The impact of agreed principles in the culture of alliance contracts

Abstract

Adversarial forms of procurement have for some time marred the Australian construction industry. Alliance contracting is a relational type of procurement underpinned by a 'no litigation' and 'best for project decision-making' approach. The research used a semi-structured interview mechanism to examine the contract language and the objectives of the charter in guiding the behaviour of members of the alliance. The purpose was to highlight the role of such contract terms in the success of the alliance. This paper found that the principles and objectives played a role in the contract by reducing litigation, and clearly defining the non-owner participant's relationship within the alliance team. Despite individual members of the alliance facing uncertainty and risk in the project, the principles and objectives within the contract were significant to the success of the alliance.