Contractor invoice validation that pays for the work done in the field, at the contracted rate, and holds the rest with proof
Pay for the work done, at the contracted rate.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Contractor invoice validation means checking each line a contractor bills against two things: the rate in the signed contract and the work actually done in the field. Civils firms dig trenches and joint bays, line contractors rebuild overhead circuits, tree contractors clear spans, metering firms exchange meters, and each bills monthly against a schedule of rates: by the metre, the item, the hour and the plant day. The contract administrator has the rate in a contract PDF, the quantity on the invoice, and the evidence spread across the field app, the plant hire portal and a scanned handwritten daily report.
So the rate gets checked and the quantity does not. Nobody measures the trench. Contractors bill to the design length, and a route shortened in the field never reaches the invoice. The same patterns come back: plant billed for days after it was off-hired, overtime without a signed timesheet, handling above the contract cap, night uplifts without a written instruction, the same week billed on two invoices. Costs that cannot be traced to source documents are also what a regulator questions in a storm or capital cost review.
Estimated split for one monthly civils invoice of about 16 lines, in minutes, by hand and with the solution. By hand, the field quantities are mostly taken on trust.
Seven specialist agents tie every invoice line to its rate and its field evidence; the contract administrator decides.
Brackwater Civils builds the Elm Vale Road LV reinforcement for Lumina Utilities under the Network Civils Framework, Lot 2. On Tue 13 Oct 2026 at 06:42 its September invoice arrives through the supplier portal: 16 lines, $204,436.00 before tax. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Leah checks 60-plus contractor invoices a month across four frameworks. BWC-2609-0418 opens on three columns: what the contract says, what the invoice claims and what the field shows, with each line wired to its rate on the left and its evidence on the right. Nine lines are matched, two are queried and five are held. Payable today: $178,879.00.
“I can check the rate. I can't check the 480 metres.” — Leah Brennan
The invoice reader takes the PDF from the supplier portal: 16 lines, totals agree, period September 2026. The rate checker maps every line to schedule of rates v3 and finds the clause 14.3 cap broken on line 10 and the clause 9.2 condition unmet on line 13. The field report reader adds up four handwritten site reports, 96 + 104 + 112 + 98 = 410 m. The duplicate and period checker compares nine earlier Brackwater invoices and finds line 3 already paid in August.
“Leah Brennan decides · 9 lines ready to approve · nothing is paid or sent until she does”
Brackwater billed 480 m of footway trench at $186.50, the length of design rev B. Rev C, issued 3 Sep, stops the run at joint bay JB3 outside no. 41. The GPS as-laid survey measures 409.6 m from 164 points, the excavator track 411.2 m, and the crew's four daily reports 410 m. With a tolerance of 2% or 5 m, the most that can be paid is 418.2 m. The proposal: pay 410 m, $76,465.00, and short-pay 70 m, $13,055.00.
From the crew's own report of 10 Sep: “Route ends at JB3 per rev C.”
The 14 t excavator with operator is billed for 6 days at $1,240.00. Quarrell Plant Hire's telematics show 7.6, 8.2, 7.9 and 6.8 engine hours from 7 to 10 Sep, then 0.0 hours at the depot on 11 and 14 Sep. The machine was off-hired on 10 Sep at 18:10, and the foreman wrote “Ex 14t off hire 18:00”. Two days, $2,480.00, are held.
The ducts follow the trench: 2 × 410 m = 820 m, so 140 m of duct on line 6 is held too, $1,988.00.
Clause 9.2 pays the night working uplift only where the Employer has instructed it in writing before the shift. No instruction is on file, and road permit RP-26-3318 allows working hours of 09:30–15:30 only, so three shifts, $3,540.00, are queried. On line 12, three weekly sheets are signed for 38 of the 46 overtime hours; the 8 hours on Sat 12 Sep have no signature, so $1,056.00 is queried.
On line 12: “ask Brackwater for the signed sheet, or Samir to confirm.”
Leah accepts the proposals: 9 lines approved, 5 short-paid ($20,961.00) and 2 queried ($4,596.00). Each line now carries its decision, and line 4 reads “Short-paid by Leah Brennan · $13,055.00 to the notice”, with Undo beside it. She could query line 4 instead, or pay any line as billed with a reason that goes to the audit trail.
