Steve,
I agree its a good provision to have in the contract and, as with many provisions, it was likely borne of past litigation or claims. My terms and conditions include a lot of things I’ll never need on most projects, but they are there…just in case.
Do you know of any projects on which that provision was stricken? It’s a good provision for the design professional and the owner (in this case the public), but not so much for the contractor.
Ron