Tempo Services Ltd v State of New South Wales (Commercial Services Group)

Tempo Services Ltd (the appellant) appealed to the New South Wales Court of Appeal against a decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The dispute concerned the interpretation of a contract for the provision of cleaning and maintenance services to government buildings. The appellant contended that the respondent, the State of New South Wales (Commercial Services Group), had breached the contract by failing to pay for certain services rendered.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the respondent was contractually obliged to pay for services that were not explicitly requested or authorised in writing, but which the appellant argued were necessarily implied by the terms of the contract or were otherwise reasonably required to fulfil the appellant's obligations. The court also had to consider the proper interpretation of clauses within the contract that dealt with variations and additional services.

The Court of Appeal, in its reasoning, focused on the express terms of the contract. It held that the contract required written authorisation for any additional services or variations to the scope of work. The court found that the appellant had not provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate that such written authorisation had been given or that the respondent had waived this requirement. Therefore, the court concluded that the respondent was not contractually bound to pay for the services in question, as they fell outside the agreed scope of work and the contractual mechanism for authorising additional services had not been followed. The appeal was dismissed.