Associated Owners and Developers (AOD) has announced the release of the
AOD 2002 GC - Standard Form of Agreement between Owner and Contractor
where the Price is Lump Sum (the "Agreement"). The Agreement is the
first in a series of standard form construction documents that AOD will
soon make available for use throughout the industry.

    "The Agreement will change the way in which standard form
 agreements are used on construction projects," according to Ira Genberg,
 AOD's general counsel and chairman of the overseeing committee for the
 drafting of the Agreement. Genberg leads the construction law and
 litigation department at Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP, the century-old
 Atlanta law firm that drafted the Agreement.

     Genberg explains that, "Our approach in drafting the Agreement
 was to learn from the past with a view toward the future. We took a
 hard look at the provisions in other standard form agreements, and asked
 how we could better promote the success of the project and the interests
 of all parties involved. We wanted a standard form contract that is
 both project driven and fundamentally fair to the parties."

     This approach led to many innovations, including the use of a
 menu system that provides the building team with a choice in how they
 address some of the more commonly negotiated contract provisions. The
 menu system allows the parties to review several alternate provisions
 and select the standard provision that best fits the project and their
 concerns. As a result, said parties can customize the Agreement using
 standard form language. Other standard form agreements may be
 customized only by using non-standard language, which often leads to
 inconsistencies, prolonged negotiations, and uncertainty as to the legal
 interpretation of such language.

     Despite allowing customization, the Agreement does not
 fundamentally alter the traditional balance of risk between
 parties. Traditionally, risk is assigned to the party best able to
 manage it. However, while other standard form agreements have
 increasingly shifted more risk to the Owner, the AOD Agreement does not
 automatically assign to the Owner risks that cannot be fairly assigned
 to other parties. Rather, the Agreement splits these risks between the
 parties.

 AOD's standard form of agreement between owner and contractor
 for a fixed or lump-sum is now available to the public.

 For more information on AOD 2002 GC contract, please contact Connie at
 AOD at Tel:703-734-2397 Fax 703-734-2908 e-mail aod@constructionchannel.net

Cost: Non Members - $250.00 US - Members - FREE

 For more information on Associated Owners & Developers, please go to
 the Construction Channel via www.constructionchannel.net and tag onto
 Associated Owners & Developers (AOD)