Collaborative multi-party agreements and integrated project delivery (IPD)
In Germany, you hardly ever hear of a large building project that is completed on time and within the set budget. Reports of success stories from abroad do therefore raise the question as to why other countries are better at building than Germany.
One of the reasons is that the management of a building project based on many separate contractual relationships between the principal and individual parties involved leads to considerable conflict due to a contractual environment that is based on blame culture. If we look at other countries, we can see that they have, for a long time now, been using project delivery models that, based on a contractual basis, result in economic success for all stakeholders only if the overall project is managed in the best way possible in terms of deadlines and costs.
The practice of implementing integrated project delivery schemes that is currently developing in Germany gives rise to a multiplicity of further legal issues that must be solved within the procurement and contract process. It is particularly important that rules for the development of the planning and construction process be introduced that facilitate project implementation that is as smooth as possible and directed towards a common goal.
We are creating and assisting with numerous current pilot projects involving private and, above all, public-sector clients in Germany. Apart from the early involvement of builders in the planning phase, the plan is that all stakeholders involved in projects share the profit and loss arising from the defined project result. On this topic, the federal government invited tenders for a Research Project on the creation of model contract conditions, which was worked on by our colleagues Professor Antje Boldt (PhD) and Manuela Luft as research participants and was completed and published in 2022. Extensive explanations and comments on the individual regulations can also be found there.
To find out more, you are welcome to download, free of charge, the IPD Action Guideline that has been translated by us into English and is published in Germany or to order as hardback edition:
