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Latham targets JCT
00:00 09 Jun 1994
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Reconstitution of the Joint Contracts Tribunal to reflect the
industry's structural changes of the past 30 years is expected to
be one of the central focuses of the Latham Report, which was
delivered to Environment Secretary John Gummer this week when Sir
Michael concluded his exhaustive 12-month study.
No organisation is expecting to see the outcome of the Latham Report until a few days before its official 18 July publication. But all are agreed that it will call for fundamental change across a wide range of industry activity. The JCT, which has come under severe criticism during the past 12 months from many of its constituent members, is expected to be criticised by Sir Michael for its slowness to respond to new procurement methods, and the obscurantist nature of its contracts. A new line-up of members - drawn from the CIEC, CIC, SECG, and the BPF and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply - may be suggested. As ever, construction politics make this a sensitive matter: what the BPF and CIEC both want done to JCT will be opposed by the specialists of the SECG. The specialists are labelling the BPF and CIEC the 'Teflon Team' for their interest in shedding risk and passing it down the contractual chain. SECG wants Latham to acknowledge that it makes sense for clients to take an involvement in contractual relations between main and subcontractors.
Other recommendations expected from Sir Michael include: adjudication during contract disputes; new payment regimes; an endorsement of alternative disputes resolution; and revisions of the retention system.
As promised right from the start, Government will consider seriously any calls for legislation recommended by Sir Michael. Already the major trade associations are co-ordinating meetings with influential MPs in order to emphasise aspects of the report that appeal to them most. The Specialist Engineering Construction Group will be pressing the Department of the Environment's Select Committee to consider issues raised by the report.
l see p6
No organisation is expecting to see the outcome of the Latham Report until a few days before its official 18 July publication. But all are agreed that it will call for fundamental change across a wide range of industry activity. The JCT, which has come under severe criticism during the past 12 months from many of its constituent members, is expected to be criticised by Sir Michael for its slowness to respond to new procurement methods, and the obscurantist nature of its contracts. A new line-up of members - drawn from the CIEC, CIC, SECG, and the BPF and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply - may be suggested. As ever, construction politics make this a sensitive matter: what the BPF and CIEC both want done to JCT will be opposed by the specialists of the SECG. The specialists are labelling the BPF and CIEC the 'Teflon Team' for their interest in shedding risk and passing it down the contractual chain. SECG wants Latham to acknowledge that it makes sense for clients to take an involvement in contractual relations between main and subcontractors.
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Other recommendations expected from Sir Michael include: adjudication during contract disputes; new payment regimes; an endorsement of alternative disputes resolution; and revisions of the retention system.
As promised right from the start, Government will consider seriously any calls for legislation recommended by Sir Michael. Already the major trade associations are co-ordinating meetings with influential MPs in order to emphasise aspects of the report that appeal to them most. The Specialist Engineering Construction Group will be pressing the Department of the Environment's Select Committee to consider issues raised by the report.
l see p6
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