9.8 Mediation/conciliation is another route of Alternative Dispute Resolution. It is a voluntary, non-binding process, intended to bring the parties to agreement. A mediator has no powers of enforcement or of making a binding recommendation. Some contracts which contain a conciliation83 procedure seem to work well - the ICE Minor Works Contract is its best selling document with "many satisfied customers".84 Mediation/conciliation should contain two crucial provisions.
1. The scope of the conciliation must cover all potential aspects of dispute, and that scope must be fully stepped down into subcontracts.
2. It must also be a condition of contract that such provisions are fully available to both main contractor and subcontractors without deletion, amendment or restriction.
Mast disputes on site are, I believe, better resolved by speedy decision - i.e. adjudication - rather than by a mediation procedure in which the parties reach their own settlement.
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83 The CIEC report says that the ICE Conciliation Procedure is currently being revised to place more emphasis on reaching an agreed solution.
84 Source: Letter from Mr Guy Cottam, February 2994.