Project Management

Construction Law, Contract Administration, Project Management

Telling a Contractor to Speed Up: The Instruction Employers Keep Getting Wrong

By Dr Samer Skaik

A project falls behind. The Employer becomes anxious. Somebody suggests that the Engineer should instruct the Contractor to accelerate, and a letter goes out.

What happens next depends entirely on a distinction that is rarely drawn at the time the letter is written, and the cost of getting it wrong runs in both directions. I have seen Employers believe they had purchased acceleration when they had bought nothing at all, and I have seen Contractors treat a routine progress instruction as a blank cheque and spend accordingly.

The provision at the centre of this is Sub-Clause 8.6 in the 1999 editions, renumbered 8.7 in 2017. It is worth being precise about what it does, because it is almost the opposite of what people assume. …

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Construction Law, Contract Administration, Dispute Boards, Project Management

What Does a Dispute Board Actually Cost? A Straight Answer for Public Employers

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By Dr Samer Skaik

Of all the questions I get asked by public sector clients, this is the one that arrives most often by private message rather than in the meeting.

People are slightly embarrassed to ask it. There is a sense that enquiring about the cost of a dispute mechanism is somehow unserious, or that it reveals you have not read something you should have read. So the question gets asked quietly, usually after the formal session has ended, and it is almost always phrased the same way: what does one of these actually cost us?

It is an entirely reasonable question and I wish more people asked it earlier and out loud. A project manager who cannot answer it cannot get the budget line approved, and a budget line that is not approved is one of the most common reasons a board never gets appointed at all. So let me try to answer it plainly. …

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Construction Law, Contract Administration, Dispute Boards, Project Management

When the Banks moved onto FIDIC 2017: What Public Employers Inherited With the New Contract

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By Dr Samer Skaik

A few years ago I sat in a workshop with the contract management team of a national roads agency. They were good at their jobs. Several of them had been administering donor-funded works contracts for well over a decade, and between them they had probably handled more claims than some law firms see in a generation.

About an hour in, one of the senior engineers said something that stopped the room. He said: we have been running this contract the way we ran the last four, and I am starting to think it is not the same contract.

He was right. It was not. …

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Construction Law, Contract Administration, Dispute Boards, Project Management

The Programme Nobody Agreed To: Sub-Clause 8.3 and What Silence Actually Means

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By Dr Samer Skaik

Ask three people on a FIDIC project what status the programme has, and you will usually get three answers.

The planner thinks it is a management tool. The contractor’s commercial manager thinks it is the baseline against which every delay claim will eventually be measured. And the Engineer, if pressed, will often say that it was never approved, which is a curious thing to say about a document the whole project has been working to for two years.

All three are partly right, and the confusion is not their fault. Sub-Clause 8.3 is one of the shortest provisions in the contract carrying one of the heaviest practical loads, and it does not answer the question everyone actually wants answered: is this thing binding? …

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Construction Law, Contract Administration, Dispute Boards, Project Management

The First Four Weeks: How Public Infrastructure Employers Set a Project Up to Avoid Disputes

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By Dr Samer Skaik

The call usually comes about eighteen months in.

Someone from an implementing agency, often a project manager who has inherited the file from a predecessor, explains that things have gone badly wrong. The ground turned out differently from the investigation report. The utility diversions never happened. The contractor has submitted a claim with a number in it large enough that it has now been seen by people several floors above the project office. And somewhere in the conversation comes the question I have learned to brace for: we think the contract requires us to have a dispute board — how quickly can one be set up? …

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Construction Law, Contract Administration, Dispute Boards, Project Management

Parties’ Strategies for Selecting High-Performance Dispute Boards

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In construction projects, the effectiveness of a Dispute Adjudicaiton Board (DB)—or Dispute Avoidance & Adjudication Board (DAAB)—is often determined long before the first project site meeting takes place. The process of appointing board members is a critical phase, acting as the foundation for how effectively a project will manage disagreements and maintain progress.

