The Complete Course on Contracts & Project Management

Introduction:

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.

Targeted Groups:

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

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

Targeted Competencies:

• Contract Structuring & Formation
• Choice of Contract Type
• Contract Terms and Conditions
• Negotiation of Contracts & Disputes
• Cost Estimating & Cost Management
• Critical Path Management
• Detailed Estimating
• Project Planning (WBS, network, etc.)
• Project Closeout
• Lean Project Management

Course Content:

Unit 1: What Are Contracts and How are They Created?

• The need for contractual relationships
• What is needed to create a valid contract?
• Offer and acceptance
• Intention to create a legal relationship
• Written or oral?
• Other legal formalities in different countries
• Signing and sealing
• Witnesses
• Authority to sign
• How to prove authority
• The tender process
• Involvement of agents
• What happens if there is no contract, but work is carried out anyway?
• Making contracts enforceable – with particular emphasis on the international context

Unit 2: Structure of Contracts:

• Form of Agreement
• General Terms and Conditions
• 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

Unit 3: 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
• Delay caused by client
• Delay caused by contractor/supplier
• Force majeure
• Delay and disruption

Unit 4: Resolving Disputes:

• Negotiation
• Staged dispute resolution clauses
• Litigation
• Arbitration
• New best practices in dispute resolution
• Mediation
• Conciliation
• Early neutral evaluation
• Expert determination
• Mini-arbitration
• Pendulum arbitration

Unit 5: The World of Project Management:

• 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
• The art, science and practice of project management

Unit 6: Project Planning, Scheduling, and Budgeting:

• Strategic, tactical and operational planning
• The contents of a project plan
• Level of detail in scheduling
• Network logic and dependency analysis
• Project uncertainty and risk management
• Introducing uncertainty in planning
• Fundamentals of budgeting & cost control
• Methods of budgeting
• Improving cost estimates
• Best practices of project planning, scheduling, and budgeting

Unit 7: Project Resourcing, Monitoring, and Control:

• 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

Unit 8: 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

Unit 9: Project Evaluation, Reporting, Closure, and Hand-Over:

• Evaluation criteria
• Project auditing
• Project review meetings
• Analyzing project performance
• Progress reports and records
• Determinants of project success
• Successful project hand-over
• Lessons learned and creating a learning culture
• Best practices of project evaluation, reporting, and closure