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Nominate Dr Samer Skaik as DAAB Member
Independent, FIDIC-fluent dispute board appointments — and help finding the right candidate when someone else is the better fit.
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Appointing a Dispute Avoidance/Adjudication Board is one of the few contractual decisions that pays for itself. A well-chosen DAAB keeps disagreements from hardening into disputes, and resolves the ones that do in weeks rather than years.
Nominate Dr Samer Skaik
As sole DAAB member, chairman, or party-nominated member.
Ask us to find the right candidate
If he is unavailable, if your project needs a specialist discipline, or if you want a shortlist to put to the other Party.
Both start with the same short enquiry at the bottom of this page. We respond within two business days, with a conflict check completed before we discuss anything substantive.
Option 1
Nominate Dr Samer Skaik
At a glance
Why parties nominate him
A rare three-way combination
Effective DAAB work sits at the intersection of engineering, contract administration and law. Dr Skaik holds a BSc in Civil Engineering, an MSc in Construction Project Management and a PhD in Construction Law — and has spent more than two decades applying knowledge on live projects. Many candidates offer one or two of these. Few offer all three, which matters when a referral turns on both a delay analysis and a question of a legal matter.
Adjudication is his research field, not just his practice
With 60 refereed publications, most on adjudication, dispute resolution and construction law, he has written on the questions that decide referrals — jurisdiction versus admissibility, time bars, the limits of a board's authority.
Credentialled as a neutral
Certified Adjudicator (RICS) and Certified Project Manager (PMP) and a background administering contracts from the inside.
Decisions that survive scrutiny
A DAAB decision is binding immediately and becomes final if no Notice of Dissatisfaction follows. Reasoning has to be clear enough that the losing Party understands why, and robust enough to hold up if the dispute proceeds to arbitration. That is the standard he writes to.
Dispute avoidance taken seriously
Sub-Clause 21.3 informal assistance is the most under-used provision in FIDIC 2017. Used well, it stops issues escalating at a fraction of the cost of a referral. He raises it actively rather than waiting to be asked.
What appointment involves
Once appointed, a standing DAAB member's duties typically include:
- Entering into the tripartite DAAB Agreement with both Parties
- Reviewing the Contract, programme and progress reports on an ongoing basis
- Attending regular site visits and meetings as agreed in the DAAB Agreement
- Providing informal assistance on request of both Parties under Sub-Clause 21.3
- Issuing reasoned decisions within 84 days of a referral under Sub-Clause 21.4
Fees. Fees follow the standard FIDIC structure — a monthly retainer plus a daily rate for site visits, meetings, hearings and decision writing, set out in the DAAB Agreement and shared equally between the Parties. Rates are provided on enquiry.
Option 2
We help you find the right candidate
Dr Skaik will not be the right answer for every appointment, and he will say so.
He may be unavailable within your timescale. Your project may call for a specialist discipline — tunnelling, marine works, process plant, rail systems, offshore, complex M&E. You may need a member with a specific language, jurisdiction or nationality to satisfy the other Party. On a three-member board, you may need two further names alongside him.
In any of those situations, we can help you identify and approach suitable candidates. This is a paid advisory service, priced modestly relative to the cost of a poor appointment. Get in touch and we will confirm the fee before any work begins.
What the service covers
Understanding the appointment. The contract form and any amendments, the board's composition and status, the technical profile of the works, the languages and jurisdictions in play, the likely dispute profile, and the timetable you are working to.
A shortlist with reasoning. Typically three to five candidates, each with a short assessment of relevant experience, board history, availability, indicative rates, and — candidly — where they may be weaker. Drawn from the FIDIC President's List of Approved Dispute Adjudicators, DRBF and institutional panels, and from practitioners known to us directly.
Conflict and acceptability screening. Preliminary checks against the Parties, their advisers, and the project, so you do not put forward a name that the other side must refuse.
Approach and coordination. Where you would like it, we make the initial approach, confirm availability and indicative terms, and support the exchange with the other Party through to signature of the DAAB Agreement.
How we keep it clean
- We accept no commission, referral fee or benefit of any kind from a nominated candidate. Our only fee is the one you pay us. No candidate pays to be on a shortlist.
- We tell you when Dr Skaik is a realistic option and when he is not. If he is a candidate for the same appointment, we say so plainly and you are free to take the shortlist and proceed without us.
The technical detail
For readers who want the underlying framework. If you already know it, skip to the enquiry section.
Appointment under FIDIC 2017 Sub-Clause 21.1
Under the 2017 Red and Yellow Books the DAAB is a standing board, appointed early and in place for the life of the Contract, rather than convened once a dispute has arisen. The default is appointment by the date stated in the Contract Data — 28 days after the Contractor receives the Letter of Acceptance if no other date is stated. The Silver Book, by contrast, contemplates an ad hoc DAAB constituted when a dispute is referred.
