The Critical Path Screen · by Carrington

A contractor can look compliant on paper and still stop your turnaround.

A contractor's industrial risk is not an HR problem. It is a risk to your schedule. The Critical Path Screen checks your shortlisted tenderers before you award. It looks at the award or agreement they've named, their licensing, whether they can actually recruit and mobilise the crew they've promised and the subcontract chain the declaration hides. You send the returned tender. Within three business days per contractor you get a one-page verdict, written to drop straight into your evaluation record.

Critical Path Screen
Shortlisted contractor
Pass with recommendations
Instrument. Award cited by its old name, no classification nominated.
Labour hire. Supply one layer down, licence unverified in a licensing state.
Mobilisation. Can recruit the crew they've promised.
Evidence appendix · verified against source · 3 business days
25 years IR & ER practice Mining, construction & manufacturing Owner side only, conflict-checked 3 business days per contractor
What lands on your desk

One page per contractor. Findings first, evidence behind.

The result and the findings up front, each gap carrying a recommendation. An evidence appendix behind them showing what was checked and against which source. Written to sit in your evaluation record as it is, not to be reworked.

Carrington Workforce RiskRESULT · PASS WITH RECS
Finding 1. Instrument nominated by old title. Recommend the current award and classification be confirmed before award.
Finding 2. Labour-hire licence not evidenced. Recommend the register be checked for the supplying entity.
Finding 3. They've promised more crew than they've mobilised before. Recommend they show how they'll recruit and mobilise it.
Evidence appendix · what was verified, what could not be and the source for each.
I act for the owner side only, never the tenderers I screen. Independent and conflict-checked for every engagement so the assessment is yours alone.
Twenty-five years of industrial and employee relations across mining, construction and manufacturing.
Ryan Carrington, Principal
This is commercial risk screening to inform your procurement decision. It is not legal advice. Where a matter needs a lawyer, the assessment says so and points you there rather than opining.
Free briefing

The Workforce Risk Briefing

Recent industrial decisions that change how you award contracts, hire and pay. Each explained plainly, with the one thing to check on your side. Issue 01 covers the BHP same job same pay ruling, the Victorian labour hire licensing penalties and the Woolworths salaried pay decision.

Download Issue 01
PDF. No signup. One page a decision.
Engagement

Fixed fee, fast and the first scan is free.

From $1,200
Fixed fee per contractor
3 days
Per contractor from intake
30 min
Walkthrough call included
Free
First scan of a shortlist
The first scan is free

Send me your shortlist and the scope.

I will spend twenty minutes on it and tell you which one or two I would look hardest at and why. That first scan is free.

Email Ryan
Award classification and salary tools

Turn a role into a salary that clears the award.

A separate set of live award tools for HR, payroll and bookkeeping teams. Place a role on the right level, then annualise it into a weekly and annual salary that clears the award across the whole roster, with penalties and loadings counted. Rates live from the Fair Work pay database.

See the award tools and pricing →

Open the award tools
or see the EA review →