1. EXPERT in claims management & dispute resolution
4o Years of experience
EXPERT in claims management & dispute resolution
PROJECTS -COMPETENCE FIELDS:
Nuclear Civil works Construction
Industrial Buildings construction
Multi storey buildings
Marine Works
Bridges
Dams
-Roadwork
Meet individual’s Company requirements

2. Contract Manager-Rule & Responsibilities
MIG Consultants Ltd
Contract administration Commercial administration
Advice on contract structure
Claims avoidances
Project evaluation
Jean BERNARD
Leadership skills-Senior Management experience
Contract Manager-Rule & Responsibilities
claims management & dispute resolution
Project & Contract Management
Filing and rules of correspondence &
Few recommendations
list of past experiences

3. Jean BERNARD Consultant spécialiste "Freelance" International & Europe Dossiers réclamations Pre/Post Contract Administration, Quantity Surveying and Claims/Dispute Resolution. PROJECTS -COMPETENCE FIELDS: Nuclear Civil works Construction Intervention Mission: longue ou courte durée
I have been involved in several very large projects including Office Complexes, Nuclear Project, Hospitals, Military barrack, Industrials Plant, Hotels, Civil Works, Residential Complexes etc., liaising with consultants, owners, suppliers, contractors and sub-contractors, reviewing installation, equipment selection and drawings etc. to ensure proposals and actual installations are in accordance with specifications, international standards and good engineering

4. Chantier Olkiluoto Finland-AREVA

5. Contract Manager Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of the contract manager are:
• Participating, as necessary, in developing the solicitation and writing the draft documents. Contract administration
must be considered during this process.
• Monitoring the contractor’s progress and performance to ensure goods and services conform to the contract
requirements.
• Managing any state property used in contract performance.
• Authorizing payments consistent with the contract terms.
• Exercising state remedies, as appropriate, where a contractor’s performance is deficient.
• Resolving disputes in a timely manner.
• Documenting significant events.
• Maintaining appropriate records.

6. The number of participants in the contract administration process will vary in number from one to many depending on the size, level of risk and complexity of the contract. Early in the procurement process, identify staff to participate in contract management. Identify a single contract manager and others to assist the contract manager. Assign roles and responsibilities which may include:
• Determining the sequence of activities, dependencies, required or desired outcomes, and acceptable performance levels.
• Developing a timetable and start and end date for each performance component. Include milestones with accompanying timeframes, and monitoring and reporting requirements.
• Monitoring contractor activity on a specified frequency to identify problem areas.
• Meeting with the contractor on a regular basis to review progress, discuss problems and consider necessary changes.
• Providing access to state facilities, equipment, data, staff, materials and information.
• Contacting other staff as necessary to provide equipment and data.
• Establishing scope of authority, clear lines of communication and reporting and specific individuals who will interact directly with the contractor.
• Establishing control of correspondence, data and reports.
• Identifying potential problems and solutions.
• Defining terms or conditions of default.
• Establishing a procedure, identifying a responsible person and establishing a timeframe for handling non compliance.
Establishing a procedure, identifying a responsible person and establishing a timeline for making necessary contract decisions or modifications

7. Planning
As stated earlier, planning for the administration of a contract should begin with the drafting of the statement of work.
Procedures for contract administration should be described in the solicitation document. After the contract is executed, the planning activities should focus on general administrative activities including, but not limited to management of contract amendments through documentation of any changes to the contract scope, schedule and payment. Another central activity to contract administration is the advance coordination and scheduling of resource
to assist in the performance of the contract administration processes.
In order to properly plan for contract administration, the contract manager must ensure that he/she she thoroughly understands all of the components of the solicitation and contract. Examples of such contract components include:

8. Post Award Conference
A post award conference is a meeting with the contractor and includes the principals responsible for administering the contract.
The conference is typically held soon after the contract is awarded. It is an orientation for the contractor to ensure a clear and mutual understanding of all contract terms and conditions, and the respective responsibilities of all
parties. The conference also serves as an excellent tool to clarify and resolve any potential misunderstandings early on.
Although both the contractor and the agency personnel should be fully aware of the contract requirements, the post award conference ensures that those involved directly in the contract administration process understand all
requirements of contract performance.

