An Introduction to Alliance Contracting

Abstract

At its simplest, an alliance contract (known in British Columbia (BC) as the project alliance agreement or PAA) is a contract between a project Owner (the Owner Participant or the Owner) and one or more service providers for delivering works and services (the Non-Owner Participants or NOPs). However, an alliance contract has a number of features that set it apart from other works and services agreements. The key feature is that the parties agree to act in good faith and collaborate to achieve a common goal. This basic concept is reflected throughout the contract by providing that the parties will share in the success or failure of the project, often described as a win together or lose together approach.