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A diverse group of 20 construction associations representing designers, owners, contractors, subcontractors and sureties recently launched ConsensusDOCS, with more than 70 collaboratively drafted construction contracts. The unprecedented buy-in for these contracts demonstrates a genuine effort to identify and employ best practices to better the industry.
"The release of ConsensusDOCS is one of the most significant industry developments in the last 20 years," said Stephen E. Sandherr, chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). "We believe this effort will positively transform the industry's use of standard contract documents."
ConsensusDOCS is unique because each document was drafted to reflect the project's best interests, rather than a single party interest. These documents help parties to focus on better project results, rather than negotiating risk-shifting contract terms or worse, contract claims in court, to assess fault.
"The best practices of the 2007 ConsensusDOCS establish a new 'gold standard' for defining contractual relationships in design and construction projects," said E. Colette Nelson, executive vice president of the American Subcontractors Association Inc. (ASA). "These documents encourage practices that are in the best interest of all parties to a project rather than merely reflecting existing unfair business practices and industry trends."
There are more than 70 documents that address all project delivery methods, from design-bid-build through a new innovative collaborative agreement (ConsensusDOCS 300). These cutting-edge contracts and forms help address emerging issues such as electronic communications and building information modeling.
Owner involvement was an integral part of the drafting process. "We are pleased to have supported and endorsed this valiant industry effort," noted Greg Sizemore, Executive Vice President of the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT). "For once the industry has come together in a truly collaborative way to create value for all the stakeholders."
Industry owners were able to hear the concerns of all construction parties and this helped to better allocate risk to the most appropriate parties. Richard A. Foss, Executive Vice President of the National Association of the Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) remarked, "NASBP views ConsensusDOCS as a proactive, positive initiative to benefit the construction industry by fostering an equitable apportionment of risk among project participants through the development and publication of fair and balanced standardized form contracts."
The broad industry involvement helped to shape contracts that represent the best interests of the project. The documents represent discussions by each group on appropriate risk sharing and other issues.
A complete list of the member organizations participating in ConsensusDOCS is available on the Internet. Visit http://www.consensusdocs.org/ for more information, and to purchase and download ConsensusDOCS.
*Certified Construction Industry Financial Professional
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