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Payment charter will need strict referee to work, says SME expert

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  1. Has this been planned properly?

    It all sounds good in theory but in practise might mean a disaster: e.g. that is until a large main contractor, who may have several on-going government schemes gets accused and held up having failed to pay a minor supplier – one could envisage an argument concerning details of an exact payment. Then let’s say the main contractor is unfortunately found guilty and given the red card; disqualified for the requisite two years; stops all work; then do all his on-gong government contracts get terminated automatically!

    Throwing many other lower tier suppliers out, consequently disrupting a large number of projects albeit halting variations and or contract extensions of work etc.,, laying off many; causing mid contract delay and disruption all over the place.

    Was/is this policy thought-out or just concocted by a number of amateur football enthusiasts, who clearly think everything is just some kind of a game?

    Look how badly the Footballing Associations deal at present with very simple matters in comparison with construction contracts. They are hardly a good example to follow. Referees mess-up over relative simple issues; so where is the instantaneous justice going to come from?
    It has to be quickly applied to make it meaningful.

    It is clearly going to be unfair to larger contracting organisations than the smaller ones because of the scale of the larger commercial pressure on bigger firms. So will it not mean that the best (and perhaps largest) suppliers will have to bid with additional margins (as a safeguard) compared with Messrs. Bodge-it & Leg-it? Also it might mean that the government will end up with a series of poor and inadequate suppliers.

    Phil King has his work cut out because there needs to be much better & clearer thinking applied before this rather simplistic penalty system is adopted. I would suggest that financial mechanisms are used initially before the sledge hammer is dropped.

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