CIOB launches rebranded Time and Cost Management contract

The CIOB has released its Time and Cost Management (TCM15) contract, a renamed and updated version of the Complex Projects Contract 2013.

The new name, chosen to reflect the contract’s core strengths and USP is the most obvious change to the contract, which is often seen as being the most BIM-ready contract available to the sector. 

One difference, compared to the NEC suite and JCT contracts, is that the TCM15 contract calls for a number of additional contractual roles, including Time Manager, Data Security Manager and Auditor. 

Francis Ho, head of construction at law firm Olswang, who helped draft the contract, told Construction Manager: “We wanted to change the name of the main contract and the suite as we realised the original name [of the Complex Projects Contract] didn’t make plain why people should use our agreements and created some confusion.

“No other standard form includes such detailed processes for controlling out-turn time and cost. We wanted to bring that out.”

As well as the name change, the contract has been updated to take account of feedback received from the industry.

Ho explained: “It’s not a contract that needed a lot of changes. We made some minor clarifications and changes based on user feedback and consolidated some of the specialist roles to make the form seem less daunting.

“The biggest news is that the main contract has finally been joined by a professional appointment and subcontract. The first of these was trialled on a major European project. They are back-to-back documents and allow the entire construction team to work on the same basis to keep to programme and budget,” he continued.

Sarah Rock, an associate in the construction and projects department at law firm RPC, believes that the name change may attract more people to the contract.

“The CIOB Time and Cost Management Contract rebrand will hopefully assist with industry buy in. The suite is targeted at niche [larger, extended] projects but within that sphere offers real flexibility in managing time and cost with the aim of avoiding disputes. As the only contract suite which is BIM-ready it is great to see that this is now available electronically.”

According to the CIOB, the TCM 2015 is recommended for major construction or civil engineering projects where the programme is too complex to be managed “intuitively” and which require a more scientific approach to time and cost risk management than is usual.

It evolved from research that showed major projects are often subject to time and cost overruns, and therefore puts time and cost management at the centre of the contract.