Page 240 - Civil Engineering Project Management, Fourth Edition

Civil Engineering Project Management
220
with the extra work involved, including perhaps some unspecified sum for
overcoming any consequent delay alleged to have been caused. The resident
engineer should not accept such a quotation, but should refer it to the engineer.
The ICE conditions recognize that a quotation may be desirable and allow the
engineer to request this for ordered variations. If the engineer finds the con-
tractor’s quotation unacceptable he can assess the variation at bill rates or
similar (see Section 17.4). It is thus clear that the base line for any agreement is
to be the existing bill rates. The position is different under design and construct
contracts and the ECC whose provisions are discussed at the end of this section.
It may seem that acceptance of a contractor’s quotation has the advantage
that it avoids complicated problems of checking costs and assessing any delay.
But it can prove highly advantageous to the contractor and disadvantageous to
the employer. The contractor need not justify the amount of his quotation and,
as he makes the quotation before he undertakes the necessary work, the engin-
eer can only make an estimate of what the contractor’s costs might be to check
the quotation. Similarly, with no work done, there is no factual evidence as to
what delay, if any, the extra work would cause. Sometimes work on two or more
variations can take place at the same time, or otherwise be so closely connected
(using the same equipment, for example) that it becomes difficult, or even
impossible, for the engineer to judge whether the contractor’s quotations con-
tain elements of double charging of costs or double claiming for delay.
It should be noted that both the ICE design and construct conditions of con-
tract and the ECC (see Section 4.2(d) and (f)) require the ‘quotation approach’
when variations are ordered. But those contracts are not necessarily based on a
priced bill of quantities but often on lump sums, in which case the quotation
method is appropriate (see Section 17.3). However, both the design and construct
and the ECC are administered by the employer’s representative or his project
manager and not by an independent engineer, hence the contractor’s power to
quote in advance for extra work can be seen as strengthening his position. It is
true that under those contracts the employer’s representative or his project
manager can reject the contractor’s quotation, substituting his own, but this
must inevitably raise a dispute.

17.13 Time limits and interest payable on
late payments

The ICE conditions require the contractor to notify his intention to make a
claim ‘as soon as may be reasonable’ but in any case within 28 days of meeting the
unforeseeable conditions or cause of delay, or receiving notice of a rate set under
a variation order. If the contractor is late in his notification of a claim, he may
lose a right to that part of it, which the engineer cannot in consequence inves-
tigate properly (Clause 53(5)). When costs are ongoing, the engineer can require
the contractor to submit further accounts of his claim at reasonable intervals.
There is no specific time stated when the engineer must come to a decision