On site
He began on site, as a civil engineer with Kajima India on an industrial infrastructure project in Ahmedabad, where he measured work against the drawings, prepared schedules and handled project correspondence.
About Ayush Srivastava: Drawings, numbers and clauses, read as one
Ayush Srivastava works on the contracts, claims and disputes behind large infrastructure projects. He has spent most of his career on the commercial and contractual side of the work: for contractors, for project owners through the global consultancies that act for them, and for government.
At a glance
- Sectors
- Airports, highways, metro and rail, power transmission, oil and gas, buildings, industrial and commercial
- Contracts
- EPC, FIDIC, lump-sum and item-rate contracts; concession agreements; subcontracts; consultancy and PMC agreements
- Forums
- Negotiation, dispute boards, adjudication, arbitration and the courts
- Clients
- Central and state government, autonomous bodies and multinational organisations
Background
Owner’s side
He then moved to the contract side, and to the owner’s side of the table. At Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, with Turner International, he examined contractors’ claims for certification, assessed extensions of time, forecast costs and cash flow, and supported pre-contract and post-contract work on Turner’s projects in the United States. On the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, with Oriental Consultants India, he worked at the employer’s head office on FIDIC-based contracts, from determinations of time and cost to submissions before Dispute Adjudication Boards. In Goa, with AECOM, he drafted bid documents and conditions of contract for smart city works, supported bid evaluation, and managed claims, change orders and disputes on high-value contracts.
Government
At EY, he advised the Office of the Development Commissioner (MSME), Government of India, on a World Bank-funded programme to set up fifteen technology centres across the country. He managed contract administration and disputes on the programme, and led the preparation of claims, counterclaims and pleadings in arbitration and adjudication, working with the Government’s standing counsel.
Contractor’s side
In his present role, he supports tendering, handles arbitration and litigation across business units, and oversees contracts before and after award. He advises senior management on contractual risk and what it means for project profitability.
How he works
Having assessed claims on behalf of owners and government, and now pursuing and defending them for a contractor, he reads the drawings, the numbers and the clauses of a contract together: what the design requires, what a change will cost, who carries the risk and when notice is due, and what the record will have to prove if the matter is ever tested. Where an issue can be settled by negotiation while the work is still running, that is where he starts. Where it cannot, he prepares it for adjudication, arbitration or the courts.
Training
His qualifications, listed below, cover all three: engineering for the drawings, quantity surveying and finance for the numbers, and contract management, dispute resolution and law for the clauses.
Writing and interests
He writes on contract administration, claims and arbitration, and has co-written a forthcoming book, From Contract to Courtroom: How Public Infrastructure Disputes Arise, Escalate and Endure in India. He is based in Noida, and outside work he enjoys travelling and chess.
Education
Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Uttar Pradesh
Post Graduate Programme in Quantity Surveying and Contract Management
National Institute of Construction Management and Research (NICMAR)
Master of Business Administration, Financial and Project Management
Integral University, Lucknow
Advanced Diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution
NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad
Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.)
Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut