Bovis subcontract gets mixed reaction from CCS

The Confederation of Construction Specialists (CCS) has praised and criticised Bovis Lend Lease's amended standard form of subcontract in equal measures.
In its latest review, the CCS said of the 195-page DOM/2 1981 form: "Bovis has mixed adversarial and collaborative clauses together and then denied the subcontractor the right to obtain the commercial benefits of being a collaborative contractor."
The form is "cleverly drafted and contains several good
provisions", notably passing on relief from performance provisions from the main contract to the subcontract in a
proportionate manner.
The CCS also praised the "excellent design approval procedure that should be classified as contractual best practice and used by clients and companies working on other complex construction projects".
Furthermore the CCS describes the independent
adjudication procedure as fair and reasonable.
However, the CCS noted: "The worst contractual and commercial aspects of this subcontract are the imposition upon the subcontractor of all obligations, warranties, indemnities, duties, risks, responsibilities, undertakings, and liabilities under both the main and subcontracts and the use of a limitation of liability clause that does not provide any contractual limits.
"There are also too many pre-condition of payment subclauses."
Marked against the Construction Act, the CCS gave Bovis's form a score of 56%. It was marked down for payment (final date increased from 21 days to 31 days) and notice periods (reduced from five days to two).
A Bovis spokesman said: "This is not a standard contract; it's project-specific. The terms and conditions reflect the terms and conditions set out for Bovis by the client. It's established industry practice to pass risk on from the main contractor to
the subcontractors."