Variations / Claims
Variation and Claim management is an essential skill of a contract manager, especially due to the increase in both number and value of claims in marine infrastructure projects. An application for a variation or claim must be presented in a professional manner with sufficient details including the basis, calculations and evidences in order to save time, cost and effort of the claimant and to achieve a successful result.
Very often your project staff are too tied up with the management of the project to deal with the complex task of preparing a variation application or claim or may be under tight time-bar deadlines.
The unfortunate reality is that construction claims are often resolved by people who were not directly involved in the project. In the courtroom, it is settled by lawyers and judges often with little construction experience. Hence, it is critical to provide a simplified, effective presentation of claim issues. Too much information and not enough information are two main pitfalls of claim presentation, and should be avoided in claim presentation.
A well prepared variation application or claim helps all the involved in settling the issues in an early stages, before going to arbitration and litigation, which are expensive and time consuming. I generally work on between 3 to 5 marine infrastructure claims a year so am well versed in what is required under all the major standard forms of contract such as FIDIC, NEC and Australian Standards. As the saying goes “Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance”, and it’s a pretty failsafe formula for variation and claims.