16 of 16 lines decided · payable after decisions $178,879.00 · AP run Thu 15 Oct · paid 12 Nov on 30-day terms.
The query writer has drafted the payment notice under clause 22.4, addressed to Gareth Pell, Brackwater's commercial manager. Each of the seven disputed lines lists the evidence attached: the paid August invoice and the road permit, the GPS survey, excavator telematics, daily field report and design revision C, the contract and the supplier invoices, the timesheets. Leah reads it and sends it at 07:20.
“Undisputed amount $178,879.00 is released to AP today and paid on 12 Nov.”
Gareth replies in the supplier portal: “Lines 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10: agreed, credit note to follow. Line 12: signed sheet for Sat 12 Sep attached. Line 13: withdrawn, the night shifts were our choice.” The query writer reads the reply: $24,501.00 agreed, and the signed sheet for line 12 matches Samir Haddad's diary. Releasing the $1,056.00 waits for Leah's approval.
“If you're short-paying, show me the measurement.” — Gareth Pell, before the notice
The recovered-overbilling ledger now stands at $833,401 stopped before payment this year, 2.00% of contractor invoice value, with $20,961.00 added today from Brackwater. By cause, quantities over field evidence lead at $333,303, then labour hours and plant days. Each entry opens its evidence, for internal audit's quarterly sample and the report to the board.
“Show me the evidence behind every dollar we stopped — and every one we paid.” — Victor Lindqvist
Brackwater's billing record shows the share of each invoice payable without a query or a hold: 98.4% in July, 94.1% in August, 87.5% in September, against a target of 98%. Trench billed to the design length rather than as-laid has happened three times: Hallam Way 22 m in June, Ferris Lane 31 m in August, Elm Vale Road 70 m in September. Below 95%, the contract manager raises it at the quarterly review.
Patterns that recur: handling on materials at 15%, cap 8% — August and September invoices.
The same invoice, seen by the five people who answer for it — what their month looked like, and what it looks like now.
Seven specialist agents tie every invoice line to its rate and its field evidence; the contract administrator decides.
Reads each contractor invoice from the supplier portal or email: every line with its description, quantity, unit, rate, amount and work order, the markups and the period. Checks the arithmetic and the totals.
Maps every line to its schedule-of-rates item and clause in the contract version in force for the period, and checks the rate, the unit, handling caps and the conditions on night, weekend and standing-time uplifts.
Measures each billed quantity from the field evidence: the GPS as-laid survey, the excavator's telematics track, the current design revision, as-builts, photos and the daily reports, and compares it with the billed quantity and the tolerance.
Reads scanned daily site reports and timesheets, handwritten included, and transcribes chainages, metres, plant on site, crew and hours.
Ties plant days to hire logs and telematics, and labour hours to signed timesheets, applying the contract's overtime and standing-time rules.
Compares every line with the contractor's paid and pending invoices, three years back, and with the billing period, to find the same item billed for the same week twice.
Drafts the short-pay and query notice under clause 22.4, each disputed line with its measurement, clause and evidence attached, and reads the contractor's reply when it comes back through the supplier portal.
Decides every line, sends every notice. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about any invoice, line, rate or contractor — or say what to approve, short-pay or query. Nothing is paid or sent until the contract administrator decides.
Why is line 4 held?
Brackwater billed 480 m of footway trench, the length of the old design, rev B. Rev C stops at JB3 outside no. 41. The GPS as-laid survey measures 409.6 m, the excavator track 411.2 m, and the crew's own report says “Route ends at JB3 per rev C”. Tolerance is 418.2 m, so the proposal is to pay 410 m and short-pay 70 m, $13,055.00.
Accept the proposals on the Brackwater invoice
Done: 9 lines approved, 5 short-paid ($20,961.00) and 2 queried ($4,596.00). Each short-pay carries its evidence: the survey, the telematics, the August invoice and clause 14.3. $178,879.00 is ready for AP. The notice is not sent until you send it.
Has Brackwater billed to the design length before?
