The Procuring Authority should not unfairly use contractual mechanisms to address relationship issues or resolve issues that it may have outside of the project.
For example, the contractual entitlement to deduct payments should not be perceived as a means to generate savings for the Procuring Authority, and unnecessarily penalise the Project Company. Performance monitoring and application of payment deductions is detailed in Section 3.2 (Performance monitoring). The relationship between the parties can be improved only through communication and collaboration, while contractual mechanisms are there to help the Procuring Authority enforce its contractual rights.
As discussed above, the relationship with the Project Company may be impacted by its financial situation. Pressure on costs can also come from the Procuring Authority side, due to budgetary pressures and changing priorities from broader government policies. This can put contract managers from the Procuring Authority into a difficult situation, however they must be aware that, even when under budgetary pressure, the relationship with the Project Company continues to be extremely important.