Recording a revised delivery date under a transformer supply contract

We supported a specialist electrical equipment manufacturer when its customer requested delivery several weeks after the date stated in a transformer supply order. The order was worth around £1 million and carried separate delay provisions for delivery and commissioning. We reviewed the contractual position and prepared focused correspondence that recorded the customer’s revised requirement while maintaining a constructive approach to completing the work.

Background

The appointment concerned a transformer supplied under a bespoke framework and call-off order. The scope extended beyond manufacture to delivery, installation, assembly, testing and commissioning, with different obligations attached to those stages.

The customer confirmed a required delivery date around five weeks later than the date recorded in the call-off. The manufacturer was willing to accommodate the request, but needed to consider how that revised requirement sat alongside its exposure for late delivery and late commissioning. A practical response also had to take account of the continuing customer relationship.

Our approach

We examined the call-off requirements alongside the underlying framework and the correspondence about the delivery date. This allowed us to distinguish the date the customer now wanted from the milestones and responsibilities recorded in the contract.

Delivery and commissioning needed to be considered together. Agreeing to a later delivery request did not, by itself, explain how the resulting effects on commissioning would be treated. We identified the importance of recording both consequences rather than addressing the delivery date in isolation.

Our advice was careful about the protection that correspondence could provide. The available contractual provisions did not offer a straightforward extension of time route for this situation. A letter could record the revised instruction and the manufacturer’s position on responsibility, but could not guarantee that damages would not be deducted or establish an agreed adjustment to the contractual dates.

We worked through revisions of a short letter that confirmed the manufacturer’s willingness to deliver on the requested date and set out its position on the associated delivery and commissioning consequences. The wording kept that reservation within a positive commitment to complete the supply.

We also advised on how to communicate the letter. A short explanation to the customer could place the written record in context and help maintain constructive discussions. The purpose was to make the position clear while recognising that the parties still needed to work together.

Outcome

The client received a focused contractual assessment and a letter tailored to the actual delivery issue. It had a clear written account of the revised requirement and the position it wished to preserve, together with an explanation of the limits of that approach.

This was a targeted piece of commercial advice: turning a change in delivery arrangements into a documented position that the client could communicate and manage. The value was a proportionate response to a live issue, with the commercial relationship and the contractual exposure considered together.