EPISODE 2 - Risk Intelligence vs Risk Transfer: The Procurement Choices That Decide Project Outcomes

What if the biggest threat to collaboration is already embedded into the project before delivery even begins?

In this episode, Dom and Jon explore how procurementstrategy, legal positioning and risk allocation often shape behaviours long before the first spade hits the ground.

SUMMARYEpisode 2 of Beyond Clause 10 examines one of the mostinfluential — and often least openly challenged — drivers of project performance: procurement behaviour.

The discussion explores the difference between intelligentrisk allocation and wholesale risk transfer, and why many project environments quietly undermine Clause 10 before mobilisation even starts.

Drawing on real-world experience from major projects andsupply chain environments, Dom and Jon examine how flow-down clauses, defensive procurement practices and unrealistic contractual expectations can distort relationships, weaken trust and create fragility across the delivery chain.

The episode also challenges wider industry assumptionsaround margin, commercial pressure and supply chain resilience — asking whether current approaches genuinely support long-term project success.

INTRODUCING THE DISCUSSIONThroughout the conversation, Dom and Jon challenge the idea that more clauses, more obligations and tighter commercial control automatically create better outcomes.

Instead, they explore:
• how procurement decisions shape project culture,
• why clarity of responsibility matters,
• how financial pressure influences behaviour,
• and why many collaborative ambitions fail before delivery has properly begun.

The discussion combines contractual insight with practicalsupply chain experience, highlighting the tension between legal protection and operational reality.

IN THIS EPISODE WE EXPLORE• Risk intelligence versus risk transfer
• Flow-down clauses and unintended consequences
• Why poorly aligned obligations create behavioural tension
• The commercial reality facing SMEs and specialist suppliers
• Retentions, cashflow and supply chain fragility
• Mutual commercial understanding and the criticality of fair profit
• Procurement culture and defensive contracting
• Why trust and cooperation depend on clarity and fairness
• How procurement can either support — or quietly sabotage — collaborative delivery

REFERENCES AND THEMES• NEC4 procurement strategy
• Risk allocation and supply chain resilience
• Early contractor involvement
• David Mosey and collaborative procurement thinking
• Commercial pressure and behavioural incentives
• Contract coherence and accountability
• Clause 10 and project culture

REFLECTION

Projects rarely become adversarial overnight.

More often, the foundations are laid early — through procurement choices, commercial assumptions and contractual behaviours that shape how people interact long before pressure arrives.

If collaboration is expected during delivery, then perhapscollaboration must first be designed into procurement itself.

EPISODE 1 - MUTUAL TRUST AND COOPERATION: WHY IT'S EASIER SAID THAN DONE

The industry has spent decades talking about collaboration.

So why do suspicion, defensiveness and adversarial behaviours still appear so quickly once projects come under pressure?

Have we genuinely changed the culture of project delivery…or simply changed the language around it?

SUMMARY

In Episode 1 of Beyond Clause 10, Dominic Doig and Dr Jon Broome explore the origins of adversarial behaviour within the construction and infrastructure sectors — and ask why Clause 10 remains one of the hardest principles to consistently achieve in practice.

Drawing on lived experience from the “old school” claims era through to modern NEC4 delivery environments, the discussion examines how procurement models, commercial incentives and professional behaviours continue to shape project culture today.

The episode challenges whether the industry has truly evolved since Latham, Egan and the introduction of NEC — or whether many of the same instincts still exist beneath more collaborative terminology.

INTRODUCING THE DISCUSSION

Throughout this conversation, Dom and Jon test the reality of mutual trust and cooperation against the live project conditions they have experienced.

The discussion moves beyond contract wording to explore:
• how trust is lost,
• why defensive behaviours emerge,
• how procurement structures influence outcomes,
• and what genuinely differentiates high-performing project environments from adversarial ones.

Alongside broader industry reflection, the episode draws heavily on personal experience from within live projects, commercial management, project management and dispute environments over several decades.

IN THIS EPISODE WE EXPLORE

• The legacy of adversarial QS and claims cultures of the 80’s
• Why Clause 10 is more a discipline rather than just a slogan
• The impact of procurement and commercial incentives on behaviour
• Why contracts alone cannot create collaborative outcomes
• How mistrust easily develops within project teams
• Whether the industry has truly evolved since Latham and Egan
• What “good” actually looks like when Clause 10 is alive on a project

REFERENCES AND THEMES

• NEC4 Clause 10
• Latham Report
• Egan Report
• Risk transfer vs risk intelligence
• Behavioural drivers in project delivery
• Commercial pressure and defensive contracting
• Trust, cooperation and professional competence

REFLECTION

The industry often assumes collaboration will emerge naturally once the right contract is signed.

But perhaps the harder truth is this:

Most projects inherit decades of commercial instinct, defensive behaviour and fragmented thinking long before delivery even begins.

If Clause 10 is to become something more than contractual aspiration, then the industry may first need to confront the behaviours and incentives project cultures continue to reward.

BEYOND CLAUSE 10 INTRODUCTION

Everyone talks about collaboration in construction and infrastructure delivery.

But when programme slips, commercial pressure tightens, risks materialise and interface tensions arise— why do so many projects still fall back into adversarial behaviour?

And if NEC4 Clause 10 is intended to underpin mutual trust and cooperation… why can it remain so difficult to make real in practice?

SUMMARY

In this introductory episode of Beyond Clause 10, Dominic Doig and Dr Jon Broome explain why they created the Clause 10 Collective and what the podcast is intended to explore.

Drawing on decades of experience across project delivery, procurement, contract management and NEC Implementation, the discussion examines the gap between contractual intent and operational reality — and asks what it genuinely takes to build collaborative, high-performing project environments under pressure.

This is not a podcast series simply about theory, it is a practitioner-led discussion about competence, behaviours, incentives, leadership and risk — and how these lead and shape outcomes across complex engineering and infrastructure projects.

INTRODUCING THE DISCUSSION

Hosted by Chartered Quantity Surveyor Dominic Doig and NEC author and educator Dr Jon Broome, Beyond Clause 10 explores the realities of project delivery through the lens of NEC4 and the wider cultural and behavioural challenges facing the industry.

Throughout the series, Dom and Jon challenge experienced practitioners, industry leaders and each other on what helps projects succeed — and what quietly causes collaboration to fail despite good intentions.

In this episode we begin to explore:

• Why “mutual trust and cooperation” is easier to quote than apply

• How pressure, incentives and procurement shape behaviours

• Why contracts alone do not create collaborative outcomes

• The difference between cooperation and true collaboration

• Why adversarial instincts remain deeply embedded within the industry

• The importance of competence, transparency and behavioural discipline

• What listeners can expect from the Beyond Clause 10 series

REFERENCES AND THEMES

• NEC4 Clause 10
• Collaborative delivery principles
• Procurement and behavioural incentives
• Risk allocation and project culture
• Frameworks and long-term delivery relationships
• Industry reform and cultural change

REFLECTION

If collaboration is genuinely critical to project success, then perhaps the industry needs to stop treating it as a soft aspiration — and start treating it as a disciplined delivery capability.

Because projects rarely fail through contract wording alone.

They fail when behaviours, incentives, leadership and commercial reality drift too far away from the principles the contract was intended to support.