9. Not every contract requires a formal post award conference, but generally there should be some form of discussion between the contracting parties after award to ensure that all parties agree on the performance requirements and the administrative procedures applicable under the terms of the contract. The post award conference should NOT be used to change the terms of the contract.
• Agency personnel should decide if a post award conference is necessary. For less complex, low risk, low dollar value contracts, a telephone call to the contractor may be sufficient. During the telephone conversation, the agency should review the major points of the contract with the contractor (e.g.; amount of contract, major
performance milestones, deliverables, reports, meetings) and time and place of delivery. Factors used to determine the need for a post award conference include:

10. Type of contract;  Level of risk associated with the contract;
 Contract value and complexity;
 Length of contract, period of performance and/or delivery requirements;
 Procurement history of the supplies or services required and expertise of the contractor;
 Urgency of delivery schedule;
 Agency’s prior experience with the contractor;
 Any special or unusual contract requirements; and
 Any special or unusual payment requirements

11. Post Award Conference Agenda
It should be made clear at the beginning of the conference that the purpose of the meeting is to explain or clarify contract requirements and not to make changes to the contract or re-negotiate the contract terms. The post award conference agenda should cover the following:
1. Introduction. Introduce all participants and identify agency and contractor key personnel.
2. Scope. Discuss the scope of the contract (i.e., what the agency is buying). Although this may seem overly simplistic, a total and complete meeting of the minds on this point will avoid problems during the life of the contract.
3. Terms. Summarize contract terms and conditions, particularly any special contract provisions. This can avoid any misunderstandings later on, and allows the contractor to gain a better understanding of the terms prior to beginning work.
4.Requirements. Discuss the technical and reporting requirements of the contract. The technical requirements may be discussed as part of the Scope, above. It is vital that the contractor and the agency have a meeting of the minds regarding technical requirements. The contractor must understand the importance of any reports
required under the contract and the importance of submitting them in accordance with contract requirements

12. 5. Administration. Applicable contract administration procedures, including contract monitoring and progress measurement should be discussed.
6. Rights. The rights and obligations of both parties and the contractor performance evaluation procedures should be summarized. The agency should explain that contractor will be evaluated on their performance both during and at the conclusion of the contract and that such information may be considered in the
selection of future contracts.
7. Potential Problems. Potential contract problem areas and possible solutions should be addressed. Any issues or contract areas that the agency believes may lead to a problem later on, or may be subject to differing interpretations, should be discussed
8. Payment. Invoicing requirements and payment procedures should be discussed, especially if the payment will be made according to milestones achieved by the contractor.
9. Authority. Agency personnel should explain the limits of their authority and obtain the same information regarding contractor personnel.

13. After the conference, the agency should prepare a summary of the meeting for the contract file which details the topics covered. The summary should include areas requiring resolution, a list of participants, and in particular, those
individuals assigned responsibilities for further action and the due dates for those actions. Copies of the meeting summary should be distributed to all conference participants.
EXPERT in claims management & dispute resolution
Competence Field: Leadership skills-Senior Management experience
Propose strategies and solutions to the Project(s) Manager(s) contractual issues
Monitoring project events - permanent challenge to identify deviations, Variation Orders, and to claim for Extension of Time
Monitor the fulfilment of obligations towards/from the Customer/Partners/Subcontractors.
Manage and file relevant contractual documents (letters, mails, minutes..) - analyse incoming” documentation and prepare “outgoing” contractual letters for the Project Manager and his team
Exercise a high degree of anticipation - participate in the contractual risk analysis - prepare and keep up to date the claim/counterclaim register for resolving commercial opportunities/risks.
At any time be in the position to give to the management the contractual and commercial situation on the Project

14. EXPERT in claims management
& dispute resolution
Preparing and defending claims
· Supporting experts in adjudications/arbitrations/litigations. · Assisting employers, contractors or insurers and their legal teams in analysing and reporting on quantum and contractual claims

15. Introduction
Claims on construction projects involve the major protagonists, owners, contractors and design professionals and it is important to prepare for the uncertainty of construction project risks. While each project risk may have uncertainty associated with it regarding the degree that a particular risk will manifest itself on a given project, the identification of major project risk factors is a relatively advanced science. However, the essence of the ability to reduce the frequency and severity of claims is the identification of these construction project risk factors and dealing with them and/or providing for them in the construction or design contracts.
The major project risks that we are all too familiar with include the following:
· Cost escalations
· Time for completion and construction delays
· Changes in Project scope
· Geotechnical and site-related problems
· Weather and force majeure conditions
· Negligence in both design and construction

16. Claims on construction projects cont’d
Contracts provide a rare opportunity between contracting parties to foresee problems and to draft contractual provisions to take care of those problems, or at least to diminish the effect of This brings us to the importance of contracts. Contracts are the basis of most of our liability in today’s construction industry. Contractual claims represent 90% of all claims that occur in the industry. Third party tort claims make up the remainder. Since contracts are so important, it is clear that more time should be spent discerning which contract (delivery system) is likely to provide the best option for the parties to a particular relationship.
The power of a contract for any legal purpose is enormous. Parties can limit their liability both in terms of time and quantum, and the parties can foresee problems and provide contractual formulae to deal with those problems.
This paper will deal with various contracting strategies, risk allocation and project delivery
alternatives which can make a significant difference in mitigating the effect of the risk factors that exist on every construction project.

