Contract Management Checklist

Use AIA B-series for owner-architect / engineer agreements, EJCDC E-500 for owner-engineer on infrastructure work, or the ACEC contract guide for prime engineering. Avoid signing the client's bespoke form without legal review — owner-drafted contracts often strip the standard limitation of liability and reciprocal indemnity provisions.

Distinguish basic services from additional services in writing. Lump sum vs. cost-plus vs. T&M each have different change-order triggers — make sure the fee basis matches how the PM intends to track the work in Deltek or Ajera.

Check the LoL cap (commonly fee or a fixed dollar amount), mutual waiver of consequential damages, and that the indemnity is limited to the engineer's negligence — not a broad duty-to-defend. Flag any clause that triggers coverage outside the firm's professional liability policy for legal review.

Confirm professional liability, CGL, auto, and umbrella limits in the contract match what the firm actually carries. Owner additional-insured language on the PL policy is a common rejection — most claims-made E&O policies do not allow it. Request COIs from the broker before signing.

Track every redline round in a single comparison file. Common negotiation points: standard of care wording, ownership of instruments of service, betterment exclusion, statute of repose alignment with state law, and termination-for-convenience notice period.

Set up phases, tasks, and labor categories in Deltek Vantagepoint or Ajera to mirror the contract's fee breakdown. Wrong charge-code structure at setup is the most common reason invoices get kicked back during the first billing cycle.

File the agreement, COIs, and any addenda in the project's ProjectWise or Newforma record under the contracts folder. The unsigned working drafts should be moved to an archive folder so future RFI / claims work can't reference superseded text.

At every milestone (30% / 60% / 90% / IFC), run the project's earned-value report against the contract fee. Realization rate slipping below 0.95 by 60% almost always signals scope creep that should have been a change order.

When the client asks for work outside basic services (added alternates, re-design after owner program changes, accelerated submittal), open a separate task code immediately. Charging additional services to the basic-services budget without written authorization is the leading cause of fee disputes at closeout.

Material scope or fee changes require a written amendment, not an email confirmation. Verbal authorizations from the owner's project manager rarely survive a claim — get the amendment routed before incurring the cost.

Use the same form family as the prime agreement (AIA G802, EJCDC E-505, or the ACEC equivalent). Reference the original contract by date and effective date, describe the scope delta, the fee delta, and the schedule impact. Do not start the added work until the amendment is countersigned.

When the owner pushes back on a sealed deliverable, calc set, or RFI response, capture the disagreement in writing immediately — date, who said what, the engineer's position grounded in code or standard of care. Reconstructing this conversation 18 months later from memory is how E&O claims grow.

The PIC and the firm's risk manager (and outside counsel if warranted) classify the exposure. High exposure typically means an alleged design defect, missed code requirement, or owner-asserted damages exceeding the LoL cap. Most state professional liability policies require notice of a potential claim — not just an actual claim — within the policy period.

Verify the owner has accepted the IFC drawings, record drawings, calc packages, and any closeout submittals required by contract. Outstanding deliverables held against the final invoice are a frequent collection blocker.

Pull the WIP report from Deltek; close out unbilled labor and reimbursables before submitting the final invoice. Anything left in WIP after project closure typically gets written off against the project's profit.

Capture realization rate vs. plan, change orders issued, RFI volume, claims or disputes, and design issues for the practice's lessons-learned database. This is the input that improves fee estimates on the next pursuit.

Move the executed contract, amendments, sealed deliverables, calc packages, and correspondence to long-term archive. Most states' statute of repose runs 6-12 years from substantial completion — retention must outlast it. Native CAD / Revit models go to cold storage with the project's date-stamped seal version locked.