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Project Management vocabulary · Budget & Cost

Contingency

Meaning in project management, with examples

/kənˈtɪndʒənsi/nounCommon term

In project management, contingency means: Extra money or time added to a project plan to cover known risks and unexpected problems.

In Turkish: yedek pay, beklenmedik durum payı, ihtiyat payı

How it is used

Often written as a percentage of the budget. Teams add, include, use or release contingency. A contingency plan is a different thing: a backup plan to follow if a specific risk happens.

Example sentences

  1. We've included a 10% contingency in the budget because of the uncertain ground conditions.

  2. Half of the schedule contingency has already been used, and we're only in month three.

Common collocations

  • contingency budget
  • contingency reserve
  • contingency plan
  • build in contingency
  • budgetThe total amount of money approved for a project, usually broken down into costs such as staff, equipment, suppliers and a reserve for surprises.
  • riskAn uncertain event that has not happened yet but could affect the project's time, cost, quality or scope if it does.
  • bufferExtra time added to a schedule, or extra money or capacity kept aside, to absorb delays and surprises without missing the final date.
  • mitigateTo take action that makes a risk less likely to happen, or makes its effect smaller if it does happen.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Budget & Cost

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