***We will update this webpage soon as a result of the December 2014 changes to the legislation. In the meantime, please seek advice about the changes to the legislation.***

The BCIPA Adjudication Process

If you aren’t satisfied with the reasons given on the payment schedule, and/or you are not paid by the due date for payment, you can apply to have an independent adjudicator review the claim.

To do this, you lodge an application with an Authorised Nominating Authority (“ANA”) who appoints an independent adjudicator.  You can find a list of ANA’s on the Government’s BCIPA website.

You need to serve an adjudication application on the person owing you money to allow them to provide anadjudication response. This is the person on whom you served the payment claim.

What does the adjudicator do?

The adjudicator will review your payment claim, the adjudication application, the payment schedule and the adjudication response and make a decision.  Sometimes the adjudicator asks for further submissions from the parties in very short time frames, and you must provide them to the adjudicator and the other party.

This decision is binding on both parties and the person owing you money will need pay within 5 days of receiving the decision.  If they do not pay within this time frame, you can approach the ANA for an adjudication certificate and take this to the correct Court for the amount of the decision with affidavit material to register the decision as a Court judgment.

There are strict timelines under BCIPA that all parties must comply with including adjudicators.  It is a rapid dispute resolution process and it’s vital that your information is presented clearly.

For more information on the adjudication process and how to best present your information download our free BCIPA guide.