Contract Management in Projects

Abstract

This note deals with the contract management process in projects. The note covers the entire gamut of the contract cycle. First, the various ways of defining contract responsibility are considered. Next, it looks at typical contract payment systems and methodologies for making choice of the appropriate payment system. It then analyses the contractor prequalification process and discusses certain methods of contractor prequalification. Results of some survey studies are analysed to identify important factors that influence contractor prequalification. Following this, the contract planning and scheduling process is analysed, including its integration with the overall network- based planning and scheduling system for the project as a whole. It then analyses the bidding process for contracts and quotes the findings of empirical surveys on bidding process with a view to understanding the criteria which practitioners find important in reaching "bid/no-bid" decisions and "mark up" decisions. Finally, some systems and procedures for contract management are discussed.