Contracts are established to distribute the rights, obligations and liabilities of the contracting Parties among each other, in view of ruling ventures, or delivering a Service according to certain specifications.
They are essentially setting the rules of the risk balance between the Parties.
A venture is indeed derived from ad-venture, risky by definition, and the delivery of a specified Service within cost, time and liabilities constraints in an uncertain environment, is nothing else than a series of challenges to overcome, all carrying their own risks.
This guide is proposing to review and analyse the ways contracting companies can manage the “de-risking” of the usual steps of a Project development : selection, definition, evaluation, negotiation, execution.
A “contracting company” is meant to be any corporate entity supposed to deliver a Service or a Product, or implement a Project for a Client, through the constraints of a contract.
It shall deal with the risks inherent to market, client, partners, suppliers, macro-economic environment, availability and performance of internal resources, reliability of external resources, project design basis and technical definition, accuracy of pricing, contingencies and implementation schedule, contractual commitments and liabilities, and execution strategies.
It shall identify, avoid, mitigate, evaluate and transfer risks before execution, and ultimately bear and control the residual risks during execution.
This guide is aiming at supporting senior managers, marketing managers, commercial and project managers, engineers, estimators and may constitute the backbone of risk management organizations and corporate guidelines.