Introduction: Contract Documents in Malaysia Standard Formof 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
Formof 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, PAM2006 (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 formof 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
PAMform, 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
Formof 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