Claims Management and Dispute Avoidance Training Course

Participants can interpret key clauses and identify the contractual basis for a potential claim.

• Reading contract documents using hierarchy, definitions, schedules and incorporated materials
• Express terms, implied duties and applicable-law considerations in contract interpretation
• Notice clauses, time bars and conditions precedent examined closely
• Change, delay, suspension and termination clauses mapped against project events
• Indemnities, limitations of liability and exclusion clauses assessed for exposure
• Contract risk register linking clauses, events, owners and response actions

Participants can issue timely, compliant notices and maintain correspondence that preserves rights.

• Notice validity: recipient, form, content, delivery method and timing
• Drafting protective notices without premature admissions or unsupported allegations
• Reservation-of-rights wording for continuing events and incomplete information
• Correspondence chronology distinguishing facts, positions, instructions and contractual notifications
• Time-bar tracker with trigger dates, deadlines, owners and escalation actions
• Responding to defective notices while preserving contractual and commercial positions

Participants can establish evidence systems that support causation, entitlement and quantum.

• Contemporaneous records required for events, instructions, labour, plant and productivity
• Evidence register linking documents to allegation, proof purpose and custodian
• Daily reports capturing access, weather, resources, progress and disruptions
• Version control for drawings, specifications, programmes and change instructions
• Meeting minutes written to record decisions, dissent and action ownership
• Photographs, site diaries and digital data authenticated for evidential reliability

Participants can analyse a project event and establish a defensible cause-and-effect narrative.

• Event chronology built from notices, instructions, records and programme updates
• Five Whys analysis separating root causes from immediate symptoms
• Cause-and-effect maps connecting employer acts, contractor response and consequences
• Concurrent events identified without assuming equal responsibility or impact
• Mitigation duties assessed against reasonable actions, cost and available resources
• Claim narrative structure: event, entitlement, causation, impact and relief

Participants can classify changes, value their effects and maintain controlled change records.

• Variation identification from instructions, omissions, changed conditions and design development
• Change-control workflow from request through valuation, approval and implementation
• Scope-baseline comparison using drawings, specifications, bills and assumptions
• Pricing methods: agreed rates, schedule rates, quotations and cost build-ups
• Constructive change indicators where conduct alters obligations without formal instruction
• Change log connecting scope decisions with time, cost and claim status

Participants can read programme information and identify evidence relevant to delay entitlement.

• Baseline programme quality: logic, durations, calendars, constraints and resources
• Critical path concepts and float ownership under contract provisions
• Programme updates compared against baseline, actual progress and revised forecasts
• Milestones, sectional completion and key dates linked to contractual obligations
• Progress measurement methods supporting reliable programme-status reporting
• Programme narratives explaining changes, critical activities and emerging completion risks

Participants can select and apply an appropriate delay-analysis method for available project records.

• Delay-analysis method selection based on records, timing and dispute stage
• Time impact analysis using fragnet insertion into an accepted programme
• Windows analysis examining critical-path movement through successive update periods
• As-planned versus as-built analysis and its evidential limitations
• Impacted as-planned analysis used cautiously with incomplete project data
• Society of Construction Law Protocol principles for delay analysis

Participants can assess extension-of-time submissions and address concurrent-delay arguments.

• Extension-of-time entitlement separated from compensation and liability for delay
• Critical delay demonstrated through affected activities, logic and completion dates
• Concurrent delay tests applied to overlapping employer and contractor events
• Pacing, prevention and float arguments evaluated against contract wording
• Extension-of-time determination records showing reasoning, assumptions and evidence
• Liquidated damages exposure assessed after completion-date adjustments and notices

Participants can distinguish disruption and acceleration claims from delay claims and quantify their evidence needs.

• Disruption distinguished from delay through productivity loss and inefficient working
• Measured mile analysis comparing impacted and unaffected productivity periods
• Productivity factors including stacking, out-of-sequence work and restricted access
• Acceleration categories: directed, constructive and voluntary acceleration assessed separately
• Acceleration evidence linking revised targets, resources, overtime and cost
• Loss-of-productivity records using labour hours, quantities and production rates

Participants can prepare transparent cost build-ups for common project claim categories.

• Quantum principles: actual cost, contractual valuation and reasonable mitigation
• Prolongation costs calculated from time-related preliminaries and extended duration
• Labour cost build-ups using payroll, timesheets, overtime and burden rates
• Plant and equipment costs supported by logs, hire records and rates
• Head-office overhead approaches assessed against contract and evidential requirements
• Finance charges, interest and currency effects calculated under contractual provisions

Participants can assemble a clear, auditable claim submission that addresses contractual decision criteria.

