Today's solution to yesterday's deal: managing difficult contracts, part 1

Key Points:

Some problems with a contract can be caught before they even happen, and can be managed proactively to keep the project on track.

As governments and private companies look at more outsourcing and service contracts, their performance becomes more dependent upon the performance of their contractors. This is, however, old hat for the construction industry, where managing contracts has long been crucial to the success of a project.

In this two-part article, we'll first set out what we've learnt from our years in major projects about managing contracts actively and effectively – and then look at what you can do when things have gone beyond the point where ordinary management is going to work.