A contract administrator administers and manages contracts at the construction site, involving both business contracts and government ones. They are responsible for almost everything that goes on a construction site – from inviting tradesmen and crane hire companies, to dealing with anything that might lead the project off the track.

A contract administrator negotiates for the client and at the same time makes the best decision of choosing the right people without any bias. Even when they are simply agents who might be working for a client or a developer, they are accountable for a lot of things, such as hiring the right crane for the job. So before you go for a tender, you need to know that the person you are going to meet is more than a construction person. They are going to shadow your services along the way to make sure that your work meets the client’s demand.

Below is the list of things that a contract administrator does to verify if your work quality meets the bar that the contract expects:

• Their duty starts with inviting tenders and then processing them.
• They work on documents of the contract (that is, the obligations and responsibilities of the parties involved) they issue for the company they are working for to execute them.
• They are the ones responsible for making the changes as per the client’s needs. This means that they are the ones in charge of the change control procedures as well.
• They are the instructors and are responsible for giving out any information about variations made to the original design. This could include any change in the prime cost sum; or regarding any problems faced when it comes to things like making functional defects or any inconsistencies in the construction.
• If any technical making defects might be detected, they need to issue a certificate for the same.
• They are the people who call peace upon any claims made; it might be about a delay in the delivery of the final product or design related.
• They hold the meetings to check the construction work progress.
• Following these meetings, they prepare a detailed report of what has been done and in how much time. They are the one responsible for keeping track of the timeline the work is supposed to be done.

• They need to take care that every documentation that is done regarding the project reaches the client.
• They instruct the site inspectors and then check out on them periodically to make sure that they do their work correctly.
• They are responsible for the commissioning (that is the proper working of the construction done) and testing the building for possible consequences.
• They also need to agree on any defect reporting procedures.
• They issue the practical completion certificate for the project, as well as all the interim documents (the one that is responsible for the allocation of money as the construction work proceeds) involved.
• All the challenges that might mean a redo for the existing construction, the schedule for such defects comes under the contract administrator’s responsibility. • CA’s issue the final certificate (which indicates the completion of the task and results in the release of any remaining payments).

When it comes to contracts, there are three phases involved that we talk in terms of – pre-contract phase, contract execution phase and post-award phase. To conclude the duties of a contract administrator; if the conditions stated in the contract aren’t met at the end of the third phase, the CA can throw the complete project off of the cliff by enforcing the contract. They must also report to their project manager and ensure all documents and arrangements get the A-OK from the boss.