Waleed Hammad

Head of Contracts and Claims, Parsons Overseas Limited, December 2015 to Present

Late in 2017, Waleed was approached by Parsons Oversea Limited to lead their contracts and claims department in one of their most prestigious projects in the UAE; namely, the Dubai Creek Development for EMAAR.

Waleed leads the team that performs all the contractual, commercial and claims activities. Parsons play the role of the Engineer in all the infrastructure contracts released (and to be released) for EMAAR in the Dubai Creek Development.

The biggest contracts, among the ones that he administers, are the consolidated utilities package and the island infrastructure package. Both exceed AED 1.2 Billion and will be handed over by October 2018 and August 2019 respectively.

In this role, Waleed writes all contractual and commercial correspondences and responds to all contractors’ claims. He certifies the interim payments for all contractors and evaluates all varied works. Waleed also assesses contractors’ entitlement to EOT and prolongation cost (if any).

The long experience in claims management has been the key factors for choosing him for this position due to the specific nature of this project and high exposure of the client to claims for several reasons; particularly, delayed possession of site, disruption by others, changes imposed by the authorities having jurisdiction like DEWA and RTA, unforeseen soil conditions, change of sequence, loss of profit and loss of opportunity.

He has been successful in protecting the client’s interest against most of the contractors’ claims and certified payments to contractors for genuine claims.

Doha, May 2015 to-date
Waleed was employed by the Singaporean Keppel Seghers Contractors to lead their commercial team (claims, procurement, contracts, planning and costing) of their MENA region situated in Doha. Currently, Keppel has two (2) Design-Build and Operate (‘DBO’) mega projects in Doha. The first is the QR 1.9 Billion Domestic Solid Waste Management Centre (DSWMC) which has already got into the operation phase whereas the second is the QR 2.5 Billion (DNSTW) Doha North Sewage Treatment Works.
In his capacity, Waleed leads a team of a contracts manager, six (6) contracts administrators, four (4) costing officers, procurement manager and six (6) procurement officers, a planning manager and three (3) planners. For the completed project, he has already compiled a compendium of claims and is currently providing support with his team to the law firm that is representing the contractor in the ongoing arbitration in Paris. For the ongoing project, he is taking the lead in preparing for arbitration in Paris; however, pursuant to the conditions of contract, the parties shall have to go through mediation before arbitration. He is currently leading efforts to compile the contractor’s response to engineer’s determinations. A request for engineer’s decision will follow that along-with submitting the final statement of claim before the closure of the DNSTW project. Subsequently, due to the magnitude of the contractor’s claims, the dispute will most likely end up in arbitration in Paris too.
The most common heads of claims are:
 delayed access to Site;
 changes imposed by employer and authorities;
 delays imposed by authorities;
 delays imposed by the engineer;
 delays imposed by the employer;
 disruption by other contractors;
 ambiguities in the employer’s requirements
 conflicts between the employer’s requirements and QCS;
 delayed approvals of drawings and material submittals;
 delayed approvals of interim payment certificates;
 unforeseen weather conditions;
 unforeseen inflation;
 failure of the employer to provide sewage needed for the tests on completion;
 engineer’s failure to issue the taking-over certificate;
 earlier use by the employer before issuing the taking-over certificate;
 escalation and difficulties in getting adequate labour resource;
 site instructions leading to changes in the design-build works.

Techno Engineering & Associates Middle East WLL, June 2013 to-date
To execute a sub-consultancy agreement between ECS and Techno Engineering and Associates, Mr. Hammad has been assigned the responsibility of ‘Senior Contracts Manager’ leading a team of two (2) contracts managers, five (5) quantity surveyors, four (4) planners added to two (2) lawyers to provide commercial and claims services to one of the major contractors in Doha on two (2) mega projects of Civil and MEP Engineering nature (Mesheireb Doha Land and Lusail Stadium). In this capacity, he oversees the following activities:
- review and/or preparation of the contractor’s correspondence;
- review, preparation and negotiations a of all the contractor’s variations and maintaining a variation log;
- identification of potential claims, preparation of all notices to claims and maintaining a claims’ notification log;
- representing the contractor in meetings with other contractors and/or sub-contractors, authorities and the employer;
- investigating all types of construction claims such as, but not limited to:
o denial of access to site;
o unforeseeable physical conditions;
o errors in the employer’s requirements;
o changes in scope of works;
o disruption;
o constructive acceleration of works;
o lack of performance;
o design errors and omissions;
o delayed approvals;
o defective or incomplete works;
o termination for convenience or for default and to examine and assemble the relevant documents in order to prove causation and entitlement thereof.
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He attends various meetings on behalf of the clients and provides invaluable project and contractual management advice.