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Construction Law, Contract Administration, Dispute Boards, Project Management

How to nominate a dispute board member (DAAB) under FIDIC contracts?

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Disputes are almost a given in international construction projects. That’s why the FIDIC contracts include a smart system for resolving them quickly and fairly through Dispute Avoidance/Adjudication Boards, or DAABs. One of the most talked-about resources in this area is the FIDIC President’s List of Approved Dispute Adjudicators — basically a go-to directory of well-respected experts.

If you’re an employer, contractor, engineer, or legal advisor working on FIDIC-based projects, knowing how this list works — and how flexible the appointment process really is — can save you a lot of time, money, and headaches. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the key points in plain language. …

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Construction Law, Contract Administration, Project Management

Decoding Concurrent Delay: The SCL Protocol and Employer Responsibility

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Delays in construction and infrastructure projects are almost an inevitability. But what happens when multiple delays hit at once, and some are the client’s fault while others lie with the contractor? This is the tricky terrain of concurrent delay, a concept that can lead to significant disputes over extensions of time and financial compensation.

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Construction Law, Contract Administration, Project Management

Level Up Your Construction Contract Knowledge: Introducing the CMGuide Podcast Series!

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The world of construction contracts, especially the globally recognized FIDIC suite, can often feel like navigating a complex labyrinth. Clauses, entitlements, claims, termination rights, dispute boards… it’s a lot to keep track of, even for seasoned professionals. But what if you could demystify these crucial topics, one engaging conversation at a time, right from your headphones?

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the CMGuide Podcast Series!

This isn’t just another dry lecture. We’re bringing you in-depth, practical discussions designed to unpack the intricacies of construction contracts, with a special focus on the FIDIC Suite of Contracts. …

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Construction Law, Contract Administration, Project Management

Mastering Disruption Claims: Insights from FIDIC 1999 and 2017

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Construction projects, by their very nature, are susceptible to disruptions – events that hinder the regular and efficient progress of work, leading to a loss of productivity and increased costs. While delays extend the project timeline, disruption impacts the efficiency of work within that timeline, often without necessarily extending the overall completion date. Successfully navigating disruption claims is crucial for contractors to recover legitimate losses and for employers to understand their contractual obligations. This post explains disruption claims under two prominent FIDIC (Fédération Internationale Des Ingénieurs-Conseils) contract editions: FIDIC 1999 and FIDIC 2017, highlighting their differences, how to establish entitlement, and methods for quantifying associated costs or Extension of Time (EOT).

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Construction Law, Contract Administration, Dispute Boards, Project Management

Prevention Over Cure: The Power of Dispute Boards in Construction

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Construction projects, especially large-scale infrastructure developments, are inherently complex. They involve numerous stakeholders, intricate technical challenges, tight deadlines, and substantial financial investments. It’s no surprise that disputes are a common occurrence, often leading to costly delays, strained relationships, and even project abandonment.

However, a growing international trend, championed by organizations like FIDIC (International Federation of Consulting Engineers) and the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (DRBF), offers a more proactive and effective approach: the Dispute Board (DB). Far from being a reactive mechanism for conflict resolution, DBs are increasingly seen as vital tools for dispute avoidance, transforming the adversarial nature of construction into a more collaborative and efficient process. …

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Construction Law, Contract Administration, Project Management

From BOQ First to TOC Fights: Untangling Document Hierarchy and Handover Rights in FIDIC

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By Dr Samer Skaik

What happens when a contractor is blamed for missing items, NCRs remain unresolved, and an Engineer refuses to issue the Taking-Over Certificate—even after the Employer starts using the facility? This real-world scenario raises important questions about contractual liability, document precedence, and possession under FIDIC 1999.

In this post, we examine a case involving a partial handover, missing panels and modules, and lingering Civil Defense approvals. By referencing key clauses of FIDIC 1999—along with an important modification to Clause 1.5 in the Letter of Acceptance—we’ll clarify who bears what responsibility, and how contractors should respond. …

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