Advanced Contract and Project Delivery Management Course

Advanced Contract and Project Delivery Management Course is a 2-week course for professionals who must both administer an agreement and deliver the work it governs, on time and within budget. You move from tendering, agreement types and allocation of exposure to scheduling, earned value and claims, and leave with a Delivery Control Pack for one live job. Mercury Training Center delivers this contract and project delivery course.

About This Course

Jobs lose money when the commercial team and the delivery team work from different documents: variations go unpriced, schedules ignore notice periods and claims arrive late. You should already work on tendered or awarded jobs. You practice on sample agreements, schedules, variation logs and claim files from construction, energy and facilities work.

Who It Is For

• Administering awarded agreements, notices, payments and variations.
• Scheduling, tracking and reporting progress on delivery jobs.
• Preparing tenders, pricing and award recommendations.
• Assessing and defending claims and preparing for negotiation or arbitration.
• Auditing commercial and delivery controls on capital jobs.

This course is not for readers who only need agreement drafting and legal terms, who are better served by a course on commercial agreement law, or for those seeking exam preparation in scheduling methods alone, who need a dedicated exam-preparation course.

Competencies You Will Build

• Agreement Selection: choosing lump sum, schedule of rates, reimbursable, EPC or alliance models for a job.
• Exposure Allocation: placing each uncertainty with the party best able to carry it.
• Variation Control: logging, pricing and agreeing scope and timing variations before work proceeds.
• Schedule Control: building critical path schedules and tracking them with earned value.
• Claim Avoidance: keeping records and notices that prevent or settle claims early.
• Stakeholder Handling: managing expectations of client, contractor and end users.

What You Will Be Able to Do

By the end of the course you will be able to:

• Given a job brief, choose an agreement model and write the reasons and the main exposures.
• From a draft agreement, flag letters of intent, side letters, bonds and clauses that need legal review.
• Using a scope variation, assess its cost and time effect and prepare the instruction.
• From an activity list, build a critical path schedule, resource it and test a time-cost trade-off.
• Given progress data, calculate earned value indices and forecast the final cost and finish.
• Using a claim file, choose the resolution route from negotiation to arbitration.

Course Content

Day 1: Foundations of Agreements

• Principles of Good Agreements and Why Organizations Use Them
• Essential Elements of a Valid Agreement and Key Creation Steps
• Law of Agency and Authority to Sign
• Letters of Intent, Award and Comfort and the Hazards of Side Letters
• When to Obtain Legal Advice on Obligation Documents

Day 2: Tendering and Award

• Tendering and Award Process Steps with Their Pitfalls
• Distinguishing Price from Value in Bid Evaluation
• Bonds, Guarantees and Warranty Handling
• Organizing Responsibilities, Basic Agreement Planning and Communication
• Online Agreements and E-Tendering Practice

Day 3: Exposure and Agreement Models

• Identifying, Assessing and Apportioning Exposure Between Parties
• Lump Sum, Schedule of Rates and Reimbursable Models
• EPC and BOT/BOOT Structures for Capital Works
• Alliance, Partnering and Prime Agreement Arrangements
• Consolidated Sourcing Agreements and Market Trends

Day 4: Terms That Govern Performance

• Design, Specification and Work Ordering Clauses
• Obligation to Perform, Transfer of Ownership and Risk of Damage
• Administration, Reporting Mechanisms and Cost Control Clauses
• Recovery Clauses, Acceleration, Insurance and Indemnities
• Termination and Suspension Rights

Day 5: Variations and Agreement Documents

• Variations in Scope, Quantity, Timing and Method of Working
• Variation Registers and the Hazards of Uncontrolled Scope Growth
• Standard Form Documents, Templates and Modifications
• Drafting Special Conditions
• Subcontract Issues and Back-to-Back Terms

Day 6: Claims and Resolution Routes

• Eliminating Sources of Claims: Errors, Omissions and Unknowns
• Tracking Variations and Managing Expectations to Avoid Conflict
• Negotiation Stages, Techniques and the Need for Compromise
• Litigation, Arbitration, Mediation and Expert Determination
• Early Neutral Evaluation, Med/Arb, Pendulum Arbitration and Review Boards

Day 7: Initiating Delivery Work

• Delivery Systems and Life-Cycle Models
• Job Selection with Qualitative and Economic Evaluation Techniques
• Selecting the Delivery Lead
• Stakeholder Identification, Analysis and Engagement
• Objectives Setting and Who Wants What Analysis

Day 8: Scheduling and Resources

• Task Characteristics and Duration Assessment
• Critical Path Versus Critical Chain Scheduling
• Resource Allocation and Leveling Methods
• Time-Cost Trade-Off and Lead and Lag Logic
• Cash Flow Analysis from the Schedule

Day 9: Uncertainty, Execution and Control

• Risk Versus Uncertainty, Attitudes and Sources of Exposure
• Probability and Impact Analysis and Response Strategies
• Lean Construction Strategies, Staff Acquisition and Motivation
• Management Styles and Conflict Handling on Site
• Earned Value Reporting, Response Implementation and Closeout

Day 10: Practice on a Live Job

• Agreement Model Selection Exercise for a Plant Expansion
• Variation Pricing Exercise on a Facilities Job
• Earned Value Forecast Exercise on a Delayed Schedule
• Claim Negotiation Role-Play Exercise
• Completing Your Delivery Control Pack

Case Studies and Exercises

The items below are suggested activities.

• Case study: a refinery expansion under an EPC agreement slips three months after late design changes; you decide which party carries the delay and draft the notices.
• Case study: a hospital facilities job receives repeated small variations; you set up a variation register and pricing approach.
• Exercise: a road works contractor reports progress without earned value; you calculate indices and forecast the finish.
• Exercise: a power plant supplier claims for disruption; you choose between negotiation, mediation and arbitration and prepare your position.

What You Take Back

The Delivery Control Pack ties one job's agreement to its schedule and costs. In your first month back you use it to check notice periods against the schedule, set up the variation register and report earned value to your sponsor.

• An agreement summary with key obligations and notice periods.
• An exposure allocation table.
• A variation register with pricing rules.
• A baseline schedule with earned value reporting.

Quick Answers (FAQ)

What should I know before a contract and project delivery management course?

You should already work on tendered or awarded jobs in a commercial, engineering or delivery role and read basic agreement documents. No scheduling software skill is needed; schedules are built step by step.

How does contract and project delivery training differ from a contract-only course?

It joins the commercial side to the delivery side: agreements, variations and claims are worked alongside scheduling, resources and earned value. A contract-only course stays with agreement types, terms and administration.

What is earned value and why does it matter on a contract?

Earned value compares the budgeted value of work done with the planned value and the actual cost. It shows early whether a job is behind schedule or over budget, which supports timely notices, variation claims and recovery decisions.

What do I take back from contract and project delivery management training?

You take back a Delivery Control Pack for one job: an agreement summary with notice periods, an exposure allocation table, a variation register and a baseline schedule with earned value reporting.

For Your Manager

After the course, the team member will be able to choose agreement models, allocate exposure, control variations, schedule and track work with earned value and handle claims before they escalate. They return with a Delivery Control Pack, first used on a live job to align notices, variations and progress reporting.