Implication Of Death Of A Contractor In Public Procurement Other Services

Is the death of a Contractor of sole proprietorship is the death of a Contract? How to complete or close the contract in implementation by the Procuring Entity?

There are 3 dimensions to this issue. First: Legal status of the parties who have signed the contract. Second: the terms of the contract between the contracting parties and provision to address such causalities. Third: Successful completion of the contract post causality. Let me discuss each aspect one by one.

First: In case if the contract was signed by the proprietor of the company on behalf of the company, you can take corrective measures/claims etc as the company which is a legal entity still survives. If the contract was to an individual you can't do anything. But in this case if you have defined the party or the contractor as: "which expression shall unless repugnant to the context or meaning hereof shall include all the partners, their heirs, legal representatives, administrators, executors, successors, and assigns in office"; you can legally pass on the responsibility to the assign/ heir of the contractor. Defining the parties this way is the most common practice in drafting any agreement/contract and to cover such unforeseen situations.

Second: If you have specifically defined as how the parties to the agreement would meet such situations then act accordingly, otherwise use common sense and evaluate what is best for all stake holders.

Third: I think this is the most IMP point in this case. As the person who has already died, no one can do anything and fighting a long battle in court is also not advisable. So the best way forward from here is to negotiate the balance work/scope with other contractor and assign this job to him. The extra cost incurred if any, can be adjusted in the amount payable to the previous contractor.

The basic idea here is: The show must go on...

Suggestions given in item no 3 are of general nature and the personal views of the author of this article. The author is not aware about: your authorization to act accordingly, stakes involved, nature of the contract/scope/work, the balance work, any special provision in the law of the land to deal such situations etc.