From the viewpoint of system theory, the implementation process of a project is a systematic project. The contract gives the conditions and objectives in the implementation of the project, and provides a set of rules to be observed in the implementation of the system project.
1 contract status concept
The so-called contract status refers to the sum of all planned contract objectives and basic conditions (external and internal conditions, natural and human conditions, material and technical conditions) that should be possessed at any time during the whole contract implementation process from the signing of the contract to the end of the contract.
The motivation for the change of contract status comes from the project implementation plan made according to the terms of the contract. Both parties agree and recognize the project implementation plan. In the project implementation plan, various relationships between people and between people are stipulated to ensure the normal implementation of the contract. These relationships are defined as the normal (situation) rules of the contract, and the set of these relationships is the set of normal rules of the contract. Because the contract objectives and conditions related to the contract status are constantly changing with time, the contract status.
The contract state is mainly divided into initial state, ideal state, realistic state and target state.
The initial state of a contract is the sum of the contract objectives, contract conditions and other factors when the contract is signed.
At present, the state of the contract at a certain moment is evolved from the initial state of the contract according to the normal rules of the contract, which is called the ideal state of the contract at that moment. The ideal state of a contract is an imaginary state assuming strict compliance with the contract documents.
During the execution of the contract, due to various disturbances (such as changes in contract objectives, failure to achieve previous contract objectives, changes in contract conditions, failure to strictly abide by contract rules, etc.). ), the actual contract state is generally not the ideal state of the contract at that moment, but a new state related to the ideal state, which is called the realistic state of the contract.
The contract state that should be reached when the contract is executed is the contract target state.
1. 1 Formation of initial state and target state of contract
The process from project planning to contract signing is also the formation process of project contract, and the initial state and ideal target state of the contract are also formed. This process should mainly accomplish the following tasks.
1. 1. 1 project objective [2]
In the process of setting the objectives of the electromechanical engineering project, the owner should pay special attention to the following aspects:
(1) The overall target requirements of the whole project system include output requirements, product quality requirements, economic indicators and environmental indicators. The completed project system, as well as the quality grade, investment and construction cycle of the project.
(2) The target owners of subprojects and subprojects shall set the goals of subprojects and important subprojects on the premise of observing the overall goals of the project. These objectives not only refine the overall objectives of the project, but also provide operational basis for project management, contract management and claim management.
1. 1.2 Provide the necessary conditions for the project construction.
The construction of the project requires certain preconditions, and the owner must thoroughly study the conditions required for the project implementation and implement it before the project starts. From the responsibility analysis of the preconditions of engineering projects, the preconditions of engineering projects are mainly divided into three types.
(1) Owner's liability conditions This is the work that should be completed by the owner, such as the laws, regulations, administrative procedures and fund raising of the project.
(2) Conditions of responsibility of the contractor This is the work that the contractor should complete, such as preparing qualified personnel, machines and tools, and formulating scientific and reasonable construction plans.
(3) Conditions of third-party liability The project cannot be implemented until the risks that both the owner and the contractor cannot bear in the project are effectively dealt with. Generally speaking, the third party liability is borne by the insurance company.
From the analysis of the specific forms of project preconditions, it can be divided into the following categories [3]:① natural conditions, such as meteorological, geological and hydrological conditions; (2) human resources conditions, such as the number and quality of personnel; (3) Legal conditions, such as legal approval related to the project, legal procedures for patent use, etc. ; (4) Economic conditions, such as owner's financing and contractor's performance guarantee; ⑤ Material conditions, such as related construction machinery, equipment, materials, energy and roads. ; ⑥ Technical conditions, such as technical analysis report and technical theory proof related to the project.
1. 1.3 formulation of rules for construction activities of engineering projects
The rules of engineering project construction activities are rules that all parties should strictly abide by in the process of engineering project construction, and are important institutional factors for the smooth progress of engineering project construction. Formulating the rules of construction activities of engineering projects is actually to establish a set of operating mechanism for the project, and the contract state of engineering projects is evolved under the action of this operating mechanism. It can not only make the project construction activities go smoothly, but also protect the interests of all parties.
