We see increased interest from both clients and contractors to carry out contract projects in close collaboration. It can be called partnering, early cooperation, collaboration or something else, but there is a great willingness on both sides to cooperate more.
We are often asked what it means to carry out a partnering project or a project in collaboration. These concepts are not defined, either in the most common standard agreements AB 04 and ABT 06 or in any other form. Common to the projects is often that the client wishes to connect with an entrepreneur early, that the parties should collaborate and cooperate to a greater or lesser extent and that there is some kind of common economy, with or without incentives for the entrepreneur. It is also common for partnering and collaboration contracts to be carried out and divided into different phases and there are a number of different forms of replacement models.
Replacement models can be designed in several different ways and the most important thing is that the parties agree and that it is clearly formulated what is meant. In the case of a contract carried out on an ongoing basis, it is important to determine how any profit mark-up should be imposed and whether there should also be any fixed cost element. It is also possible to carry out a collaborative project with larger parts that are fixed price or with the application of a target price and a ceiling price.
We are currently seeing many questions about price changes and increased prices of goods and materials. These issues are also present in partnering and collaboration contracts, perhaps to a slightly lesser extent than normal contracts.
Perhaps the most important issue in a partnering or collaboration contract is that the project can never be better than the parties make it, and how the actual desire for cooperation actually comes about. The projects place high demands on both the client and the contractor when it comes to jointly driving the projects forward.
The above questions were discussed in more detail at a breakfast seminar earlier in December. Keep a look out for our recurring breakfast seminars in areas such as construction law, public procurement and real estate law.
Do you want to know more about this topic, or did the article raise other questions? Please feel free to contact one of us or your regular contact at Lindahl.
