The purpose of the Contract Language Management Plan is to provide ACEC British Columbia members with a guide to developing the appropriate contractual agreement between the Client and the Consultant. The reason for this Management Plan is that ACEC British Columbia is becoming increasingly concerned with the unbalanced nature of agreements that are being presented to, and accepted by, the consulting engineering community in this province. These agreements unfairly shift risks associated with construction projects onto engineers without due regard for their role and responsibilities in relation to these projects. Therefore, negotiating the proper agreement is essential to reducing your liability.
The proper agreement between Client and Consultant is governed by the size, complexity, duration and other aspects of the assignment. For simple projects with well defined parameters and requirements, a simple agreement may suffice, appended with a mutually accepted set of standards, terms and conditions. On the other hand a mega project may require documentation drafted by Legal Counsel. Projects between these extremes may use one of the four standard documents most commonly used in British Columbia.
The following Contract Language Management Plan should be used by ACEC British Columbia members as a guide to developing the appropriate agreement.
