Consultants' Contract

Conditions of contract for the appointment of consultants on major building projects.

The CIC Conditions comprises the Form of Agreement, Parts 1-6 and Guidance. Part 7, the Services, are bound separately and are described below.

The Consultants' Contract is intended for experienced clients working with experienced consultants on major commercial property developments projects, primarily in the UK. It can be used by either employers or design and build contractors, and any discipline of consultant.

It has been drafted with the aim of striking a fair balance between the interests of the client and the consultant. The objective is to make available a contract which is acceptable in the institutional market, but with which consultants and their insurers are comfortable.

Where the Consultants' Contract is used on a project, it should be used for the appointment of all the consultants. This will mean that all team members are subject to consistent terms, will owe the same duty of care and will be under similar obligations in respect of co-operation, sharing of information, coordination of design and the like. Vitally, the services they are to provide will be fully integrated. When the Services (Part 7) have been assembled for the particular project, all the consultants will have details of the services to be performed by the other team members.

The contract is designed to be flexible enough to fit a range of construction procurement methods, including traditional, design and build and construction management.

Guidance on completion and the contract provisions can be found at the back of the CIC Conditions.

• Consultants' Contract package - order online
• CIC Conditions - order online
• CIC Scope of Services - order online

The CIC Services description

Integrated and detailed scopes of services for use by members of the project team undertaking the definition process (design and related activities) on major building projects.

The CIC Scope of Services comprises lists of tasks which are (or may be) required on all projects. From these lists, parties can draw up schedules of services for the appointment of consultants, specialists and contractors by allocating the tasks to whoever is to undertake them.

The CIC Services are for use on major building projects designed by a multi-disciplinary team, whatever the procurement route. The client can be a developer or end-user client, or a design and build contractor. The services may be undertaken by-

• consultants (on the CIC Conditions section of the CIC Consultants’ Contract);
• specialists contributing to design; and
• contractors (whether the procurement route is traditional or design and build).

A series of tables details the tasks to be undertaken as part of the ‘definition process’. The term ‘definition’ is used rather than ‘design’ because far more than design is involved and not all of those participating in the process undertake design. Thus the process includes management, co-ordination, costing, programming, health and safety and so on. Definition + construction = project.

The approach is innovative; the services set out are comprehensive and enable parties to assemble schedules of services for the project team which are integrated and transparent. The CIC Services are therefore the perfect tool for working in partnership.

The allocation of the tasks and printing of contract schedules of services is most easily done using DefinIT, the allocation software package, available on-line now. Find out more..

The CIC Services Explained December 2006

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