Standard forms
FIDIC: claims, notice and the engineer
FIDIC is the form most likely to be met on international and GCC projects, and the one most likely to have been rewritten by Particular Conditions before anybody reads it.
- Jurisdiction
- International, commonly with a civil-code governing law
- Law and editions as at
- 3 August 2026
- Last reviewed
- 3 August 2026
- Editorial status
- Editorial draft, not yet independently reviewed
The claims architecture
The 2017 editions separate a notice of claim from the detailed claim that follows, run both parties’ claims through the same procedure, and give the Engineer a structured role in agreeing or determining the outcome, with a route to express dissatisfaction and escalate.
Notice from awareness
Contract text The form works on a notice period running from the point the claiming party became aware, or should have become aware, of the event or circumstance. What happens if that period is missed, and how strictly it is applied, are questions of construction and of governing law, and the Particular Conditions frequently change both the period and the consequence.
The Engineer
The Engineer administers the contract and determines claims, and is required to act in a defined manner when doing so. Understanding whether a communication is an instruction, an agreement or a determination matters, because the consequences and the escalation routes differ.
Particular Conditions are the real contract
On most FIDIC-derived projects the General Conditions are substantially modified. Time bars are shortened, entitlements narrowed, dispute boards removed and risk reallocated. Reading a commentary on the unamended form and applying it to a live project is the most common and most expensive error in this area.
Interaction with civil codes
Where the governing law is a civil code, the clause does not operate in isolation. Provisions on binding force, good faith, exceptional circumstances, creditor contribution and judicial adjustment can all interact with the contractual mechanism, and the interaction is a matter for local counsel rather than for a contract commentary.
Where the record comes in
Every mechanism on this page turns on evidence: what happened, what was known and when. A record built as the job happens is worth more than any argument assembled afterwards. Construction Metric keeps that record automatically, from the messages, photographs and voice notes a site team already sends.
Built by AI Metric
The analysis on this site is only as fast as the evidence behind it. AI Metric builds bespoke systems for consultancies, contractors and claims teams: document and correspondence triage, event registers assembled from the project record, programme and cost reconciliation, and drafting support that always cites the document it came from. Built for review by your own experts, never to replace their judgement.
Do not overread this page
FIDIC text is the copyright of its publisher and none is reproduced here. Editions and reprints differ, and the Particular Conditions on your project may change every proposition above.
General explanation of how contract mechanisms, analysis methods and legal principles generally work. It is not legal or contractual advice, not an opinion on any project, and no standard-form contract wording is reproduced anywhere on this site. Standard forms are routinely amended, so every default described here, including every time period, can be different on your project. Your executed contract, as amended, and the governing law and forum always control. Deadlines may already be running: if an event has occurred, preserve your position and take qualified advice.