The rules of construction activities of engineering projects stipulated in the contract are divided into two categories: one is to maintain the normal implementation of the contract, and these rules are included in the implementation plan of the engineering project; The other is the rule that works when the contract is in an abnormal state and plays a corrective role. When these rules come into play, claims often occur.
1. 1.4 project construction contract signing
A project construction contract is a legally binding document that organically combines the project objectives, the conditions required for project construction and the rules of project construction activities, and is a local regulation (law) for carrying out a project activity. When the project contract is signed, the initial state and ideal target state of the contract are also determined.
The initial state of the contract mentioned above begins with the signing of the contract. Here, the concept of initial state of contract can be extended to any moment of contract execution. Suppose that when the contract is executed to a certain moment, the two parties to the contract have a dispute over a certain issue. When the two parties reach an agreement on resolving the dispute, the state at this moment will replace the contract state at the time of signing the contract and become the initial state of the contract from that moment on.
1.2 ideal contract state
Because the ideal state of the contract is derived from the initial state of the contract agreed by both parties and according to the normal rules of the contract, the ideal state is also agreed by both parties. Therefore, the ideal state of the contract is an important basis for project evaluation and project claim. If the rules of the contract remain unchanged, then the initial state of the contract should be deduced from the ideal state of the contract.
Usually, as long as the contract state deviates from the ideal state of the contract, it means that the project has not been carried out according to the contract requirements-interference events have occurred. Because the ideal state of the contract is derived from the initial state, when studying the ideal state, we must first explain the initial state corresponding to the ideal state, otherwise the ideal state of the contract will become a rootless tree and water without resources.
1.3 actual contract status
The signed contract is essentially the commitment of both parties to the initial contract state and the target state, and also the unanimous desire, expectation and control goal of both parties to the project implementation stage. However, during the implementation of the project contract, due to the inherent characteristics of the large-scale project itself, the instability of the internal state of the system and the uncertainty of the external environment of the system, the evolution of the contract did not develop to the ideal state according to the owner's wishes. But deviated from and developed into another contractual state. This contract state was formed by the actual objectives, conditions and normal rules in the process of contract execution at that time. This contract status is the actual status of the contract. This actual state is formed by various interference factors acting on the ideal state. Because the interference caused by the actual state of the contract is not the agreement of both parties, and the actual state of the contract is not the agreement of both parties. At this point, both parties to the contract should adjust the contract status artificially according to the contract provisions and reach a consensus.
As can be seen from the above analysis, the implementation process of the project essentially starts from the initial state of the contract and reaches the new state of the contract-the realistic state; Comparing the ideal state deduced from the initial state with the actual state, correcting the actual state and obtaining a new initial state; Proceed from the new initial state and continue to implement the project, which is a continuous cycle process (as shown in figure 1).
From the above analysis, it can be seen that the deviation of the actual contract state from the ideal state is a necessary condition for the claim to occur.
2 Description of contract status
Large-scale project is a complex system engineering, and the implementation process of the project is the process of controlling the system and achieving the goal. The change of contract status actually reflects the construction process of the project, so we can understand the implementation of the project through the study of the project contract. Here, we will use the theory and method of systems engineering to study the contract status of the project.
According to the above, we can know that the state of a contract can be described by the sum of the contract objectives, basic conditions and other elements.
Assumption: The state of the project construction contract can be described by a set of state variables. It is written in the form of a vector [4]
x=[x 1，x2，…，xn]T( 1)
Where: x is the contract state vector, x ∈ rn; Xi is the state variable of the contract, i= 1, 2, …, n; N is the dimension (finite positive integer); Rn is an n-dimensional state space.
Rn is called a point (x 1, x2, …, xn) in the contract state space, corresponding to a state vector of the contract, x=[x 1, x2, …, xn] t; In fact, during the execution of the contract, every moment corresponds to a state of the contract, and the points corresponding to these states are connected, forming a spatial curve in Rn. The starting point of the curve corresponds to the initial state of the contract and the ending point corresponds to the target state.
