractor .
According to the JBCC , this obligation requires a contractor to submit a programme in sufficient detail to enable the principal agent to monitor the progress of the works .
What does sufficient detail look like ? There are currently , no generally accepted standards of practice for compiling and evaluating construction schedules in South Africa or abroad .
Although there are many such standards in existence , such as the SCL ’ s protocol , the CIOB ’ s Planning Protocol , PMI ’ s Good Practice Guide and AACE ’ s Practice standards to name but a few , none of these has seen wide implementation on construction projects in South Africa .
LAY THE FOUNDATION AT TENDER STAGE At tender stage , the client and professional team are in control . Thereafter , everyone become passengers on a bus along the road paved by the contractual framework agreed between the parties . Certainly , most frameworks allow the client to change their mind on a couple of aspects post tender . However , there are direct contractual consequences for those changes that ’ s usually much harsher than simply having your ducks in a row at tender stage
To effectively manage and adjudicate delay claims , one must lay the foundational building blocks at tender stage already . Getting this step right should solve around 70 % of the headaches which professionals , and the employers they serve , face during a project , regarding EOT claims .
The following is not an exhaustive list , but it looks at some of the most “ building blocks ” that will assist the parties later on in the project , when decisions on EOT ’ s need to be made .
REQUIREMENT FOR A PROPERLY PREPARED PROGRAMME 1 . Ensure that the programme is prepared as a critical path network and submitted in the native software format of your choice . It ’ s simply not feasible to scan through thousands of lines of tasks spread across multiple pages of a calendar to make sense of programme . I appreciate that many built-environment professionals who act as principal agents on a project , already have expensive software requirements in their respective disciplines . However , the role of principal agent requires a certain level of project management proficiency and with that territory comes the requirement for scheduling software . It ’ s very accessible , not that expensive ( measured against benchmark-software for other disciplines ) and should be included in the budget for that role .
2 . Ensure you get the right amount of detail . The big trade-off in planning is that more detail equals more complexity but , on the upside , allows for better control . Less detail on the other hand , equals less complexity at the expense of proper control . To enforce a certain level of detail , a rule of thumb is to require all tasks ( where possible ) with a duration of more than 20 to 30 days to be broken down into smaller tasks .
8 Evaluate EOT ' s