The New Government Standard Conditions of Engagement for Construction Consultants
16.10.2008
Despite opposition from the industry, both contractor and professional, in December of last year, the Government Contracts Committee for
Construction (“GCCC”), published its suite of five construction contracts for public works (consisting of traditional forms of contract for (i)
building and (ii) civil engineering works, design and build forms of contract for (iii) building and (iv) civil engineering works, and (v) a form
of contract for use with minor works in both building and civil engineering) (“the Public Works Contracts”). At the same time, the
GCCC published the Government Standard Conditions of Engagement for Construction Consultants (“the Conditions of Engagement”). The
Public Works Contracts and Conditions of Engagement have all been subject to minor amendment, but were reissued in their final format in
August 2007. These new contracts follow the Government’s initiative to achieve ‘value for money’ on publicly funded construction and civil
engineering projects, with the objective of avoiding time and budget overruns.
The Conditions of Engagement apply to all construction consultancy contracts awarded for public works projects from 1st January 2007. The
Contracts must be used without amendment and only in rare and exceptional circumstances, will amendments to ‘non-core’ elements be
permitted, and only then if sanctioned by the GCCC.1 This note focuses on the Conditions of Engagement and considers how these will affect the procurement of consultants’ services by public sector bodies. Concerns raised by professional associations suggest that the underlying ethos of ensuring that price is given “significant weighting without undermining quality” will lead, necessarily, to price becoming the overriding criterion applied in awarding consultancy contracts to the detriment of quality. At the same time, the appropriate pricing of the contracts at tender stage will become increasingly challenging for consultants who are, in effect, required to assess and include for a number of (largely unknown) contingencies.
