What standardisation covers
Contractual and technical clauses are the subject of standardised documents, produced by a dedicated sector body.
In public building works contracts, a standardised document on general contractual clauses applies to all contracts, and must be incorporated into the tender documents.
A standardised document on general technical clauses also applies, without needing to be incorporated.
Standardised documents exist by trade, likewise exempt from incorporation, except where they offer several options, in which case the choice must be stated.
That last nuance matters: the existence of options turns a reference document into one that must be completed.
| Element | Standardised | To be produced per project |
|---|---|---|
| General contractual clauses | Yes | No |
| General technical clauses | Yes | No |
| Particular clauses | No | Yes |
| Measurement and quantities | No | Yes |
What it changes in practice
Three practical consequences.
The volume to be drafted falls sharply, the general part being adopted rather than written.
The risk of legal inconsistency also falls, the general clauses having been established for the sector as a whole.
But the demands on the particular rise. What remains to be written is precisely what distinguishes this project from every other, and therefore what cannot be borrowed.
The quantity surveyor does not save time, they redeploy it. Time freed from general drafting shifts to the particular description and to the schedule.
The rule of the authoritative text
A point of method to be observed strictly. Standardised clauses are not amended piecemeal.
The authoritative texts are the officially published versions.
A copy, an extract or an earlier version kept in-house is not authoritative, however convenient.
Referring to a standardised document without checking the version in force therefore means referring to an uncertain text, which weakens the contract rather than securing it.
Checking the applicable version is a step in its own right in assembling the package, covered in the article on building a tender package.
What standardisation does not save you from
Four errors persist despite it.
Referring to a document without knowing it. The standard applies, and its requirements become those of the contract even if nobody has read them.
Contradicting the general in the particular unintentionally, creating a conflict covered in the article on general and particular.
Leaving an option open in a document that offers several, without deciding.
Believing the standard describes the building. It describes rules applicable to buildings; it says nothing about this one.
The fourth error is the heaviest, since it leads to voluminous specifications that in fact describe no project at all.
What standardisation does not cover
Three elements remain entirely to be produced. They concern the design, the quantities and the particular clauses.
The description of the building proposed, in its own characteristics.
The schedule of quantities and prices, covered in the corresponding branch.
The particular clauses, contractual and technical, which carry the project's decisions.
These three elements constitute the real added value of specification work, and they cannot be delegated to a standard.
What this means for a professional
Four rules.
Check the version in force of every standardised document referred to.
Read what you refer to, the standard binding even unread.
Decide the options offered by documents that contain them.
Concentrate the effort on the particular, the only part that actually describes the project.
This article reflects practice and rules at the date of checking and serves professional orientation. It reproduces no content from normative documents.