| With the rapid economic development and consistent growth of international trade, there are more and more construction projects on progress. But, backward in measures, weakly conscious about the risk, the actual contract management does not meet the requirements of the project management. Therefore, it's important for enterprise to enhance the quality of commercial staffs and to improve the contract management.As a commercial staff who has been engaged in contract negotiation and management of large-scale project for long term, from the point of view of the owner and the buyer, this article points out that a qualified commercial people should possess the knowledge as follows:* The international and domestic laws, regulations, agreements and rules related to contract;* The basic principles, strategy and procedure of contract negotiation;* The contract management skills.This article also stresses the following points of view standing at the position of the owner of a large-scale project:1. The method of should prevail in contract's negotiation.There are two different theories about negotiation: 'Zero-Sum Game' and 'Added Value Creation'. The theory of 'Zero-Sum Game' considers that the total benefit of a negotiation is fixed, the more one party gets, the more another losses. The results of a negotiation must be alternative 'Win' or 'Loss'. So what we call 'Win-Win' is actually impossible. Contrarily, the theory of 'Added Value Creation' stresses 'Win-Win'. Two parties can create the added value through a good cooperation. No party losses when another party gains more profit.The method ''Added Value Creation' shall prevail in a large-scale project. A large-scale project is normally a long-term and complicated engineering scope so that it is difficult to define everything clearly in the contract. Without a favorable cooperation, it is inevitable to have a lot of disputes and conflicts that make both parties in troubles. The key point of a large-scale project is the quality of construction and the punctuality of schedule. Even a little advance of schedule will also produce a huge profit to the owner.It was wrong before to oppose the relationship between owner and contractor. Owner and contractor are the unification of a pair of contradiction. A good cooperation will bring both parties benefit. The conception of 'Win-Win' is going to be accepted by more and more enterprises, especially by the owners and contractors engaged in the large-scale project.2. The mode of 'Big Owner' is useful for a large-scale projectThe mode of contract management is closely related to that of project management. The difference of various modes of contract management is the scope of engineering work. The choice of modes depends on owner's technical abilities as well as managing capability. There are several kinds of modes of contract management subject to the degree of owner's intervention. The traditional and more applicable modes are EPC (Engineering, Purchasing, Construction), CM (Construction Management Approach), TK (Turn Key, or Design and Construction) and DM (Design-Manage).There is another new-developed mode of owner dominating, which is complementary to the traditional project management modes. If the owner has enough abilities to manage the design, surveillance and construction of project, it is not necessary for him to contract another consultant-company to carry out the management. This mode is a best way for the owner to maintain the quality and to reduce the investment of project. This mode trends popular in the international market with more and more competition. 3. The negotiation bidding is much better than the public biddingThere are a lot of obstacles in the implementation of 'Tender and Bid Law', although the government puts the Law in force so as to regulate the behaviors of transactions, to create a fair market environment and to impel national capitals to be utilized efficiently. But some enterprises, especially the owners of large-scale projects, tend... |
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