Premaratne, A S; Feng, Z and Yiu, T W (2022) Independence and impartiality of contract administrators in the New Zealand construction sector. Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers: Management, Procurement and Law, 176(2), pp. 76-84. ISSN 17514304
Abstract
Contract administrators play essential roles in the construction sector, as they administrate the execution of construction contracts. A contract administrator acts as a representative of clients and an independent certifier to contractors. This dual role can bring conflicts within the contract administrator's duty. Therefore, concerns have been raised whether contract administrators can perform their duties fairly and impartially when serving clients and contractors. This study examines the independence and impartiality of contract administrators in the construction sector. This study also reviews the current New Zealand standard construction contract forms to understand the role and position of contract administrators. A questionnaire survey was conducted in New Zealand to obtain views from 42 construction practitioners. The survey results suggest that independence and impartiality of contract administrators may exist in the New Zealand construction sector, manifesting that most survey respondents experienced a reasonable and fair performance from contract administrators when carrying out their duties. This study contributes to the existing knowledge of contract administration by revealing the existence of independence and impartiality of contract administrators in the New Zealand construction sector. Also, this study contributes to industrial practices by putting forward concerns and recommendations to improve the legal obligations of contract administrators in construction contract forms.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | codes of practice; construction management; contracting; contracts; law; standards |
| Index terms: | New Zealand, contract administration, construction contract, codes of practice, contract administrator, survey, construction practitioner, questionnaire, duty, construction sector |
| Subjects: | Geography, contract management, practitioner, contractual role, contract type, professional development, regulatory law, industry analysis, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Procurement, Legal Issues, Information Management, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Contract Administration |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here