Special Conditions of Contract (SCC)

The Special Conditions of Contract (SCC) is the section of a tender document that adds or modifies the standard provisions of the General Conditions of Contract (GCC) for a specific project or procurement. Where the SCC and GCC conflict, the SCC prevails. This hierarchy allows procuring entities to maintain a stable, legally tested standard contract framework (the GCC) while customising specific terms for individual projects without rewriting the entire contract each time.

What is the SCC in government procurement?

Every tender document from a major government procuring organisation includes a GCC that applies uniformly to all its contracts. The SCC is the project-specific layer that customises this standard framework. Typical SCC provisions address the specific contract period, any project-specific performance standards that supplement the GCC's general requirements, site-specific conditions such as restricted working hours or environmental protection requirements, special payment terms like advance payment provisions, specific insurance coverage requirements, and any waivers or additions to the standard dispute resolution mechanism.

SCC provisions might also define specific milestones and milestone-linked payments not covered in the GCC's standard RA bill framework, seasonal restrictions on work (monsoon shutdowns for road projects, hot weather restrictions for concrete in desert locations), requirements for specific quality certifications for the project, or third-party inspection and testing requirements.

In consultancy RFPs, the SCC equivalent is often called Special Conditions or Particular Conditions and typically specifies the specific deliverables, reporting schedule, meeting cadence, and language requirements for the assignment, supplementing the standard terms about payment and intellectual property.

The SCC is read together with the GCC, not as a replacement. A bidder who reads only the SCC without the GCC misses the full contract obligations. The discipline is to read both documents together, noting which GCC provisions the SCC overrides and which apply unchanged.

Why it matters for bidders

The SCC is where project-specific risks are often hidden. A standard GCC might provide 30 days for payment, but an SCC might specify that payment is linked to a higher-level administrative approval that adds weeks to the process. A standard GCC might allow claims for hindrance during monsoon, but an SCC might exclude monsoon delays from time extension eligibility for that specific project. These deviations from the standard are legally binding and directly affect the contractor's risk and cash flow planning.

Careful reading of the SCC during the bid evaluation phase, not after contract signature, is essential. If an SCC provision appears commercially unreasonable, the pre-bid meeting is the appropriate forum to raise it and seek clarification or amendment.

Example

A water department issues a pipeline installation contract using its standard GCC. The SCC for this specific project adds the following modifications: the contract period is 18 months (GCC has no standard period, it is project-specific); working in the project area is restricted between July 15 and September 15 due to the monsoon, and this period is automatically deducted from the contract period (a project-specific provision protecting the contractor from LD claims during monsoon); environmental sensitivity of the water source area requires zero-discharge practices during construction, with specific testing and certification; and payment of each RA bill requires a third-party quality certifier's signature alongside the department engineer's measurement. All four are SCC provisions that override or supplement the standard GCC clauses.