CASE SCENARIO ANALYSIS You are a Contract Administrator working for a civil earthwork contractor, EU Civil Co Pty Ltd (EU Civil). EU Civil is invited to tender for a bulk earthworks component contract for the clearing and construction of a hardstand for a new rail line through a private (greenfield) site north of Adelaide to a new shipping port being constructed by a private company, BP South Australia Pty Ltd (BPSA). At the invitation of BPSA, during the tender period, you (and other contractors) visit the site on 18 June 2019 so you can assess the conditions of the site. During the visit: You note that significant parts of the site are uncleared bushlands, and the remainder are wetlands, including areas where the rail line will be built. BPSA shows you a borrow pit which they say holds enough material to carry out the construction works, and hands you a geotechnical report and a site survey of a designated borrow pit on site which confirms that the borrow has enough material to provide the estimated 120,000m3 of drainage rock and 550,000m3 of general fill needed to complete the work. While on-site you did a quick sketch of the proposed access point, site office, borrow, bushlands, wetlands and proposed rail line to the port development: Site Access & Site Office Port Development Borrow Rail line to be built NG Your boss thinks that you are much better contract administrator than artist; but during the tender you explain to him that the access to the site is in the north west corner near the borrow only (other contractors will be working in the areas outside of the site boundaries) and that the rail line contractor will be operating from the south west corner after EU Civil is finished with the site to lay the rail line. It is clear to you that if EU Civil can build a straight line haul road from the borrow to the middle of the main rail alignment it can then operate with two teams of plant building in opposite directions (one in a north east direction to the port and the other in a south west direction away from the port). You detail this method statement in the tender documents, and it is attached to the Contract as an annexure. Subsequently, on 6 March 2020, EU Civil is awarded the tender and enters into a contract with BPSA based on the AS 4000-1997 General Conditions of Contract (unamended). The contract is let on the basis of a schedule of rates, and the schedule of rates prices in the contract include the following rates: e Excavate, haul and place general fill = $3 p/m3 e Excavate, haul and place drainage rock = $6 p/m3 Site access is provided on 3 April 2020 and EU Civil starts mobilising its site facilities on 4 April. On 4 April, EU Civil discovers that the material in the borrow pit has been used by another contractor at some stage after the site visit on 18 June 2019 but prior to the date on which the contract was entered. On 5 April 2020, you arrange for a geotechnical survey by an engineer which costs you $6,500 and confirms that 40,000m3 of drainage rock and 250,000m3 of general fill have been removed from the borrow on site. On 6 April, at a meeting on site with BPSA's superintendent, Mr Boris Johnson, you hand a copy of your geotechnical report to Boris and tell him that you are confident that there is not enough material in the borrow to complete the work, but that you will start excavation straight away and look for an alternative source of drainage rock and general fill. Boris says, "Not our problem. It's your job to supply the material. " The good news is that you have been able to locate an alternative source of material. However, the cost will be $4 p/m3 of General Fill and $8 p/m3 of drainage rock to get additional material delivered to site. (a) Draft an appropriate notice to give to BPSA under the contract with uestion 1 Q respect to issues and events occurring relating to the depleted material in the borrow pit. (4 marks) (b) Draft a claim for any extra costs incurred by EU Civil with respect to issues and events occurring relating to the depleted material in the borrow pit. (5 marks) Question 2 Advise on the chances of EU Civil being able to successfully recover the extra costs incurred due to the depleted borrow pit: (a) Under the contract (4 marks) (b) Under section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law (4 marks) Question 3 Explain how your answer might differ to Question 2(a) if subclause 25.1 of (8 marks) the contract had been amended to state as follows: \"Latent conditions are physical conditions on the site and its near surrounds, including artificial things but excluding weather conditions, which differ materially from the physical conditions which should reasonably have been anticipated by a competent Contractor at the time of the Contract date if the Contractor had inspected: a) all written information made available by the Principal to the Contractor for the purpose of tendering; b) all information influencing the risk allocation in the Contractor's tender and reasonably obtainable by the making of reasonable enquiries; and c) thesite and its near surrounds.\