In order to achieve the target state, it is necessary to control the execution process of the project contract. To sum up, in general, the motivation for the change of contract status comes from the normal contract rules stipulated in the contract. Therefore, the control vector u of the contract is defined by the normal contract rules.
u=[u 1，u2，…，um]T(2)
Where: u is the normal rule vector of the contract, that is, the control vector; Uj is the normal clause of the contract, j= 1, 2, …, m; M is a dimension (finite positive integer). Using the contract state vector and the control vector, the following triples can be constructed:
(3)
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Where: xs is the initial state vector of the contract, and xs=[x 1s, x2s, …, xns] t; Xg is the contract target state vector, xg=[x 1g, x2g, …, xng] t; F(u) is the contract state transition operation generated by U, that is, the normal operation of the contract.
Equation (3) is a model of contract state space change. It describes the control process of a project from the initial state xs of the contract to the target state xg of the contract. However, since what changes the contract state here is the normal operation of the contract, equation (3) only describes the normal execution of the contract, that is, the ideal contract state change process (as shown in Figure 2) without considering the interference factors.
When there are interference factors, not only normal rules, but also interference factors will affect the process of contract state change. At this time, the result of the contract state change is not the target state, but a realistic state different from the target state (Figure 3).
In triplet, contract state vectors xs and xg represent narrative knowledge of engineering contract state, and control vector U represents process knowledge and control knowledge of contract state transition. Therefore, from the analysis of large-scale system cybernetics, triple is a state space expression of knowledge and a knowledge model.
3 project contract status change control model
3. 1 project contract status change mechanism
In the previous analysis, in fact, the relationship and rules controlling the project implementation in the project contract are divided into two parts. Part of it is included in the implementation plan of the project, and both parties must abide by it during the normal progress of the project. This is the normal contract rule mentioned above. The other part is unnecessary for the normal progress of the project, and its function is to correct the project implementation when it is in an abnormal state. This part of the rules are defined as contract amendment rules, which are defined as follows
The change of contract state of engineering project is actually a process of reaching the target state under the control of normal contract rules and amendment rules. Under normal circumstances, the contract status of the project will develop and change according to normal laws, and the contract status obtained at this time is the ideal contract status recognized by both parties before the project is implemented. However, due to various interference factors in project implementation, these interference factors will make the contract state deviate from the target state, thus obtaining the contract reality state; Because there is a certain difference between the actual state and the ideal state of the contract, it will eventually lead to the failure to reach the target state stipulated in the contract. Therefore, it is necessary to start the amendment rules to make the contract state return to the "ideal state", that is, through the amendment of the amendment rules, both parties to the contract can reach a unanimous recognition of the new contract state through the adjustment of interests.
The initial state of the contract mentioned here is not the initial state of the contract in most cases, but the realistic state recognized by both parties when the contract is executed to a certain moment. The target state mentioned above is not the final target state of the project in most cases, but the stage target state in the process of project execution.
3.2 Adaptive control model of contract execution system
The concept of "self-adaptation" comes from biological science, which mainly refers to the performance of keeping the internal environment stable and the physiological state normal when the external environment and conditions change, and is one of the characteristics of biological control system. The adaptive control system can keep the control system stable and the control function normal when its operating environment or conditions change. From the analysis of the purpose of engineering contract and the characteristics of project implementation, the ideal engineering contract system should be self-adaptive, that is, no matter how the environment or conditions change, a perfect contract system should be able to automatically realize the contract goal-and finally realize the ultimate goal stipulated in the contract: the contract state under the action of its terms (normal rules and revised rules).
Fig. 4 is a block diagram of an adaptive control system. In this model, the control strategy of the controlled object is gradually changed by constantly comparing the actual output with the expected ideal output, so as to obtain the required output.
Figure 5 shows the adaptive model of contract execution.
