ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview on the history of partnering and shows how this form of procurement has been brought across from other industries into construction. It looks at some of the challenges that are presented to contract management if the parties opt to take partnering on board. Government’s traditional approach of awarding contracts to the lowest bidder in the name of value-for-money, and then reaping the harvest of claims and overspend, began to be seriously questioned by senior civil servants almost as soon as the Latham Report was published. Latham had advocated the New Engineering Contract as the best and most collaborative form of contract. The name “collaborative working” emerged because leading practitioners became concerned at the widespread misuse of the term partnering. The ethos of collaborative working at senior management level is important, but perhaps more important are the skills, knowledge and culture of the people within the company or firm.
