7 min read
FIDIC contracts are drafted with considerable precision, but contract administration in the field rarely matches the clarity of the drafting room. Three clauses account for a disproportionate share of the disputes and mismanaged claims we encounter on irrigation and civil works contracts.
The Extension of Time clause is frequently misapplied when the Engineer treats every delay event in isolation rather than testing it against the critical path. A contractor may correctly identify an Employer-caused delay, but if that delay occurred on a non-critical activity, or ran concurrently with a contractor-caused delay already consuming the same float, a mechanical grant of time without a proper delay analysis exposes the project to a disputed extension later. The fix is procedural: require a programme-based delay analysis as a condition of any EOT submission, not just a narrative of events.
The notice period for contractor claims is one of the most consequential and most overlooked provisions in the contract. Engineers sometimes informally accept late notices to keep working relationships smooth, without recognising that doing so can waive the Employer's contractual protection and create precedent for future claims. The disciplined approach is to acknowledge every notice against the clock, in writing, from day one of mobilisation, regardless of how minor the underlying event seems.
The Engineer's duty to act neutrally in matters of certification and determination is sometimes eroded in practice when the Engineer is also acting as an extension of the Employer's project management function. The two roles are not incompatible, but they require the Engineer to be explicit, in every determination, about which hat is being worn. Blurring this distinction is one of the most common sources of contractor mistrust on MDB-funded contracts specifically, where the Engineer's independence is often written into the funding agreement itself.
None of this requires reinterpreting FIDIC. It requires contemporaneous records, disciplined notice handling, and a willingness to apply the contract as written even when it is administratively inconvenient. Contract administration problems are rarely drafting problems; they are usually discipline problems.