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Moreover, he oversees some other smaller projects in UAE (claim preparation for a rail project in Abu Dhabi) and another claim preparation for a road project in Muscat.

The main responsibility was to provide contractual and claims advisory services to company’s clients by conducting the following:
 Analyzing risks and advising on how to transfer, mitigate or manage these risks;
 Managing contracts from start-to-end including claims’ analysis and dispute resolution;
 Streamlining processes to ensure efficiency and effectiveness;
 Drafting of policies & procedures;
 Preparing practical sourcing and packaging strategies;
 Benchmarking sourcing and contracting activities against international best business practices;
 Auditing and assessing performance of projects and sourcing activities;
 Preparing annual budgets (based on thorough analysis & future demand anticipations);
 Managing clients’ application of e-procurement, ISO management systems and the full automation and paperless working environment.
As the Head of contracts, Mr. Hammad was responsible for providing contractual and claims advisory services to a variety of projects of multi-disciplinary projects in the MENA region. Mr. Hammad was leading a team of professionals specialised in the preparation and review of the clients’ contractual claims. He used to advise the clients on the identification of potential claims, preparation of the claims notifications to client, responding to claims prepared by Clients’ counter parties, preparing pre-negotiation dossiers, etc. As the Head of contracts, part of Mr. Hammad’s role was to investigate causation and effect with regard to clients’ claims. He used to lead a team of contracts professionals to prepare Due Diligence Reports and review and contractual claims submitted by others and of course defend clients against these claims. He used to attend various meetings on behalf of clients. He also used to provide invaluable contractual advice and guidance throughout a project and coordinate, handle and represent clients’ interests in any contractual matters they might have encountered in a construction project.

Mr. Hammad has been working since June 2013 as a sub-consultant to another consultancy firm to assist them in their Qatar office. During this period, he has been:
Analyzing risks and advising on how to transfer, mitigate or manage these risks;
 Managing contracts from start-to-end including claims’ analysis and dispute resolution;
 Streamlining processes to ensure efficiency and effectiveness;
 Drafting of policies & procedures;
 Preparing practical sourcing and packaging strategies;
 Benchmarking sourcing and contracting activities against international best business practices;
 Auditing and assessing performance of projects and sourcing activities;
 Preparing annual budgets (based on thorough analysis & future demand anticipations);
 Managing clients’ application of e-procurement, ISO management systems and the full automation and paperless working environment.
As the Head of contracts, Mr. Hammad was responsible for providing contractual and claims advisory services to a variety of projects of multi-disciplinary projects in the MENA region. Mr. Hammad was leading a team of professionals specialised in the preparation and review of the clients’ contractual claims. He used to advise the clients on the identification of potential claims, preparation of the claims notifications to client, responding to claims prepared by Clients’ counter parties, preparing pre-negotiation dossiers, etc. As the Head of contracts, part of Mr. Hammad’s role was to investigate causation and effect with regard to clients’ claims. He used to lead a team of contracts professionals to prepare Due Diligence Reports and review and contractual claims submitted by others and of course defend clients against these claims. He used to attend various meetings on behalf of clients. He also provides invaluable contractual advice and guidance throughout a project and coordinates, handles and represents clients in any contractual matters they might have encountered in a construction project.

Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC), Abu Dhabi, UAE, Vice President - Corporate Procurement, May 2008 to-date.

Established the Procurement function (Contracts, Purchasing and Procurement Support & Planning) from scratch to procure the design and construction packages for the Khalifa Port and the 450 km2 Industrial Zone Portfolio which is initially budgeted at AED 35 Billion.

Prepared contracts and administered them later on for all the packages of the Shekh Khalifa Port and Industrial Zones Project. These packages included, without limitation, the following:
- concept and feasibility;
- master plan of the Khalifa Port and the Industrial Zone and all their relevant updates;
- dredging & reclamation of the port island;
- onshore and offshore buildings,
- bridges (longest and 3rd longest in UAE);
- road works for the onshore and offshore ports;
- infrastructure works (water, sewerage, etc.)
- centre facility Building;
- radars;
- harbor tugs and pilot boats;
- container handling equipment;
- marine navigational systems;
- substations;
- widening the old Musaffah Channel;
- the E11 intersection and flyover;
- more than forty contracts for the media campaigns conducted for the launch of the industrial zone(16), plus several detailed design and call-off engineering packages.

