Quantitative Model for the Systematic Evaluation of Standard Form of Civil Engineering Contract

Abstract

This research presents a quantitative model for standard-form review that is systematic and concise with the aim to reduce dependency on individuals’ opinions and the subjectivity in standard-form review. Construction industry in Malaysia has always has a heavy reliance on the standard-forms of contract as its General Conditions of Contract to outline the obligations and the rights or the parties contracting in civil engineering projects. However, according to the literatures available, the existing forms and all their subsequent revisions are still falling short in certain areas. Studies on standard form including those of form revisions are typically conducted qualitatively and in a rather random manner but the search for contractual documents idealization still remains. In this research, eight (8) attributes for standard form study and their relevant parameters were selected. A structured questionnaire survey was done to establish the rankings of these attributes and their importance weighting, Wi. Then, a structured technique to evaluate the clauses based on the Level of Adequacy, Ai against the number of problematic issues, is designed for form reviewer to evaluate each clause. Each clause in the standard-form will have a final Total Evaluation Score (TES). Magnitude of Evaluation of TES is designed to check the magnitude of positivity or negativity of the clauses. It is hoped that with a structured and quantitative model for form evaluation, both the positive points and conversely the problematic areas and issues in standard-forms of contract, not only in Malaysia but worldwide, can be determined in an objective manner, which in turn enhances future form drafting and revisions in the quest for an ‘ideal’ form.