Enhancing Contracts & Project Management in the Public Sector

Course Overview:

The accomplishment of most projects involves the use of contracts to ensure that both parties understand their respective roles in project delivery. This course brings these elements together in a two-part format to gain a synergistic understanding of the processes involved. Contractual relationships are an important aspect of Project Management. It is important to have an understanding of how they are used to achieve the desired goals and objectives of a project, how they are created and structured, and some of the various methods available to negotiate contracts, and to resolve disputes.

The Contract portion of the course will also examine some of the main clauses that appear in contracts, together with many alternative contracting strategies and structures. It will then consider methods to be used in negotiating contracts, including techniques relating to negotiating on variations and claims. The various methods and techniques of dealing with commercial disputes arising from contracts will be reviewed, and their application to both local and international settings.

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course, the participants will be able to:

Improve their understanding of the role of contracts within a business
Develop more confidence in dealing with contracting issues
Understand how strategies can be developed to improve the commercial outcomes
Apply the latest international thinking in dispute resolution
Increase awareness of the use of contracts in everyday business life
Establish a project control system and monitor progress
Learn how to establish project goals and objectives that are directly linked to stakeholders’ needs
Develop realistic and measurable objectives to ensure positive results
Identify threats and opportunities to your project, and weigh their relative value
Identify and overturn the psychological barriers to risk in stakeholders

Course Coverage:

Topic 1: Contracts, Structure of Contracts and How Are They Created?

Intention to create a legal relationship and the need for contractual relationships
Form of Agreement, Offer and Acceptance
Written or oral. What is the need to create a valid contract?
Other legal formalities in different countries
Sealing, Signing, Authority to sign and how to prove authority
Witnesses
The tender process
Involvement of agents
What happens if there is no contract, but work is carried out?
Making contracts enforceable – with particular emphasis on the international context
General Terms and Conditions plus Special Terms and Conditions
Schedules or Appendices
Title (ownership) and risk of damage
When does it transfer?
Use of ICC INCOTERMS
Notices and other formalities
Which law and which courts?
Different contractual structures
Traditional
New structures used in the Middle East
New structures not widely used in the Middle East

Topic 2: Collateral Documents:

Bonds and guarantees
Tender Bonds
Advance Payment Bonds
Performance Bonds
Warranty Bonds
Parent Company Guarantees
Retention/Withholding
Retention Bonds
Letters of intent
Letters of award
Letters of comfort or awareness
Types
Who should carry the cover?
How should you manage claims?
Are banks or insurance companies good enough security?
Insurance policies
Assessing the need for financial security in the current economic climate
Changes to the Contract Documents
Need for consent
Assignment/Novation explained and distinguished
Waiver
Changes to the scope
Variation clauses
Notice provisions
Valuation of variations and changes
Claims – what they are, and how they arise
The delay caused by the client
The delay caused by the contractor/supplier
Force majeure
Delay and disruption

Topic 3: The Project Manager’s Roles and Responsibilities:

Selection of the Project Manager
Project Team-building and empowerment
Team management challenges
Delegating with confidence
Communication within the project team
Project team leadership
Multidisciplinary teams
Conflict handling
Best practices of people-based project management

Topic 4: The World of Project Planning and Management: (Elements of Scheduling, and Budgeting)

Project lifecycle model
Classic and modern project constraints and parameters
The concept of project management maturity
Selecting projects to meet organizational goals
Aggregating projects into programs and portfolios
Establishing a project support office
Considering and confronting uncertainty in project selection decisions
Project data, information and knowledge management
Project plan. Strategic, tactical and operational planning
Level of detail in scheduling
Network logic and dependency analysis
Project uncertainty in planning and risk management
Methods of budgeting, Fundamentals of budgeting & cost control
Improving cost estimates
Best practices of project planning, scheduling, and budgeting

Topic 5: Project Resourcing, Control, Monitoring, and Evaluation:

Resource allocation
Expediting a project
Allocating scarce resources to projects
The Critical Chain approach
Designing the monitoring cycle
Performance Indicators and feedback mechanisms
Earned value management
Designing the change-control system
Proactive management and plan updating
Evaluation Criteria and Project Auditing
Project review meetings and analyzing performance
Project Reporting
Closure, and Hand-Over

Targeted Participants:

Contracts Managers
Contract Administrators
Contract Professionals
Project Managers
Project Coordinators
Project Controllers
Engineers or Contracts Operatives