Project Services
Where MGRA is appointed to administer building works, Project Services covers how those works are procured, contracted, administered and brought to completion.
Contract Administration
Where MGRA is appointed as Contract Administrator, the work is administration of the building contract: instructions, payment, time, completion, defects and retention, as the contract requires. Contract Administration is not the same as full Project Management.
The wider Project Services appointment includes tendering and procurement, change control, and close-out. Instructed work typically sits in three areas: contract administration, tendering and procurement support, and project coordination and close-out. Retention is here. Written contract versus letter of intent is here. Cost and commercial advice is explained here.
CAT A and CAT B, repair and envelope programmes, and common-area works may be administered under this appointment where MGRA is instructed. Structural, mechanical and electrical, fire and Quantity Surveying input is coordinated and reviewed where required.
Where the works include a CDM Principal Designer appointment, see CDM Principal Designer.
Questions clients ask
These questions and answers explain our general approach. The scope of our services is agreed for each instruction.
Roles
What is the difference between Contract Administration and Project Management?
Contract Administration is administration of the building contract: instructions, payment, time, completion, defects and retention, as the contract requires. Project Management is the broader organisation of the project — programme, information, consultants and delivery.
Is the Contract Administrator the client's Project Manager?
Not necessarily. The Contract Administrator administers the building contract. The Project Manager coordinates the project. One person can hold both roles.
Does MGRA provide cost and commercial advice?
Yes. MGRA provides project cost and commercial advice as part of its project services. Where dedicated measurement, Bills of Quantities or specialist Quantity Surveying input is required, an appropriate Quantity Surveyor may be retained, with MGRA coordinating and reviewing that input as part of the wider instruction.
Where cost advice forms part of the appointment, that may include budget estimates, tender analysis, interim valuations, variation assessment and final accounts. Dedicated Bills of Quantities or detailed measurement production are not treated as routinely self-delivered.
Payment and cost
What is a Certificate of Payment?
The Contract Administrator’s assessment of the amount then due under the building contract. It is not the contractor’s invoice.
How does retention work under a building contract?
Retention is a sum held back from amounts otherwise due, usually to support completion and defect correction. Whether it applies, how much, and when it is released, depend on the contract. MGRA accounts for it in certificates where that is part of the appointment; it does not hold the money.
What is the difference between a tender return and a contract sum?
A tender return is a contractor’s offer to carry out defined works. A contract sum is the figure in the executed building contract. Offers may need clarification and should not be treated as the contract sum until the contract is in place.
Procurement / contract
When should works use a written contract rather than a letter of intent?
The building contract should normally be in place before substantive works start. A letter of intent may cover limited early works if its scope, limit and duration are clear.