Group voices fears on 2012 retentions

The Specialist Engineering Contractors (SEC) Group has added nine new clients to its retention-free list but is still campaigning to get the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) on board.

“We have written to the ODA to strongly argue that there is no place for retentions on Olympics contracts,” said SEC Group chief executive Rudi Klein. “Retentions are linked to lowest price and stifle any innovation and investment companies might want to make to add value on a project.”

The newcomers to retention-free contracts are: ALDI food stores; ARENA Housing Association; CIRCLE 33 Housing Association; DeVere Hotels; the Environment Agency; the Highways Agency; IKEA; Luminar Leisure; and Yorkshire Water. They bring the list to 70-strong.The full list can be found on www.secgroup.org.uk.

In its letter, SEC Group has reminded the ODA of the importance of payment issues, tackled through the use of project bank accounts, and stressed that the group should clamp down firmly on any main contractor enforcing any bespoke subcontracts on its supply chain.

This, Klein told CJ, could be policed through a best practice panel which would be set up to ensure good housekeeping is in order.

[Contract Journal, 11 October 2006, p 3]