§10.2 Contract Provisions

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§10.2 CONTRACT PROVISIONS

This section discusses payment-related contract provisions in both public and private contracts.

(1) Public contracts

The written contract between the owner and the contractor on most public works projects is a nonnegotiable form prepared by the owner that is part of the bid documents. It is generally very short, merely reciting the nature of the project and that the contractor was awarded the contract for a specific lump-sum amount. It typically references other documents that form the contract documents, the most important of which for payment purposes is the "General Conditions," often along with "Supplementary Conditions." Those documents will contain detailed provisions that outline the payment process: the documents required, timing, and grounds for nonpayment, both for progress payments and final payment. See Chapter 3 (Key Contract Provisions and Summary of Prevalent Private and Public Contract Model Forms) of this deskbook for examples. This chapter examines two statutes that should be kept in mind when reading public construction contracts. Provisions of the General Conditions often track or reference the retainage statute, Chapter 60.28 RCW, discussed in §10.3(2), below. No matter what the content, payment terms are subject to the prompt payment statute, Chapter 39.76 RCW, discussed in some detail in §10.3(4) below.

(2) Private contracts

Unlike public contracts, which are short and nonnegotiable, private contracts between owners and...