Hi Sabreen,
I hope I’m understanding your question fully. If you can reference where you came across this question, I could possibly better review the context of how your question arose. Owner Conditions included in an ‘offer’ are the Owner’s list of promises that they want to the other party to keep. If the other party (contractor) accepts the offer by signing a contract, they have formally agreed to intend to honor and keep those promises. If they state in the contract that certain conditions are excepted (taken out), the Owner must agree that that certain conditions are to be removed. Following the negotiation of what’s in and what’s out, the final version that contains all that can be agreed to by both parties is formalized by signatures.
In my experience, the architect may assist the owner with setting and developing the terms of the general conditions, but does not have responsibility for verifying that previous unsigned documents have been accepted by the parties. Additions" and “omission” are commonly made to general conditions, but they don’t apply until the contract is executed. In dispute resolution, what counts is the signed contract. "
A contract between the Owner and the General Contractor is binding when it has been “executed,” meaning signed, sealed, and witnessed. The ‘executed contract’ typically ‘adopts by reference’ the drawings, specifications, and other written information referenced in the A201.
In a dispute resolution, when the Architect is acting as Initial Decision Maker, he/she will review the claims in accordance only with the Executed Contract. If there is no executed contract, the parties have not established ‘the ground rules’ for their business.
Are you conceiving a situation where the Architect is acting as an IDM in a dispute resolution prior to a contract being executed? If this is the case, the Architect would not have the role of an IDM since the two parties had not formally agreed to the A201 stipulation that the Architect is the IDM. (It could be agreed that another party is an IDM). Here’s a link: https://help.aiacontracts.org/summary-a201-2007/ that may be useful.
-CoachGlenn