Short Form Consultancy Agreement

I have previously suggested that project owners should consider utilising the Suite of Facilities Contracts published by the Australian Department of Defence. The reasons for this recommendation are explained in this article

Below is a link to a precedent Short Form Consultancy Agreement that I have created from the Defence Short Form Consultancy Agreement, so that it is suitable for use by private sector parties.

The document departs from the Defence Short Form Consultancy Agreement in the following respects:

• The Defence template is a combined Request for Quotation and Consultancy Agreement. The RFQ provisions have been removed.

• Defence-specific clauses have been removed, together with clauses that give effect to Commonwealth procurement policy.

• Commonwealth policies and guidelines have been removed from the definition of Statutory Requirements.

• An express right for the Contractor to suspend work and, if not remedied, terminate for non-payment or Owner insolvency has been included.

• The right for the Owner to terminate for convenience has been deleted.

• The obligation to obtain moral rights consents has been simplified.

• WHS obligations have been simplified, since these are governed by WHS legislation in any event.

Obviously, this is a simplified form of consultancy agreement and does not include all of the options found in longer contract forms. Users of the document should carefully consider its suitability for their needs and amend it as appropriate. Feel free to contact me if you require any assistance in this regard.