As problems evolved the Department set limits to its partnering role

3.7  When the Department and Laser signed the contract, they were entering into a 25-year long relationship. Given the long duration of the contract, the Department wanted the relationship to be based, informally, on principles of partnering. After the Department appointed Laser as preferred bidder, the two parties established a partnership forum to discuss issues as they arose.

3.8  As early as February 1999, the Department noticed that JLC Ltd's attitude to the project was hardening as the company encountered more and more problems. In response, the Department's project steering group gave the project team guidance on how to react to requests from Laser to loosen interpretations of the output specifications. The steering group recommended that the Department could accept lower output requirements for non-key services, but should hold Laser to the specification in cases where the scientific research would otherwise be compromised. Examples of relaxations that the Department agreed to included:

■  In laboratories that had to meet the most stringent temperature control requirements, reducing the absolute volume of space that had to be controlled.

■  Allowing planned office space to be converted into equipment rooms, to house additional mechanical plant required to provide adequate air flow to the laboratories that had to meet the most stringent temperature control requirements.

3.9  During 1999, the Department's involvement in the construction phase grew as it started working with Laser and JLC Ltd to help find solutions to the emerging difficulties. However, having engaged HDR to review the designs for controlling temperature to the most stringent requirements, the Department instructed HDR to avoid making comments or statements that the contractors could later allege they relied on in a claim to transfer design risk to the Department.