An Agency should invest resources in appointing a high quality contract manager. The contract manager can monitor the project progress on government's behalf, (ensuring, also, that government meets its obligations during commissioning) and be available to consult with the private party on risk management issues.
The contract manager should be appointed early in the process and should stay in the project as long as possible, to ensure continuity. The contract manager's roles will include:
• ensuring that all parties have a comprehensive understanding of their roles
• ensuring that all parties carry out their roles and responsibilities to the required standard
• where performance is sub-standard, properly applying the appropriate contractual mechanisms to achieve optimum performance
• managing the contractual processes under the project agreements, including the payment process, performance monitoring and management, change mechanisms, audits, price reviews and audits.