The board is either a sole member or three members, as stated in the Contract Data. Where three, each Party nominates one member for the other Party's approval, the Parties consult both appointees, and the third member is agreed and acts as chairman.
The practical significance of a standing board is that its value lies mainly outside adjudication. A board that has followed the works from the outset, visited site regularly and understood the Parties' working relationship can head off disagreements informally. That is the return on the retainer, and it is lost entirely if appointment is deferred.
Freedom of choice — and the President's List
The Parties may jointly appoint anyone they agree on. The FIDIC President's List of Approved Dispute Adjudicators is a quality-assured pool, not a closed shop, and it becomes binding only through the Sub-Clause 21.2 fallback when the Parties cannot agree and the appointing entity steps in.
That freedom is worth using. Parties routinely appoint outside the List for sound reasons: a specialist discipline the List does not cover well, better availability against the project's timetable, more proportionate fees on a smaller contract, or a practitioner whose impartiality both sides have already seen at first hand. The right test is not whether a candidate appears on a list, but whether they combine the technical, contractual and legal judgement your project actually needs — and whether both Parties will accept them.
Failure to agree Sub-Clause 21.2
If the Parties do not appoint by the due date, or cannot agree on a sole member or chairman, the appointing entity or official named in the Contract Data makes the appointment on the application of either or both Parties. Where none is named, this defaults to the President of FIDIC or a person appointed by the President. The appointment is final and conclusive, and the appointed member is treated as though jointly appointed.
The lesson is straightforward: Parties who cannot agree lose control of who decides their disputes. A shortlist both sides can live with is worth far more than winning an argument about a single name.
Avoidance before adjudication Sub-Clause 21.3
Where both Parties jointly request it, the DAAB may provide informal assistance on any issue or disagreement. The board may also invite the Parties to make such a request. Views expressed informally do not bind the board in any later decision — the protection that makes candid discussion possible.
Two constraints are often missed. The request must be joint; one Party cannot invoke it alone. And it cannot be used to cut across a matter the Engineer is actively determining under Sub-Clause 3.7.
Decisions Sub-Clause 21.4
A dispute is referred to the DAAB, which issues a reasoned decision within 84 days of receiving the referral, or such other period as the Parties agree. The decision is binding on both Parties, who must promptly comply, and becomes final and binding unless a Notice of Dissatisfaction is served within 28 days. A binding-but-not-final decision must still be complied with while any NOD is pending.
The DAAB Agreement
Each member enters into a tripartite Dispute Avoidance/Adjudication Agreement with both Parties, incorporating the General Conditions of the DAAB Agreement. This governs the member's warranty of impartiality and independence, disclosure obligations, fees and expenses, confidentiality, and termination — and should be settled at appointment rather than left until a dispute makes every term contentious.
Our commitment
Independence and conflicts
A DAAB member must be, and must be seen to be, impartial and independent of both Parties. CMGuide provides claims and contractual advisory services, which are by nature partisan. We manage the tension between those two roles strictly:
We would rather decline an appointment than accept one that either Party could later challenge.
Common questions
Can one Party nominate on its own?
A Party can propose a candidate, but a sole member or chairman is appointed jointly. On a three-member board each Party nominates its own member for the other's approval. In practice, an early approach with two or three acceptable names is far more effective than presenting a single name.
We are already in dispute and have no DAAB. Is it too late?
No. Parties frequently constitute a board late, or an ad hoc board for a specific dispute. You lose the avoidance benefit, but you retain a fast, binding route to a decision. Get in touch and we will look at what your Contract permits.
Our contract is amended, or is not FIDIC at all.
Bespoke and heavily amended forms are common, as are DRB and DRBF-style boards and domestic dispute board provisions. Send the dispute resolution clause and we will confirm whether we can help.
How quickly can an appointment be confirmed?
Subject to the conflict check and the other Party's agreement, terms can usually be settled within two to three weeks. Urgent appointments can move faster.
What does the candidate search cost?
There is a fee, set according to the scope — a single name is a smaller exercise than assembling a full three-member board. Get in touch and we will confirm it in writing before starting.
Will you disclose that we approached you?
No. Enquiries are confidential, including the fact of the enquiry.
Enquire about a DAAB appointment
Tell us about the project and we will respond within two business days, following a conflict check.
Contact Us Book a Free Consultation
All enquiries are treated in strict confidence.
Please include
- Project name, location and approximate contract value
- Contract form and edition, and whether the dispute resolution provisions are amended
- Whether the DAAB is to be a sole member or three members, standing or ad hoc
- The identity of the Employer, Contractor, Engineer and any legal advisers (needed for the conflict check)
- Your required timescale
- Whether you are enquiring about Dr Skaik, a candidate search, or both