Extension-of-time claim and pressure to certify a convenient number
You are the mechanical lead of the consultant team on a HK$1.4 billion hospital redevelopment under a re-measurement contract. The main contractor has submitted an extension-of-time claim of 45 days for late handover of the electrical plant room (30 days), late approval of chiller shop drawings (20 days), and two black rainstorm days. Your review shows: the electrical room was handed over 30 days late; the contractor's chiller submittal was first rejected for missing sound data, and the resubmittal was approved 15 days later than the contractual review period; chiller delivery is on the critical path; the manufacturer's lead time then extended by 18 days; the contractor's own delay in commissioning temporary power overlapped 20 days with the electrical room delay. The client's project manager emails: just certify 45 days - we need the contractor on side for the next phase; the programme is complicated and nobody will audit it.
1. Assess the extension-of-time entitlement, event by event, and explain what further information the determination needs.
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Assess each event separately, on the programme, before adding anything.
- Late electrical plant room (30 days): employer risk if the handover obligation sits with the client or another contractor. Check that the notice and claim conditions were met, and whether the 30 days actually delayed completion or was absorbed by float.
- Late shop drawing approval (20 days claimed): only the employer's own delay counts. The first rejection was for missing sound data - contractor risk. If the review period is, say, 14 days and approval came 15 days late, employer delay is 15 days at most, and only if that submittal was on the critical path.
- Chiller lead time (+18 days): a consequence of the same critical-path events, not a separate event. Do not double count it with the approval delay.
- Black rainstorm (2 days): allowable only if the contract's inclement-weather provision is engaged and notice given; check the definition and any allowance already carried.
- Concurrent contractor delay (20 days temporary power): where the contractor's own delay runs alongside an employer delay, the usual approach is that time may be granted, because the employer cannot insist on earlier completion, but prolongation cost is not, or the delay is apportioned, depending on the contract wording. State which rule is being applied.
Likely outcome: not 45 days. A defensible range might be 20–32 days, subject to a time impact analysis and the notice records. The number must come from the programme, not from adding up letters.
2. How do you respond to the project manager's instruction, and what are your professional obligations?
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I cannot certify 45 days on that basis, and I should say so in writing, promptly and courteously.
A certificate or determination is a professional opinion on the contract, not a goodwill gesture. Signing a figure I do not believe is accurate would mislead the client, expose the consultant and me to claims and audit findings, and is inconsistent with the HKIE Code of Professional Conduct - honesty, integrity, objectivity and regard for the public interest. The fact that nobody will audit it is precisely the reason not to do it.
Response:
- Reply to the PM confirming receipt of the instruction and explaining, with reasons, why the assessment must follow the contract's determination procedure.
- Set out the analysis, the assumptions, the missing documents and a firm timetable for a proper determination.
- Separate the commercial relationship from the contractual determination: if the client wants to settle with the contractor for goodwill or to secure the next phase, that can be a without-prejudice commercial agreement approved by the client - but it must not be dressed up as an EOT determination.
- Escalate to the client's project director and the consultant's principal if pressure continues; record the advice given and the decision taken by others.
That protects the client, the contractor and my own registration.
3. What records would you ask for, and what process changes would reduce this kind of dispute?
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Information required
- The accepted baseline programme and all monthly updates.
- The submittal register with dates received, review periods, comments and resubmittals.
- Site records, diaries, photographs and correspondence for the electrical room handover.
- Notices of delay and early warnings; minutes of progress meetings.
- The temporary power sequence and its float; the contractor's mitigation records and any acceleration proposals.
Process changes
- A live delay register on every programme update, with owner, status and a critical-path flag.
- A submittal clock in the document-control system that escalates automatically at day 10 of a review period.
- Early-warning meetings triggered when total float falls below about 10 days.
- Joint time impact analysis for significant events, agreed contemporaneously rather than reconstructed later.
- A standing instruction that determinations are made on records, with reasons, and signed by the responsible engineer.
These measures cost little and remove the space in which just certify it becomes tempting. They also protect the contractor: a properly reasoned determination is far easier to defend than a number produced to keep the peace.