The system treats every package as an independent line item. Contractors file their milestone evidence through separate portals, and the commercial team certifies payment within days because the dashboard turns green.
No one forces a joint walk-through of the handover points until the next package arrives on site. By then the earlier contractor has demobilised and the variation claims start arriving.
Project controls staff keep telling the board that earned-value curves look healthy. The curves only track what each contractor declared; they never test whether the declared outputs actually connect.
Alliance agreements still list interface milestones as shared obligations, yet the PMO tool has no field that requires dual sign-off before funds move. The result is cash out the door while physical clashes remain hidden.
Mid-tier contractors have learned the pattern. They sequence their most visible work first, upload the photos, collect the tranche, and leave the awkward connections for the next team to discover under time pressure.
When commissioning crews finally reach the site the defects sit in the concrete and steel, not in any spreadsheet. The owner pays twice: once for the original claim and again for the rework.
Fix the trigger. Require documented interface verification by the incoming package owner before any prior claim can be certified. The dashboard colour should stay amber until that second signature exists.