ABSTRACT
The best opportunities for making cost-effective decisions to influence Reliability occur before the start of Full-Scale Development. A contract strategy is required which will concentrate the minds of competing contractors in the early procurement phases on Reliability. The first requirement is to understand the law of the contract and to underpin a buyer’s normal rights at law so as to place responsibility (ie liability) squarely on our contractors. If Reliability is to have the same consideration as Performance, Time and Cost, it should feature in the contract in the same terms as those parameters – not as a separate issue. Incentives to greater Reliability are best found in the structure of the contracting strategy. The most effective incentive is for the contractor to beat the agreed price by his own efficiency rather than offer artificial stimulants which can themselves foster inefficiency. The key issue in law is to rely on the contractor’s skill and judgment -he is the expert.
