Olympic Development Authority shuns retentions
The statement from the Olympic Delivery Authority confirming its policy not to deduct cash retentions on any of its contracts has been welcomed by two bodies representing thousands of specialist contracting companies. The Specialist Engineering Contractors’ (SEC) Group and the National Specialist Contractors’ Council (NSCC) represent most contracting firms in the construction industry.
Welcoming the ODA’s statement, Trevor Hursthouse, chairman of the SEC Group, said, ‘The ODA’s retentions policy on Olympic projects will immediately benefit the cash flow of SMEs and make a significant contribution to the successful delivery of Olympic projects.
Speaking for NSCC, Graham Wren added, ‘The outdated practice of deducting retentions has already been condemned as poor practice by a House of Commons Select Committee. I am delighted that the ODA has acknowledged this and will be monitoring compliance with its retentions policy along the supply chain.
The ODA statement confirms contractual arrangements with Tier 1 contractors will allow monitoring of accounts and records to ensure that retentions are not being deducted along the supply chain.
