Assessment Information/Brief 2022-23

To be used for all types of assessment and provided to students at the start of the module.
Information provided should be compatible with the detail contained in the approved module
specification although may contain more information for clarity.

Module title Contracts Management and Practice

CRN 54089/55629

Level 7

Assessment title Coursework 1

Weighting within This assessment is worth 100% of the overall module mark.
module
Dr Kaushal Keraminiyage
Module
Leader/Assessment set e: k.p.keraminiyage@salford.ac.uk
by
Friday 02-December-2022 4:00pm
Submission deadline
date and time
For coursework assessments only: students with a Reasonable
Adjustment Plan (RAP) or Carer Support Plan should check your plan
to see if an extension to this submission date has been agreed.
FORMAT
How to submit
The assignment is to be submitted in the form of a reflective report and as
students are encouraged to use a suitable reflective model to structure the
report. It should be submitted as a single document.
LENGTH
Should not exceed 3000 words and represent approximately 80 hours of
research, application and writing.
REFERENCING
All submissions should fully incorporate citations within the text and have
a list of references plus a bibliography of other sources used in the
preparation of the project. The APA 7 th (Harvard) style of referencing must
be used.
SUBMISSION
This assignment MUST be submitted electronically through Turnitin®
Further information and support for students using Turnitin® can be found
here: 
http://www.salford.ac.uk/library/help/blackboard-and-collaborate

Assessment Information/Brief
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 As the University will mark assessments anonymously where this is
possible, please use your student roll number and not your name on
your submission.

Task
Assessment task details
and instructions
Over the last few years, construction industry has been facing many
challenges. The magnitude of challenges faced by the UK construction
industry due the impact of Brexit has increased significantly with the
advent of Covid-19, which disrupted the normality not only in the UK but
also all around the world. It seems that these challenges will continue to
grow, with extraordinary levels of price increases in critical construction
material and utilities. In fact, major Construction Industry information
sources such as ‘RICS’, ‘The Guardian’ and ‘Construction News’ report that
the steel prices rose 77.4% in 2021 and timber prices rose 80% in the first
half of that year. The cost of labour also increased, with salaries of
construction workers rising 6.7% over the first half of 2021. Construction
Leadership Council's Construction Product Availability Statement (January
2022) predict further increases in 2022 as they say "rising energy costs and
price inflation continue to cause concern, with the latest forecasts
anticipating 2022 price inflation from 7-10+%, with multiple increases
expected for some products".

These challenges have significantly hampered the Construction Industry

where the level and complexity of construction disputes has risen sharply.
In fact, Construction News website reports that “the average value of
disputes in the UK rose to £27.4m last year, up from £12.6m in 2019” and
with even bigger challenges ahead, more significant increases in disputes
can be anticipated.

Modern Standard Forms of Construction Contracts (SFCC) are expected to

provide an impartial, fair and balanced legal framework to minimising the
avenues for construction disputes, within the context of these challenges,
the capabilities and the use cases of SFCCs have been challenged. It is,
therefore, high time to critically reflect on the capabilities and the typical
use cases of current SFCCs with the aim of stress testing them.
Within this context, you are tasked to do a reflective report on the
capabilities of modern SFCCs with regards to their capabilities and the
performance when dealing with current construction industry challenges.
You are strongly encouraged to use a suitable reflective model (such as
Gibb’s) in order to structure your arguments and the report. In doing so,
you are strongly encouraged to extensively research and discuss cases and
real project examples in building your arguments.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Assessment Criteria
Assessment Information/Brief
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 Marks for your assessment will be allocated as follows:

 Critical analysis of the main reasons (root causes) of construction

disputes triggered by or likely to trigger by the recent and anticipated
future construction Industry challenges - 25%

 Reflection of the capabilities (or lack thereof) of modern SFCCs to

assist dealing with modern day construction disputes triggered by the
recent and anticipated future construction Industry challenges - 30%

 Reflection on how and to what improvements can be made to SFCCs

and current contract practices to overcome the impact of recent and
anticipated future construction Industry challenges - 30%

 Presentation of report (Layout, structure, visual presentation, use of

language, clarity of expression, referencing within text and
bibliography) - 15%

MARKING SCALE
Within each criteria the following marking scale will be used:

