TONY BINGHAM Is an Arbitrator, Mediator and Barrister. As well as that, Tony is a renowned writer, commentator and lecturer.
THE BUMF MACHINE
Too Many Contract Documents
Our industry spews out dozens and dozens of standard form contracts which no one can keep up with or understand. Bad news for people who build - great for lawyers.
Construction people just want to build. The forms are what the lawyers pretend to know all about once they poke clauses up your nose - ammunition to exploit the other bloke in the blame game.
Was I being a bit of a tyke? The guest lecturer at this year’s JCT Povey Lecture was yours truly. I mean to say that the lectern over all these years hitherto has been occupied by the great and the good. There have been government chief construction advisers galore; gurus on carbon free green whatsits; an MP or two; and chairmen and women of tip-top construction firms. Then me; a tyke. And given I was the guest of JCT, I decided to bring along all of the current NEC contract documents. And just to sort of balance things up, I brought all of the current JCT contract documents. Then it was time for a smidgeon of audience participation. Each of those standard forms had been put on their seats until there were no forms left. Once settled I asked all those who had found on their chairs an NEC or JCT standard form to stand up, then hold up and wave their form. Guess, please, how many people were now standing and waving? Blow me, it was 86! Yes, my dear friends, there were 86 printed standard, yes, standard contract documents and all different and all to do a different job. My point? Need I say? O hell’s bells, this is beyond lunacy. Nor have we finished counting standard forms: add the CIOB “complex contract” forms, the ACA, and the ICC forms. All of these are ordinary construction forms being used in this country. On top of all these (yes, there’s more) is an entire suite of energy contract forms from IChemE and IMechE. Even the international FIDIC form is used in the UK. Let me tell you this: my daily diet is reading or hearing dispute submissions, which have endless numbers of thumbs thumbing all these squillions of pages of bumf, which no one can keep up with. It’s gone potty.