When the contract begins to be executed, from the initial state when the contract is signed, assuming that the execution of the project is completely controlled by the normal rules of the contract, the owner can get the ideal state of the contract through reasoning; However, the execution of the contract is not carried out in a vacuum, so the actual situation of project implementation is carried out under the influence of various interferences and normal rules of the contract, thus obtaining the actual state of the contract. By comparing the actual state of the contract with the ideal state of the contract, there are two possible outcomes. First of all, the actual state of the contract is close to the ideal state of the contract (that is, the owner and the contractor are satisfied with the results of the contract implementation). At this time, the actual state of the contract is regarded as the initial state of the next stage of contract execution, and the next stage of project implementation is entered. The second possible result is that the owner and the contractor are not satisfied with the comparison between the actual state and the ideal state of the contract. This shows that the interference is so serious that the existing normal rules of contract can not make the contract execute normally, and thus the satisfactory results of the owner and contractor can not be obtained. Therefore, it is necessary to start the contract modification rules to modify the original normal rule set (to modify and supplement the original normal rule set to form new normal rules), and then use the modified normal rules to control the implementation process of the project.
The modification of normal contract rules is not completed in one step, and it often needs several modifications to get satisfactory results.
If the terms of the contract are comprehensive and accurate, and all kinds of interference in the process of project implementation are not particularly serious, then the whole project will automatically evolve from the initial state at the time of signing the contract to the final target state under the action of normal contract rules and the monitoring of contract amendment rules until the final target state is achieved.
When the normal rules of the contract are modified, the claim arises. From the previous analysis, it can be seen that the reason for modifying the normal rules of the contract is that the normal execution of the contract is disturbed, so the person responsible for the interference is the object of claim. In addition, the adaptive mode of contract execution also shows the importance of claim-claim is an indispensable condition for normal contract execution.
3.3 Contract Amendment Rules
According to the above, the normal contract rules are necessary for the normal implementation of the project plan; When the result of contract execution can't meet the requirements due to various interferences, the normal rules of the contract alone can't make the contract execute normally, so the contract amendment rules must be started. In fact, this is to modify or enrich the normal contract rules on the basis of the contract documents.
There are two kinds of amendment rules in the contract: one is the amendment rules that have been clearly defined in the contract, such as the conditions that must be reworked, the conditions that allow the construction period to be extended, and the conditions that allow the contract price to increase or decrease. The other is some agreement clauses that are not stipulated in the contract, but reached by both parties through negotiation, which affect the evolution process of the contract state or change the target state of the contract, such as changes to normal rules, construction period, price, quality standards or certain construction conditions.
"Rules" must involve both the owner and the contractor, which essentially means the distribution of interests between the two parties. Therefore, the "rules" can not be decided by the will of only one party, but must be agreed by both the owner and the contractor. Therefore, the use of rectification rules (stipulated in the contract) and the establishment of rectification rules (not originally included in the contract) must be agreed by both parties. In many cases, it is often accompanied by rectification rules.
From the theory of contract law, we can know that the formulation of any correction rule is not arbitrary, it is based on the contract signed by both parties, public order and good customs, existing laws and regulations and so on.
4 conclusion
The introduction of the concept of contract state solves the problem of describing the contract execution process and reveals the internal mechanism of contract execution. Through the research on the control model of contract state change, it is found that the motivation of contract state change comes from the normal rules and amendment rules of the contract. The perfect contract execution process should be a closed-loop control process under the normal rules of the contract, and contract claims will occur when external interference occurs. The essence of creditor's rights is the revision of contract status, which is the result of contract revision rules.
References:
[1] Buza, Hamilton I. American System Engineering Management [M]. Translated by Wang Ruosong. Beijing: Aviation Industry Press, 199 1. Buza Hamilton. American system engineering management [M]. Song translation. Beijing: Aviation Industry Press, 199 1.
Figure Xu Yan. Cybernetics of large-scale systems [M]. Beijing: National Defense Industry Press, 1994. Figure Xu Yan. Cybernetics of large-scale systems [M]. Beijing: National Defense Industry Press, 1994.
[3] Hu Cheng, Qian Kunrun. Contract management and claim of construction engineering [M]. Nanjing: Southeast University Press, 1993. Hu Cheng and Qian Kun run. Contract management and claim in construction engineering [M]. Nanjing: Southeast Edition Press, 1993.
[4] Liang Jian. International engineering construction claim [M]. Beijing: China Building Industry Press, 1996. Liang Jian. Construction claims in international projects [M]. Beijing: China Architecture &; Architecture Press, 1996.
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