Yes, twice this year. Hallam Way in June, 22 m over the as-laid survey, and Ferris Lane in August, 31 m over, settled by credit note. Elm Vale Road makes it three. Their value matched first time fell from 98.4% in July to 87.5% in September.
What have we stopped this year, and why?
$812,440 stopped before payment on $41.6M of contractor invoices, 1.95%. The largest cause is quantities billed over the field evidence, $318,260, then labour hours $196,410 and plant days $142,380. Every entry links to its evidence for internal audit.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Tolerances, the evidence each line type needs and who decides are settings, chosen by contract management and kept as versions.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Measured quantities | 2% or 5 m, whichever is greater | 1% or 2 m · 2% or 5 m · 5% or 10 m |
| Plant days | Must match telematics or the hire log | Telematics or hire log · Hire log only |
| Overtime | Signed timesheet, 0 h tolerance | 0 h · 2 h a week |
| Duplicates | Same item, same week, any earlier invoice | Any earlier invoice · Last 12 months |
| Field supervisor asked when confidence is below | 0.85 | 0.75 · 0.85 · 0.95 |
| Evidence each line type needs | Trench and duct: GPS as-laid survey or as-built drawing | Required or optional per line type — reinstatement: highway inspection sheet · spoil: tip tickets · plant: telematics or hire log · overtime and uplifts: signed sheet, written instruction · joint bay photos: optional |
| Approve, short-pay, query | Contract administrator, up to $250,000 an invoice | Above $250,000 the head of contract management countersigns |
| Pay as billed over $5,000 | Needs a second approver and a reason | The reason goes to the audit trail |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate of how an invoice's review minutes split · “typical” = published figures (Daily Reporter/BridgeTower, construction audits: owners typically recover 0.5–3% by enforcing their contracts; a utility's DistribuTECH presentation: more than 400 contractor invoices a month at 10–20 minutes each, vendor-reported). Regulatory context: Florida PSC storm cost audits trace contractor costs to source documents. Lumina Utilities, Brackwater Civils and every person, contractor, street, scheme and record named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
It is the check that each line a contractor bills matches the rate in the signed contract and the work done in the field. Contractor Invoice Validation does it on every invoice the morning it arrives: seven agents tie each line to its rate and its field evidence, and the contract administrator approves, short-pays or queries.
The invoice reader takes the invoice from the supplier portal or email. The rate checker maps each line to the schedule of rates and clauses; the field quantity checker, field report reader and plant and labour reconciler check quantities, hours and plant days against the field records; the duplicate and period checker looks for lines already paid. The query writer drafts the notice, and a person decides and sends it.
It measures from field evidence, never from the design alone: the GPS as-laid survey, the excavator's telematics track, the current design revision and the crew's daily reports. In the sample case 480 m of trench was billed to an old design; the survey, the track and the reports all gave 410 m, so 70 m was short-paid.
Yes. The field report reader reads scanned daily site reports and timesheets, handwritten included, quotes the sentence behind every figure it uses and says when a word is unclear. Below 0.85 confidence the field supervisor is asked to confirm.
Yes. The sample invoice shows each: a traffic management week already paid on the August invoice, two excavator days after the off-hire, handling at 15% against a contract cap of 8%, overtime without a signed sheet and a night uplift without a written instruction.
No. Only the disputed amount is held. The undisputed lines are released to accounts payable the day the invoice is decided and paid on the contract's terms, and the contractor gets a notice that shows the measurement, the clause and the evidence for every line held.
Yes. The agents propose and never change the contractor's invoice, a timesheet or a hire record. The contract administrator decides every line, a person sends every notice, larger invoices need a countersignature, and paying a line as billed over $5,000 needs a reason and a second approver.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your framework contracts and schedules of rates, your evidence rules and a sample of past invoices with their field records — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own invoices first.
Every bid levelled to the same scope, so a hidden exclusion never wins the award.
1-min demoContract Obligation ManagementEvery penalty owed claimed inside its window, and no renewal missed.
1-min demoLong-Lead Equipment ExpeditingSee the 128-week transformer slipping before the project does.
1-min demoWe'll run Contractor Invoice Validation on a sample of your own paid contractor invoices and their field records.