Outstanding 90% – 100%

Excellent 80% – 89%
Very good 70% – 79%
Good 60% – 69%
Satisfactory 50% – 59%
Unsatisfactory 40% – 49%
Inadequate 30% – 39%
Poor 20% – 29%
Very poor 10% – 19%
Extremely poor 0% – 9%

Assessed intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

Knowledge and 1. Critically evaluate differences in contractual provisions of standard forms of

Understanding contracts such as JCT, FIDIC, ECC/NEC, GC Works
2. Compare and contrast contractual procedures and clauses of various
standard forms of contracts in terms of time, cost and quality parameters.
3. Critically evaluate various dispute resolution and avoidance mechanisms such
as adjudication and arbitration, and their procedures

1. Advise client on the selection of the appropriate standard form of contract

Practical, Professional or and warranties for the chosen procurement route
Subject Specific Skills 2. Advise relevant parties on the administrative procedures necessary for the
smooth running of a construction contract

Assessment Information/Brief
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 Communication YES/NO
Employability Skills
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving YES/NO
developed /
Data Literacy YES/NO
demonstrated
Digital Literacy YES/NO
Industry Awareness YES/NO
Innovation and Creativity YES/NO
Proactive Leadership YES/NO
Reflection and Life-Long Learning YES/NO
Self-management and Organisation YES/NO
Team Working YES/NO
Your assessment should be no more than 3000 words long.  This includes
Word count/ duration (if
every word, excluding only: any initial contents/title page, and the
applicable) reference list(s) located at the very end of your submission. Only the first
3000 words (as defined above) will be marked.  Any words you write in
excess of 3000 (as defined above) will be ignored.

Coursework marks and summative feedback will be available within 15

Feedback arrangements
University working days of your submission and will be loaded into
Blackboard

Students are expected to learn and demonstrate skills associated

Academic Integrity and
with good academic conduct (academic integrity). Good academic
Referencing
conduct includes the use of clear and correct referencing of source
materials. Here is a link to where you can find out more about the
skills which students need:
Academic integrity & referencing
Referencing

Academic Misconduct is an action which may give you an unfair

advantage in your academic work. This includes plagiarism, asking
someone else to write your assessment for you or taking notes
into an exam. The University takes all forms of academic
misconduct seriously.
Support for this Assessment
Assessment Information
You can obtain support for this assessment through attendance at lectures
and Support
and tutorials where the assignment will be discussed in detail.
In addition, students must use the Turnitin draft submission folder located
within your “test course” to obtain an originality report. This will assist in
ensuring good academic conduct and practice, and help diagnose any
problems with the use of source material. If you need assistance with
interpreting the brief, please contact the module tutor.

You can find more information about understanding your

assessment brief and assessment tips for success here.

Assessment Rules and Processes

You can find information about assessment rules and processes in

Assessment Information/Brief
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 Blackboard in the Assessment Support module.

Develop your Academic and Digital Skills

Find resources to help you develop your skills here.

Concerns about Studies or Progress

If you have any concerns about your studies, contact your
Academic Progress Review Tutor/Personal Tutor or your Student
Progression Administrator (SPA).

askUS Services
The University offers a range of support services for students
through askUS including Disability and Learner Support, Wellbeing
and Counselling Services.

Personal Mitigating Circumstances (PMCs)

If personal mitigating circumstances (e.g. illness or other personal
circumstances) may have affected your ability to complete this
assessment, you can find more information about the Personal
Mitigating Circumstances Procedure here. Independent advice is
available from the Students’ Union Advice Centre about this process.
Click here for an appointment to speak to an adviser or email
advicecentre-ussu@salford.ac.uk.
Your assessment is/is not (please delete as appropriate) eligible for
In Year Retrieval
in year retrieval. If you are eligible for this scheme, you will be
Scheme
contacted shortly after the feedback deadline.

You can find more information about this scheme in Blackboard in

the Assessment Support module.
If you fail your assessment, and are eligible for reassessment, you
Reassessment
will need to resubmit on or before 10th March 2023 (subjected to
further confirmation, please check with the module lead). For
students with accepted personal mitigating circumstances for
absence/non submission, this will be your replacement assessment
attempt.

If you need to be reassessed, the reassessment brief and the tasks

you need to work on will be the same as this brief.

We know that having to undergo a reassessment can be challenging

however support is available. Have a look at all the sources of
support outlined earlier in this brief and refer to the Personal
Effectiveness resources.

Assessment Information/Brief
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