CONTRACTS AND RISKS COMMITTEE
Contracts and Risks Committee
PDCA’s newest committee
As mentioned in the October PDCA
e-Letter, the Board of Directors
approved the establishment of the
newly formed PDCA Contracts and Risk
Committee during their quarterly board
meeting in Portland, Ore.
The committee has been added to
PDCA’s list of committees on PDCA’s website
and on the PDCA Committee Request
Form (next page), which is used to indicate
a member’s interest in serving on any one of
the 10 PDCA committees.
PDCA member Alex Filotti, risk controller
at Underpinning and Foundation
Skanska, Inc., and Richard Kalson of
Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff
will assume the chair and co-chair roles
on the committee. Anyone interested in
serving on the Committee should complete
the Committee Request Form
and submit it to PDCA via email to
steve@piledrivers.org or call the PDCA
office at 904-215-4771 or toll-free
888-311-PDCA (7322).
The purpose of the Contracts and Risk
Committee will be to educate and create
awareness regarding the contractual risks
regularly faced by PDCA members in an
increasingly complex and unfavorable commercial
environment.
To do this, the committee has established
several goals, which are:
1. Outreach to PDCA members with
regular written educational materials
including frequent articles in PDCA
publications and seminar presentations
at regional and national PDCA
events regarding the following:
a. Best contract negotiating
strategies, internal controls and
pitfalls avoidance.
b. Subcontractor’ risks in a
dynamic environment for
contract delivery methods.
c. The implementation of specific
risk management processes for
the pile driving industry.
2. Increase the number of presentations
dedicated to contracts and risk management
at the PDCA annual conference,
PDCA regional events and
DICEP.
3. Create an interactive dialog with
PDCA members through the organization’s
website regarding contracts
and risk inquiries.
4. Create an organizational culture
geared to protect the members from
unethical and onerous contract provisions.
5. Encourage PDCA members to contact
the committee to work with the
committee to prevent catastrophic
commercial outcomes for PDCA
members through early intervention
and guidance.
6. Cooperation with other contract and
risk working groups affiliated with
the deep foundation organizations
in the United States, Canada and
abroad.
7. Support PDCA management in providing
better service and value to the
organization’s members.
The goals of the committee are quite
ambitious. Achieving these goals will
require PDCA member support on the
committee, as well as participation in the
services and benefits provided by the committee.
It is not too early to begin asking
questions or seeking advice from
the committee. To do so, contact the
PDCA office at 904-215-4771 or 888-
311-PDCA (7322), and ask for PDCA
executive director, Steve Hall, to begin
the process. Please note that all support
and discussions between PDCA and committee
chair/co-chair will be considered
confidential in nature and any disclosure
of the issue or resolution will only be permitted
by consent of the original requesting
party. t
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