40.2  Relief

To obtain relief, the Contractor must:78

40.2.1  as soon as practicable, and in any event within twenty (20) Business Days after it becomes aware that the Relief Event has caused or is likely to cause delay and/or adversely affect the ability of the Contractor to perform its other obligations give to the Authority a notice of its claim for relief from its obligations under this Contract, including full details of the nature of the Relief Event, the date of occurrence and its likely duration;

40.2.2  within five (5) Business Days of receipt by the Authority of the notice referred to in Clause 40.2.1, give full details of the relief claimed; and

40.2.3  demonstrate to the reasonable satisfaction of the Authority that:

(a)  the Contractor and the Sub-Contractors could not have avoided such occurrence or consequences by steps which they might reasonably be expected to have taken, without incurring material expenditure;

(b)  the Relief Event directly caused the delay to the relevant Planned Works Commencement Date and/or Readiness Date and/or Services Commencement Date or following the Planned Readiness Date, delay in achieving the Readiness Date by the Readiness Longstop Date or following the Planned Services Commencement Date, delay in achieving Service Commencement by the Acceptance Longstop Date[ or the need for relief from other obligations under the Contract but only to the extent that such other obligations give rise to a right to terminate;] 79

(c)  the time lost [and/or relief from the obligations under this Contract claimed] could not reasonably be expected to be mitigated or recovered by the Contractor acting in accordance with Good Industry Practice, without incurring material expenditure; and

(d)  the Contractor is using reasonable endeavours to perform its obligations under this Contract.

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78  The approach here is to set out a quick procedure so that relief can be given or refused on a sensible timescale without additional delays.

79  See footnote 36 to SoPC4 5.3.3. Relief from LADs or Interim Services may also be given if justifiable on a project specific basis.