Terminology used in

Contract
Documentation
Parties
• Employer : The person or body that commissions the
construction
• Client’s Representative : The person appointed by the
Employer to liaise with the Design Team and Project
Manager.
• Adjudicator : The person who gives rulings on
Employer – Contractor disputes and is preferably a
different person to the Project Manager.

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Parties
• Contractor : The firm that has been contracted to
construct the Works
• Subcontractor : A firm that has a contract with the
main Contractor to provide labor, materials or
products.
• Arbitrator :
• The Arbitrator is the person to whom the Employer and
Contractor can refer their disputes to and be bound by the
Arbitrator’s decision.
• The Arbitrator cannot be the same person as the Project
Manager.

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Documents
• Contract Documentation :
• Pre-qualification, Tender and Contract Documents
collectively.
• This term includes all documents prepared by the Design
Team.
• Prequalification Documents :
• Prequalification documents exchanged between the
Employer/Designer and potential tenderers prior to
selection of list of tenderers.

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Documents
• Tender Documents :
• The Documents sent to the selected tenderers to enable
them to price the construction.
• Also termed as “Invitation to Tender”.
• Instructions to Tenderers :
• The term is self-explanatory but only covers procedures up
to Acceptance of Tender.
• For this reason, it is not a Contract Document.

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Documents
• Tender : The documents that have been completed by
a tenderer and are then returned to the Employer for
consideration
(i.e Evaluation).
• Bid : US equivalent to Tender. Normally not used in
Contract documentation, since contract documentation
deals with written offer. The word ‘Bid’ in UK English tends
to be used to describe both verbal and written offers.
• Offer : Another alternatives to Tender not normally used in
contract documentation for the same reason as Bid

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Documents
• Bill Of Quantities :
• Civil Engineers and designers using the FIDIC Conditions
and the UK building designers use the term Bill Of
Quantities.
• Addenda :
• Changes to tender Documents after they have been sent to
the tenderers and prior to Acceptance.
• Variation Order :
• Project Managers’s order for alternations, additions and
omissions to the Works