ABSTRACT
This book chapter discusses the advantages of smart contracts for contract management by presenting a decentralized application for retention payment on the blockchain platform. The proposed smart contract application performs the execution of retention clauses of a typical project contract by performing automated payment of retention immediately after the client’s approval of partial completion of works. The application also enables the storage of project completion and retention payment data on the blockchain. A case study of a real construction project was analyzed to test the proposed system and to illustrate its potential benefits. The design decisions made for the application are included, along with its security evaluation. The pioneering application of smart contracts on contract management revealed the fact that by proving a secure, reliable, immutable, transparent, efficient, and trustworthy platform for automated execution of contract clauses, smart contracts present a major potential for improving the contract management process.
