It's a $25.7m contract champ. I'm sure both would have sought...

It's a $25.7m contract champ.
I'm sure both would have sought legal advice to understand how to best handle and incorporate the issues on variations etc into the contract T&C's.

Without speculating on the details of the contract, which neither you nor I would have any meaningful input or knowledge to talk about, most people would conclude the contingency amount factored into the costing would cater for the potential issues you talk about!