• Claim submission architecture: executive summary, facts, entitlement, impact and relief
• Fact statements distinguished from opinions, assumptions and legal conclusions
• Document bundles indexed with references, dates, authors and relevance
• Entitlement analysis cross-referenced to clauses, notices and supporting records
• Time and cost schedules reconciled with programme updates and accounting data
• Quality review checklist testing completeness, consistency, accuracy and persuasiveness

Participants can evaluate incoming claims and prepare evidence-based responses or determinations.

• Four-part claim review: entitlement, causation, evidence and quantum
• Red-flag tests for missing notices, unsupported assumptions and double recovery
• Counterfactual analysis testing what would have occurred without alleged events
• Independent records compared with claimant narratives, schedules and cost schedules
• Partially valid claims separated into agreed, disputed and further-information elements
• Determination letters recording conclusions, contractual basis and payment consequences

Participants can design early-intervention processes that prevent claims from becoming entrenched disputes.

• Dispute avoidance ladder from project discussion through executive escalation
• Issue register recording positions, evidence gaps, deadlines and decision owners
• Early neutral evaluation for disputed technical, delay or valuation questions
• Standing dispute boards and dispute adjudication boards compared
• Without-prejudice communications managed separately from contractual correspondence
• Lessons-learned reviews converting recurring claim causes into control improvements

Participants can prepare and conduct structured negotiations for claims settlement.

• Interest-based negotiation separating commercial needs from stated contractual positions
• BATNA and WATNA analysis establishing settlement boundaries and escalation choices
• Settlement range analysis using probability, exposure, costs and time
• Concession planning with sequencing, conditional trades and approval limits
• Mediation preparation: position paper, evidence bundle, authority and objectives
• Settlement agreements addressing releases, payment, confidentiality and unresolved matters

Participants can select and prepare for appropriate contractual and formal dispute-resolution processes.

• Negotiation, mediation, adjudication, arbitration and litigation compared for project disputes
• Dispute-resolution clauses analysed for mandatory steps, time limits and forums
• Adjudication preparation under tight timetables, evidence constraints and payment consequences
• Arbitration case preparation: pleadings, witness evidence, experts and document production
• Expert determination suited to valuation, technical and accounting disputes
• Escalation decision matrix balancing recovery, relationships, precedent and cost

Participants can compare FIDIC and NEC4 approaches to notification, assessment and dispute avoidance.

• FIDIC claims procedures: notices, particulars, determinations and dispute avoidance
• NEC4 early warnings, compensation events and programme acceptance requirements
• Contractor and project manager duties under NEC4 compensation-event processes
• FIDIC Engineer roles in evaluation, consultation and contractual determination
• Comparing time bars, valuation mechanisms and risk allocation between forms
• Adapting generic claims controls to bespoke amendments and special conditions

Participants can implement governance controls and reporting for a portfolio of claims and disputes.

• Claims governance matrix defining authority, review gates and approval thresholds
• Monthly claims dashboard showing status, exposure, deadlines and recovery forecasts
• Claim-reserve methodology using probability-weighted outcomes and cost-to-complete estimates
• Legal privilege and confidentiality considerations for sensitive dispute materials
• Document-retention schedules aligned with limitation periods and contractual requirements
• Management reporting separating factual progress, risk assessment and recommended decisions

Participants can integrate contractual, technical, programme and commercial analyses into a claims strategy.

• Claims strategy aligning notices, evidence, programme analysis, quantum and negotiation
• Issue prioritisation using value, urgency, evidence strength and relationship impact
• Parallel workstreams coordinating technical experts, planners, commercial staff and counsel
• Decision log recording assumptions, approvals, strategy changes and settlement authority
• Claim-readiness review testing documents before executive escalation or formal proceedings
• Presentation structure for concise management decisions on disputed project events

Participants can build, review and present a complete claim and dispute-avoidance pack for a contested project event.

• Project scenario analysed for contractual entitlement, notice deadlines and risk allocation
• Event chronology assembled from correspondence, records, instructions and programme evidence
• Claim narrative drafted with facts, clause references, causation and requested relief
• Delay and quantum schedules reviewed for assumptions, calculations and supporting documents
• Negotiation strategy prepared with settlement range, concessions and escalation triggers
• Management presentation delivered with claim recommendation, defence options and actions