ABSTRACT
An important duty of the contract administrator under MW16 is to certify sums properly due to the contractor. Whether or not a quantity surveyor is employed, the contract administrator is responsible for valuations and for issuing certificates. It is a duty to be exercised with care and skill, and failure in this respect could amount to negligence. The contract administrator’s duty to the employer has been clear since the case of Sutcliffe v Thackrah, and it seems possible that there is a duty also to the contractor following Michael Salliss & Co. v Calil and W F Newman & Associates. Payments are to be made by the employer to the contractor after the issue of certificates by the contract administrator (cl 4.3). These are to be issued within five days of the ‘due date’, which in turn relates to the ‘Interim Valuation Date.' The contract administrator should only certify after having carried out an inspection to a reasonably diligent standard.
