A Construction Commercial Advisory Services Panel is required by PTA to support construction activities including the planning and delivery of various Projects. The PTA requires commercial and claims advisory services to mitigate commercial risks on the Projects. It is essential that PTA obtains the best available service providers to help with the Project including strategic claims advice; contractual correspondence as well as risk identification and mitigation on high risk highly complex and high value Projects.

A selection of Construction Commercial Advisory Consultants with suitable qualifications, experience and knowledge are required to be available within the PTA. Major Projects Unit (MPU) requires to engage these personnel on a Panel Contract to improve cost and timing efficiencies for the PTA. Due to the varied demands of the different projects to be undertaken by MPU over the next five (5) to ten (10) years, it is necessary that a ‘pool’ of available Consultants is established to enable effective and expedient engagement of services to meet individual project needs.

Skills required for the role(s) include:
* Program / schedule appreciation – good understanding of multiple reporting tools including but not limited to Primavera, Microsoft Project or similar software programmes. Where a Planner is available to assist, ability to work closely with the Planner to extract a clear position in respect of delay claim entitlement and / or risks to the parties. This could include consideration of program logic, variances from baseline, delay implications, concurrent events, delay methodologies used, critical path impacts, disruption events, validation of events and supporting evidence with other team members, activity durations, and bringing to bear personal experience in respect to normal industry practice and hence expectations around level of detail to be provided / received.
* Cost analysis and interpretation – extensive experience in managing and interpreting cost claims, working with respective technical and cost experts, to critically assess and advise on such claims.
* Contract / deed expertise – extensive experience in working with standard forms of construction contract documentation, particularly design and construct, as well as Alliance Projects and interpretation of clauses and knowledge of precedents.
* Engineering and technical appreciation – significant background in large-scale engineering projects, ideally in the rail industry and ideally on both the Consultant and Client’s side.
* Claims assessment – experience in preparing and assessing detailed claims, including bringing to bear personal experience in respect of the level of detail to be expected and provided.
* Communicating and negotiating – excellent verbal and written communication skills and highly experienced negotiation abilities, including being:
* Well-spoken;
*Able to present succinct and well-written reports, presentations, graphical representations and various papers to communicate effectively your advice and influence rapid outcomes; and
*Leading the development and approval of negotiating strategies for resolution of commercial / claim issues and then executes strategies by taking a leading role in such negotiations

Scope of Services
PTA may require a variety of resources, including full-time, part-time, and ad-hoc requirements depending on project variables.

The Construction Commercial Advisory Services Consultant will provide the following commercial and claims advice to the Project team, including but not limited to:
* Reviewing project structures and systems for the management of commercial issues, both within specific projects and across business units more broadly.
* Undertaking risk assessments / health checks on projects, in respect of present and potential commercial issues, working with respective PTA team members to understand the status of issues and options for addressing the risks.
* Reviewing commercial correspondence received from counterparties, reviewing responses drafted by the respective PTA team members and / or assisting with the drafting of such correspondence.
* Providing general commercial and claims input, including the preparation of position papers, claims defence strategies, detailed assessment of the validity of claims, assisting in negotiations, disputes, arbitration and adjudication processes, financial analysis and documenting outcomes.