Contracting During and After COVID-19

In early 2020 when the pandemic first hit and shutdowns followed, companies everywhere, including those in the construction industry, pulled out their contract forms to see what sort of rights and responsibilities they had to deal with the pandemic. Many articles have been written about evaluating current contracts to find potential help. Now that we have moved past the initial impacts on existing contracts, we need to figure out how to address ongoing impacts in new contracts. This necessitates a careful review of go-to forms in light of this new reality. COVID-19 should be handled in a separate contract provision with separate rules and responsibilities specific to COVID-19.