Alternative technical concepts: a geotechnical risk management tool

The nature and unpredictability of geotechnical conditions on a construction project site is a major concern for designers and builders in almost every type of construction project. The risk of encountering conditions that differ from the information contained on the contract could potentially have very high impact on both the project’s cost and schedule. This makes the parties want to protect themselves from the consequences of the risk. For example, some owners approach the issue by increasing the extent of pre-award studies included in the contract, others include less and incorporate risk-transferring clauses in the contract, while most contractors allocate this uncertainty in their price as a contingency. These conventional solutions to the problem often result in creating friction between the parties that can lead to legal disputes and additional costs to the project. This paper proposes an additional solution that integrates the efforts between the owner and the contractor to achieve a common goal of effectively mitigating the risk of differing geotechnical site conditions by means of implementing contractual provisions for Alternative Technical Concepts in the procurement phase of the project.