'Trust, but verify'

Another interesting quote which appears to have been was originally said by Russians as one of their proverbs. It was later made famous by Ronald Reagan, who used it in his dealings with the Soviet Union.

So what is the relevance to NEC3 Contracts? Clause 10.1 of NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) gives an obligation of those parties named to act in a spirit of mutual 'trust'. When it comes to using eg Option C, when the Project Manager decides how much auditing of Contractor's Defined Cost should take place and when, I wonder how much more emphasis we put on the word 'verify' rather than the word 'trust'? Surely we should expect the Contractor by and large to only put forward Defined Cost in accordance with the contract, save the odd error of course. If the Contractor doesn't, there are really significant trust issues at stake. So, do we get the balance of these matters right in practice?

I was going to say something about phone/email bugging, but I won't as this is a highly professional discussion board....