17. Tailoring Your Contract to Your Project
It is important to tailor your contract to your project, rather than vice-versa. It is acceptable to use standard forms, as long as one does not become a slave to standard form contracts. There is no single standard form contract that can apply to every permutation and combination of situations that might arise on a construction project. It is important to understand the particularities and requirements of a particular project and the participants to that project so that you can tailor your contract to your project in a manner that will serve the best purposes of all of the contracting parties. Problems with contracts are endemic to the construction industry and as indicated above, represent the source of most of the claims that occur on a day-to-day basis.
This brings up the seven "I"s of contract that graphically illustrate most of the problems associated with construction contracts. These include the following:
1. Inappropriate contracts
2. Incomplete contracts
3. Incomprehensible contracts
4. Incompatible contracts
5. Inequitable contracts
6. Incommunicado contracts
7. Incredible contracts

18. In order to assess the appropriate contractual agreement to employ on a particular construction project, it is first necessary to undertake a complete risk assessment. The foreseeing of risk and project-related factors affecting the contracting parties is key to developing a contractual arrangement that will work to the benefit of the project and its participants. Before considering a particular project delivery alternative, the parties should undergo a thorough assessment and evaluation process that should include the following:
1. Assessing and evaluating the particularities and needs of the various project
participants;
2. Assessing and evaluating the individual peculiarities and sensitivities of each project;
3. Assessing and evaluating the role to be played by each of the project participants on the project and how they will interact with one another.
Deciding how best to allocate project risk amongst project participants is a critical exercise. In particular contractual situations, a number of factors should be reviewed, including the ability of the parties to bear risk. So generally:
Risk Should Be Born By the Party Best Able to Handle It
The major sources of disputes on construction projects including the following:
1. Incomplete scope definition.
2. Inappropriate contract type.
3. Poor communications.
4. Uncertainty and unrealistic expectations.

19. Compatibility of Interests
The nature of the beast of construction being what it is, and as an indication of why construction disputes will likely be with us forever, no matter how sophisticated we become, one need only look at the volatile construction process. When the parties' objectives and interests are not compatible, their interpretation of contract documents, terms and conditions can diverge, leading to conflict.
The conflict-prone nature of construction projects is primarily based upon the incompatibility of the parties' initial interests and objectives. Incompatible project objectives are responsible for frequent disagreements on how to approach and complete a project. For example, on most construction projects, the owner wishes to obtain maximum quality, functionality, aesthetics and capacity at minimum cost. On the other hand, the contractor seeks to achieve financial goals that are advanced by expending the minimum resources required to meet a minimum scope of work.

20. Compatibility of Interests cont’d
Each construction project is unique, and requires a detailed analysis, prior to entering into a particular project delivery method. The parties on each project must assess specific project characteristics to develop a joint creative and effective approach to dealing with and resolving conflicts before they lead to disputes The structure of a construction project in terms of which project delivery method is employed, and the manner in which the parties relate to one another, can reduce or create conflict amongst multiple project participants. As an example, reviewing the traditional relationships on a design/bid/build delivery system, illustrates a situation where the design professional and the contractor have only a communication relationship with one another, but their roles on the project are defined in their separate contracts with the owner.
Accordingly, it is important to ensure that both the design contract and the construction contract are compatible with one another, notwithstanding the fact that they represent entirely different relationships with the owner.
Because the owner and the contractor are expecting the consultant to provide certain contract administration functions during the course of the construction project, and as envisioned in the construction contract, it is important that the consultant’s own contractual mandate with the client give him the power to perform those functions.

21. Why: The tasks Project & Contract Management
Filing and rules of correspondence
Few recommendations
Why:
Whenever we have to build a claim with some delays, we are facing difficulties with some projects .
To recover the complete file is at that time the first exercise. Too frequently this is an archaeological process, therefore a painful and costly exercise.
As there is sometimes delay between the Claim date and the event, the individual memory is called. Problem is that our memory is unreliable, (this grows with the elapsed time)., and the people working in the project are changing
Worst is when we cannot find a registered, obviously important, letter
The tasks
The Project Core Team, means the management of the Project has to keep records of all exchanges with Customers or Partners.
The PM or the CM (if any) are responsible of the quality of the records and filing of event.
The situation
Our colleagues of Operation use various systems (Documentum ASK, Advitium, Addoc, etc..) which are not considered as very friendly. Nevertheless, they fit to the purpose of the management and evolution tracking of all heavy technical documents. Obviously they have structure to also store the correspondence of the Project Core Team, but this is most frequently with the help of dedicated employee(s)..
Following our recommendations most of the Project Core Team have their own correspondence register and filing., but the issue is how to be sure that register fits to our daily actions and performance, and how everybody makes the necessary arrangements for registration and filing.