Reporting to the CEO and leading a team of twenty-three (23) professionals in Contracts, Purchasing and Procurement Support & Planning. In Parallel with the day-to-day procurement activities, I had taken the lead in establishing the procurement policies and procedures.

Leading a team from Finance, Treasury & Risk Management and Project Management, I managed to standardize the Company’s suite of contracts and templates based on the FIDIC Forms of Contracts and the agreed risk model of ADPC.

Successfully managed to get FIDIC’s approval of the Company’s Suite of Contracts.

After awarding all the Khalifa Port & Industrial Zones, started a series of development projects for the Western Region Ports (Mugharrag, Sir Bani Yas, etc).

The Supervision Committee for the Expansion of the Abu Dhabi International Airport (SCADIA), Abu Dhabi, UAE
Procurement Manager, May 2006 - May 2008.

Reporting to the Projects Director and leading a team of seven (7) professionals in Contracts and Purchasing, added to more than fourteen (14) contracts professionals on the PMC side, I established the Procurement Function and structured it on two (2) pillars (contracts and purchasing) to oversee all the Procurement activities within the first phase of the program budgeted at AED 10 Billion.

In parallel with the day-to-day work, and in liaison with a law firm and the PMC, we successfully managed to standardize the Contracts Templates of the entire Program. As a head of all Procurement Activities, my team and I had successfully procured all the design and construction packages for the R10 New Runway(1), Warehouses(2), T3(3), the Cargo Village(4), ICT master plan(5), Utilities master plan(6), Ground Handling Equipment(7), Fire Fighting Equipment(8), Baggage Handling System(9), Car Parking(10), Passenger Trolleys(11), the New Airport Tower (12) and Tower Equipment(13) design and construction packages for the renovation of T1(13), and several other feasibility, planning and organizations structuring packages for ADAC like the packages issued for the renovation of the Civil Aviation HQ building.
• Renovation of the T2 baggage handling system area.
• Renovation of the existing passengers’ areas.
• Renovation of the Al-Bateen Airbase airport and its runway.
• Administration of all the contracts from the kickoff till the close out.
• Another long list of small projects for Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC).

Purchasing Department, Government of Abu Dhabi, UAE
Principal Contracts Engineer, 1998 - May 2006.

The Purchasing Department was the Central Department (Ministry) responsible for procuring all project-related long lead items and all the operational related equipment for the entire Government of Abu Dhabi.

Reporting to the Director and leading a team of six (6) Contracts Engineers, I supervised all the International and Local tenders for all the Departments forming the Local Government of Abu Dhabi.
This included all the procurement activities for the entire Emirate of Abu Dhabi which included, among others, the Department of Public Works, Municipality, Sewerage & Water, Civil Defence, Police, Western Region, Agriculture, Civil Aviation, Seaports, Ministry of Health, Western Region, Forests, etc.

• Played a key role in restructuring and setting up of the Central Purchasing Department of the Government of Abu Dhabi including, without limitations, setting of the tendering policies, procedures, forms of contracts

• Procured all the equipment and long-lead items for the renovation and expansion programs for the Abu Dhabi International Airport, the seaports authority, the municipality, the department of public works, the forest department of Al-Ain Municipality, the Civil Defence, the Ministry of Health, and all the Departments belonging to the Local Government of Abu Dhabi. Used to administer contracts/ packages averaging between AED 2 and 10 Billion.

Ministry of Defence, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Senior Contracts Engineer, February 1992 - 1998.

 Reporting to the Projects Director and leading a team of three (3) Contracts Engineers.
 Prepared and administrated the Contracts for the MEP packages of the officers city in umm alnar(1), the officers club in Abu Dhabi(2) and several other projects of military nature.
 Prepared and administered maintenance contracts for the GHQ building.
 Maintenance contracts for a lot of other locations and remote military bases.

Al-Futtaim Contracting, Dubai, UAE
Contracts Engineer, 1990 - 1992.

 Prepared and administrated all the sub-contractors' packages and several real estate multi-story building packages.

Misr Consult, Cairo, Egypt
Design Engineer, Utilities and Infrastructure, 1988 to 1990

 Working as design Engineer, responsible for design of potable water, sewerage, storm water networks, underground water drainage works, pumping stations and pipelines.
 Participated in New Qaser Al Ainy Hospital (Cairo Egypt) (1), Women campus in King Abdul Aziz University - (Kingdom Saudia Arabia) (2) and Sanitary and drainage works for Golden Five Tourism Village (Hurgada - Egypt) (3) .