Dispute Resolution

4 Jan

Summary

After the completion of works Rainham Industrial Services (RIS) had incurred significant costs over and above the contract value, due to in-life variations and extensions of time. RIS engaged Deecon to support the cost recovery process. Deecon adopted strategies to ensure a response from the defending party. By driving the process forward, RIS with the support of Deecon, were able to successfully close the matters in dispute at Mediation.

Situation & Results

Rainham Industrial Services (RIS) and Deecon agreed to consolidate all matters into a global claim. Deecon’s focus was producing three independent positional statements. The three positional statements divided the global claim into 31 individual Heads of Claims, each with an associated quantum value.

Deecon also sent several targeted letters to elicit a response from the defending party. The final account application and corresponding substantiation was delivered to the defending party to validate the Heads of Claims. The team worked from the RIS office to create a SWOT report aligned to each Head of Claim, which was updated as changes were made to the and new information was revealed about the claim.

Deecon only received a response to one third of the global claim, with no response to the outstanding balance. Preparations therefore began for an adjudication with the defending party, and Deecon prepared a Notice of Referral on behalf of RIS for an agreed portion of the claim.

The adjudication was halted as a result of jurisdictional challenges from the defending party. Despite this set-back, the team utilised the capabilities of Deecon Core to facilitate the weighting and comparison of all strategic avenues available to RIS. It was agreed that once documentation had been received, both parties would attend a Mediation.

Deecon led correspondence with the opposing parties’ legal counsel to ensure effective and efficient communication. Deecon also prepared the required mediation documents including the Negotiation Presentation, Mediation Position Statements, Mediation Bundles, Supporting Documentation and Head of Claim aligned documentation.

As a result of the effective preparation by the Deecon and RIS team, as well as the knowledge acquired through the process, all parties were able to conclude the global claim at Mediation with a full and final settlement. The Deecon team ensured all terms of agreement were final and that the potential for counter claims were limited. Deecon and RIS captured learning from this session in a close-out workshop and both will take learnings forward into their future successes.

Results

Both Parties agreed to the settlement position and the terms of the award.
Deecon ensured to mitigate any potential counterclaims as part of the terms of settlement.
Both RIS and Deecon have taken significant learning within this process, which they will apply to all future work.