22. Few recommendations: The target
To have on each Team member’s work station an automatic system to register and file automatically in a safe place all pieces (letter, mail, memo,etc..) forming part of the correspondence with the customers..
This question was raised few months ago to our BIS specialist. Simple question,but, apparently a difficult answer with the e-tools we have, and with the choice of tomorrow e-tools (not yet decided)
Few recommendations:
Discipline :
All the best tools will not replace the input of the team members. For instance, do we make a memo of a phone call that will be sent out after? Do we proceed to register it?
Performance
Do we have an in and out register? Probably Yes. Within the register, do we have a tool to check if we have replied to the Customer/ Partners questions? Less sure…But do we have an indicator showing that we send more than we receive (accurate) correspondence, in other word that we are more creative in improving our position that our client. Never seen.. This is much important, as our correspondence registers show too frequently a passive attitude. We have to be more aggressive.
Reliability:
Avoid the use of your PC hard disk to store the project correspondence. Use a dedicated server, and keep in a single place a hard copy of the correspondence. To do so, we recommend to Projects to open a LN mail box dedicated to the project . This mail box with an internet (and intranet) address will be used to store all correspondence exchanges with Customer/Partners, and (option) the main suppliers.
The CM, (or PM) by reading daily the exchanges (authorised readers tbd) will be aware of the project exchange situation, and, will be in a position to react if one’s detect a wrong direction.
(please refer to § Rules of Correspondence )
When project management change, do not build a new system, improve it only.
We have also to be attentive to the exchange and commitments of our upper class management. They intervene, which is normal ,sometimes expected, The core team being the initiator of first draft, why not to reserve at that time on our register the ref number of such letter, then to collect the signed letter for filing in he Project.
Limit the number of Team members who will send

23. Rules of correspondence This below example
Availability
The register should be safe, with a free access. Therefore, why not to distribute to each of the Core Team Member, a batch of the register ref n° , exclusively available to him. This will result in a higher level of sent exchanges
Common sense
Compulsory, as for instance: react in time whenever facing an adverse situation, remind that what it is important when transmitting drawings or spec (already registered by Operation), is the delivering notice (date & content) etc..
Common sense goes with discipline
Rules of correspondence
This below example
Each mail will ne referenced
Always make copy of any correspondence sent to a third party (Customer, partners suppliers in the Project mail box. Ask other parties to do the same:
If a message is considered important, take a number from the Project correspondence register. Such messages should be then signed, faxed and scanned with the fax receipt, then sent via
Never send a mail with commercial or cost data, or number of working hours. Those data will be exclusively send by formal letters signed by the Project Director, his assistant, or by the Contract Manager. Those letters will be hande delvered by appropriate means.

24. ALSTOM Algeria-Project -Tramway ORAN Contract legal counsel
Consultant in Foreign assisted projects From Freelance Consultant Contract Manager/Contract Administrator
ALSTOM Algeria-Project -Tramway ORAN
Contract legal counsel
Data Systems & Solutions” subsidiary of Rolls-Royce plc.”
CONTRACT ADVISOR
Provision of Legal Advice & claims preparation for current Nuclear Projects” –IMPACT ETUDES-ECARTS-Ajustement du prix Globale Considérant les écarts et implication sur le planning” -Responsible for contractual advice and the compilation of support documentation to
substantiate ongoing ‘claims’.
Provision of QS services to AREVA
OL3 –OLKILUOTO –PROJECT/AREVA-SIEMENS-FINLAND

25. Douala Project “Roadwork, drainage ,sewers”
Consultant in Foreign assisted projects From Freelance Consultant Contract Manager/Contract Administrator
Tour Manhattan Project. »EXXON MOBIL »
Mace International ”UK”
Provision of QS services to Mace International Ltd initially in relation to a fit-out project in Paris.
KOOP CAMEROUN
Directeur Afrique
BP:14749 YAOUNDE- CAMEROUN
Douala Project “Roadwork, drainage ,sewers”
CONTRACT ADVISOR

26. Internationals Projects Variety of Civil & Building Projects