You've received pretty good advice, especially those recommending you see an attorney that specializes in this area in your state. I realize that the employer that contracted you to do this evaluation probably was upset or at least dissappointed with the contractor's results so far and was looking for a way 'out' of the contract since he hired you to begin with--either that or least backing to insist that the contractor start meeting the requirements of the contract. While you may agree with the employer and ethically want to state that the contractor was not meeting the requirements of the contract (is that actually true?) I would only make an evaluation as to the problems incurred so far and what would need to be done for the contractor to improve and meet the contractural requirements rather than recommending the contract be dumped entirely. I am especially concerned that the employer left the final say up to you - is he hoping to use you as a scapegoat so that you can be sued but not him? I wonder...


>Hi everyone!
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>I was recently hired to make an evaluation on the status of a software project to help my client determine whether he should go into damage-control mode or not.
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>The contractor who did the design of the project is also acting as project manager and has hired several people (including himself) to develop the system.
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>After spending two weeks looking at things from every possible angle, I have recommended that the project be aborted as it is. I based my opinion on what I consider to be an inapropriate hardware platform, choice of a legacy language that's not appropriate for a NEW application, project manager's lack of management, and the fact that the only part of the application (20% of it) that has been developed lacks a number of very basic features, has a very large number of bugs, and has taken an inordinate amount of time to complete.
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>A few days ago I sat in a meeting with the consultant and my client and after the consultant asked for another opportunity to sit down with everybody (including the client) to try to get the project back on track, my client agreed, but stated that since I'm more qualified than himself, the decision to continue or not would be mine.
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>There is a huge amount of money at stake here, some has been already paid to the contractors, and half has been billed but not paid.
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>Now, if I say that the project is to be abandoned entirely, my client will probably not want to pay the balance that he owes. The best possible outcome under this scenario is that everyone walks licking their wounds. The worst case would be lawsuits.
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>What do you people think would be my exposure in this case?
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>Thanks!
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>Alex