An Introduction to Alliance Contracting

Elizabeth Mayer, Partner, DLA Piper, Canada

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.

Elizabeth’s practice focusses on infrastructure projects, ?acting both for procuring authorities and for bidders. Elizabeth brings a depth of experience to ?infrastructure projects, having advised the Province of British Columbia on ?two of the earliest P3 projects ?in Canada. Subsequently she has acted for bidders, contractors, lenders and public ?authorities on a wide ?range of projects across Canada. Elizabeth has worked with Infrastructure BC in advising Vancouver Island Health Authority on BC’s ?first ?Alliance project and the BC Ministry of Transportation on a number of Alliance projects for highways ?that were washed out in November 2021. In providing this advice, she has drawn upon the expertise of colleagues in DLA Piper Australia. Elizabeth has a BA in law from the University of Oxford and a MA in law from the University of British Columbia. She is a member of the Law Society of British Columbia.