This is a notification to all Contractors that have or may do work with Port Macquarie Hastings Council [PMHC] on major capital works projects to attend a one day training course 14 May 2018 on GC21, facilitated by the Department of Finance, Services & Innovation [DFSI]. The trainer will be Kevin Plummer.

Details of Costs, venue, time, what is included, terms and how to register are here: the following address.

PMHC is a local government area located in the mid north coast region of New South Wales. The area benefits from major intra-state and interstate connecting infrastructure including the Pacific Highway, Oxley Highway, North Coast railway line and Port Macquarie airport. The Hastings River with its major break-wall system at the entrance, has also historically provided an important transport and recreation resource. Population growth in the region is understood to be similar to the national average, promoted by comfortable annual weather conditions and the natural beauty of the coast and hinterland. The region is also a popular tourist destination. These trends place a high demand on Council's infrastructure requiring the ongoing upgrading and development of water, wastewater, roads and recreational infrastructure.

Council's Infrastructure Delivery Section is one of three sections reporting to the Director, Infrastructure. The Director Infrastructure reports directly to Council's General Manager. The Infrastructure Delivery Section is responsible for the delivery of survey, design and construction across the majority of Council's projects including transport, stormwater, parks, buildings, water and sewerage.

GC21 Edition 2 is being used by the Infrastructure Delivery Section as the contractual basis for many of Council's future major capital works contracts valued at more than $1 million.

Since its introduction over 13 years ago, the use of GC21 has generally been successful in engendering a co-operative spirit by the contracting parties involved. Relationships and a communication framework are established at a Start-up workshop prior to work commencing. From this beginning, the parties are encouraged to share their key concerns and issues for prompt attention and resolution. Through the course of a contract, regular performance evaluation and monitoring meetings have been successful as a medium for pro-active problem solving and continuous improvement. GC21 also provides for the parties to hold a close-out workshop upon Completion of the Works.

While GC21 is aimed at facilitating:
* Co-operative contracting;
* Improved communication;
* Relationships and responsiveness; and
* Encouraging continuous improvement

The parties are expected to have full regard for the requirements of the contract.

When GC21 is used by the parties as intended, the following tangible results have been achieved:
* Average contract Cost over-run reduced from 13.1% to 4.1% and average Time over-run reduced by some 20%, when compared with AS 2124 based contracts.
* An overall reduction in the time to achieve defect free completion of the work.
* Formal disputation reduced by more than 95% > resulting in major savings to government and the industry in project resource and legal costs.

GC21 is currently provided to the building and construction industry free on-line by the NSW DFSI. GC21 is available through the "ProcurePoint" website.

Edition 2 of GC21 was developed following extensive industry and agency consultation with users of Edition 1, and then released for use in June 2012. It is updated from time to time to reflect changes to NSW Government procurement legislation and policy, and feedback from user agencies, so it remains contemporary unlike many standard forms of general conditions of contract available in Australia. Users, such as Local Government Councils, may add their own Special Conditions to suit the Council's special requirements.

Also unlike many other standard forms of contract, GC21 is supported by an on-line documentation tool kit with guide notes for documenters, providing Conditions of Tendering, Tender Schedules, General Conditions of Contract, Preliminaries [special conditions], over 100 sample letters, an interpretative clause commentary and a suite of practice guides for users.

This one-day course is an introduction to the GC21 Edition 2 General Conditions of Contract, designed to assist contract managers and contractors to gain a sound understanding of the GC21 Edition 2 General Conditions of Contract, and to interpret its key provisions.

The course content is comprehensive and covers the following aspects of administration for GC21 contracts:
* History and Overview
* Accessing Help
* Contract Structure & Content
* Contract Structure & Content
* Key Features:
  * The Parties
  * Start-up Workshop
  * Site Conditions
  * Design Responsibility Valuing Variations & Claims Time Management Payment
  * Indemnity and Insurance
* Review & Feedback