The role and responsibilities of the Contracts Manager are:
• the quality, profi tability, programme and safety on a number of contracts or
projects
• forward planning and detection and avoidance of potential problems
• ensuring that each agent or project manager employs economic use of resources
to fulfi l the requirements of quality plans and contractual obligations
• selection, motivation, training and development of site staff
• job reviews of subordinate staff
• negotiating with clients
• negotiating with subcontractors and is ultimately responsible for their selection.
Role and responsibilities of the Agent, Site Manager and Project Manager
• Under contract law a contractor is required to maintain a full time Agent at the
place of the works.

• The Agent is responsible to the contracts manager for quality, programme, profi t-
ability and safety and may sometimes be referred to as a Site Manager.

• The Agent must understand his Company Standing Instructions (CSIs/procedures
or their equivalents) to be able to make maximum use of resources available.
• Job reviews of site-based subordinate staff.
• Ensuring that the work is carried out in accordance with the contract documents
and any subsequent Architect’s or similar instructions.
• The Agent is responsible for ensuring that his team meet at an early stage to
establish the project quality plan (Fig. 1.1). This should preferably have been
drafted as part of the project assessment at tender stage. This draft can then be
developed for the working project.
• The title of Project Manager is often given to an Agent on a single multi-million

pound contract involving a wide variety of disciplines and specialists. Respon-
sibilities are as those for an Agent, but because of the complexity of the work

more time needs to be spent on administration, information co-ordination and
overall organisation and control.
• So far as is possible, most detailed responsibility should be delegated to create
conditions whereby detailed day-to-day problems may be dealt with by others,
giving the Agent or Project Manager freedom to liaise with other parties such
as the client, statutory authorities, Resident Engineer and other members of the
design and construction team.