In most contracts, authority related risks are on the contractor unless the contract says otherwise. This is an important issue for the parties to consider because in some cases if left silent could then create conflicts between the parties about whose risk it is.
Some examples of authority delays are:
- Delays by Ausgrid or Water authorities for connections; and
- Delays by Council or other government agencies for certain approvals.
If the contract states the contract is entitled to an EOT for authority delays, they will only be entitled to time and not money as a qualifying cause of delay.
If the contract states that authority delays are also a compensable cause of delay, then the contractor would be entitled to money as well.