The benefits of contractual support for ICTs

The construction industry is heavily reliant on communications, which are now commonly undertaken using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). However, these technologies are generally not considered within current contractual arrangements, leading to ‘official’ hard copies being sent in addition to ‘informal’ electronic copies. This wasteful duplication is being addressed by the EC-funded eLE- GAL RTD project (IST-1999-20570), which is developing the necessary tools to create a contractually valid environment for the application of ICTs on projects, as described in this paper. An ICT Contract, comprising clauses developed by the research team relating to the technologies commonly found in the industry, will facilitate this environment, resulting in significant benefits for the industry. These will include the protection of individual parties’ interests, a removal of duplication and redundant communications, and considerable time and cost savings in many areas of a project’s operation.