Alternative Dispute Resolution is the collective terminology covering a range of services including mediation, conciliation, dispute resolution boards and expert determination.
DRB's are commonplace on major international engineering projects, and at DGA we employ Chartered Engineers and Quantity Surveyors with extensive overseas experience, particularly in the Middle & Far East. We have the capacity to prepare and present technical and commercial reports to DRB's to make our client's case.
The growth of ADR has been driven by the desire to find ways to save on the cost and time consumed by the more formal binding processes. It follows that the 'downside' of ADR techniques is that they are not binding, and that the danger of abortive costs following failure to agree always exists.
That said, there is no substitute for well prepared documentation to support your case whatever the process, as the discipline required to do so forces a degree of objectivity as to strengths and weaknesses that may otherwise be overlooked.
At DGA we build on this approach in delivering an ADR commission. Our logic is simple; we aim to prepare the negotiation documents thoroughly, and whilst the submission may be little more than a 'Statement of Case', it's position will be fully supported at each level of detail. If the mediation or conciliation process fails, the groundwork is not wasted and we can move quickly and directly to considering further courses of action.
In these circumstances, whilst the costs to a submission may be somewhat higher than a simple 'case narrative', there are still savings over the same level of research required in the formal processes, as our methods are not tied by procedural timetables.