Introduction: Contract Documents in Malaysia Standard Form of Contract

In executing construction projects, we will need many other sub-documents beside main contract

document itself. These contract sub-documents consists of many other related records of agreements,

analysis, specifications, drawings and other records which appear before and during the executing of the

work. For the latter, these usually are photos, data records, addenda, monthly reports, certificates, request

and many other records which are done during the construction execution.

So, in other words, we can define contract sub-documents as the documents forming the tender and

acceptance of a particular work, agreed by both parties and act as a legal binding for both parties. These

documents can be prepared by the employer, the contractor, the super intending officer, or the consultant.

Table 1. List of Contract Sub-documents

Contract Sub-documents

Functions and Hierarchy

Seng Hansen

Master Student of Construction Contract Management UTM

Email: hansen_zinck@yahoo.co.id

Contract Documents PWD PAM CIDB FIDIC

Articles of Agreement

Letter of Award/Letter of Acceptance

Conditions of Contract

Particular Conditions of Contract

1

Particular Conditions of Contract

Addenda

Drawings

Specifications

Bill of Quantities

Schedule of Works

Form of Tender

Letter of Acceptance of Tender

Treasurys Instruction

Instruction to Tenderers

Conditions of Tendering

Preliminaries

Preambles

Other documents incorporated

Above is a table which lists contract sub-documents in 4 (four) standard form of contract. Here the author

takes PWD 203A standard form of contract, PAM 2006 (with quantities) standard form of contract, and CIDB

2000 standard form of contract as the representative of Malaysias standard form of contract. The author

decides to choose PWD and PAM standard form of contract with quantities in order to show the most

complete contract sub-documents rather than without quantities (it means without BQ). The author also

provides FIDIC standard form of contract as a comparison.

We can find the explanation of contract sub-documents in clause 1.1(b) of PWD form, article 7(q) and (r) of

PAM form, clause 4.1 of CIDB form, and 1.5 of FIDIC form.

Fdration Internationale des Ingnieurs-Conseils, the international federation of consulting engineers

Definition of Each Sub-document

Articles of Agreement

Is the article of Agreement duly executed by the parties and to which these conditions are attached.

Letter of Award/Letter of Acceptance

Is the formal acceptance by the employer of the tender. So it is basically contained that the employer has

accepted the contractors tender price and conditions.

Conditions of Contract

Is all conditions of contract which must be obey by both parties.

Particular Conditions of Contract

Is a more specific conditions of contract.

Addenda

Is the addendum of contract documents.

Drawings

Is the drawings of the works, as included in the contract and any additional and modified drawings issued

by (or on behalf of) the employer in accordance with the contract.

Specification

Is the document entitled specification, as included in the contract, and any additions and modifications to

the specification in accordance with the contract. Such document specifies the works (the quality of

material, workmanship and executed work requirements).

Bills of Quantities

Mainly is to describe the quantity of all the works, but it is also filled up with rates for each item of works

which will then be multiplied by the quantities as cost of each work. The sum of cost of each work will then

be added up.

Schedule of Work

Is the schedule comprising items of works in elemental form or according to the type of works including the

prices which form the basis of contract sum.prices which form the basis of contract sum.

Form of Tender/Letter of Tender

Is the document entitled letter of tender or letter of bid, which was completed by the contractor and

includes the signed offer to the employer for the works. So basically it is an offering letter from contractor

to the employer.

Other documents

All other documents incorporated in contract document such as letter of acceptance of tender, treasurys

instruction, instruction to tenderers, conditions of tendering, preliminaries, provisional sums, prime cost

sums, schedule of rates, summary of tender, etc.

Hierarchy of Contract Sub-documents: Which One is the Most Important?

Actually, all of these sub-documents are to be taken as mutually explanatory of one another but in the

event of any conflict or inconsistency between the documents forming the contract, we need a hierarchy of

contract sub-documents.

In my opinion, there are 2 principles in order to arrange this priority of documents:

1. The specific documents should have priority over the general documents

Example, we can see this in FIDIC where particular conditions of contract has been given a priority over

general conditions of contract

2. The employers documents should have priority over the contractors documents

Almost all of the sub-documents listed in this table are the employers documents, while the contractors

documents are usually formed as other documents (which is given as the last priority in all standard form of

contracts)

2

But again, in my opinion, if the contract which has already been agreed and signed by both parties mentions

a different hierarchy of contract sub-documents, then we should accept it as a valid contract although it is a

bespoke contract, does not follow the standard form of contract commonly used.

Table 2. Hierarchy of Contract Sub-documents

Contract Documents PWD PAM CIDB FIDIC

Articles of Agreement 2 1 1

Letter of Award/Letter of Acceptance 1 2 2

Conditions of Contract 3 3 5

Particular Conditions of Contract 4

Addenda 4

Drawings 3 4 5 7

Specifications 5 6 6

Bill of Quantities 4 5 7

Schedule of Works 7 8

Form of Tender 1

Letter of Acceptance of Tender 2 3

3

Treasurys Instruction 6

Instruction to Tenderers 5

Conditions of Tendering 5

Preliminaries 5

Preambles 5

Other documents incorporated 7 6 8 8