FIDIC
FIDIC - the international federation of consulting engineers.
FIDIC is a French language acronym for Fédération Internationale Des Ingénieurs-Conseils, which
means the international federation of consulting engineers.
FIDIC Establishment
Formal constitution on 22 July 1913 of FIDIC, Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs Conseils, or
later, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers. The founding principles adopted were
Quality, Integrity, and Sustainability.
Concept of FIDIC contracts
A FIDIC Contract is an international engineering contract that governs the construction of large,
complex engineering projects. The contract is designed to minimize disputes and to ensure a fair
distribution of risk
The main purpose of the FIDIC Model Contracts is to define the contractual relationship between the parties and
distribute the risks fairly to the parties. The FIDIC Model Contracts are drafted for a wide range of projects.
Types of FIDIC
There are several types of FIDIC Contracts, such as the
• Red Book,
• Yellow Book
• Silver Book
• Green Book
to regulate questions such as who will bear the risk during the construction process, who will prepare
the design, and who will undertake the management of the contract etc.
Objective of FIDIC
FIDIC must represent and promote ethical business practices throughout the industry and work with
others to achieve this objective.
FIDIC must encourage consultants to fight corruption and to co-operate with other parties involved in this
effort.
The Principles of FIDIC
Following are the Golden Principles of FIDIC Contract: The duties, rights,
obligations, roles and responsibilities of all the Contract Participants must be
generally as implied in the General Conditions, and appropriate to the
requirements of the project.
FIDIC Suite of Contracts
Green Book- Short Form of Contract s a short form of contract and is recommended for
engineering and building works of a smaller scale. A maximum of USD$500,000 and a
six-month construction period was initially considered as a reasonable limit on the capital
value and duration..
Red Book- Conditions of Contract for Construction for Building and Engineering works
designed by the Employer
Yellow Book- Conditions of Contract for Plant and Design-Build.
Orange Book- Conditions of Contract for Design-Build and Turnkey.
FIDIC General Conditions & Particular Conditions
FIDIC covers a wide range of projects which are mentioned under different books. However, like every
other general contract, FIDIC too has some common features in every of its contracts.
FIDIC contracts are divided into two parts.
Part I of the contract contains General Conditions (GCs) while Part II contains Particular Conditions (PCs).
GCs specify the obligations, rights of the parties involved in the contract, payment procedures, etc.
PCs are framed according to the type of the projects.
For example, PCs contain the name of the project, organizations involved, language of the contract,
governing laws etc. As said, no two projects are the same and for this reason GCs are modified
accordingly
GCs and PCs
1. The duties, rights, obligations, roles and responsibilities of all the Contract Participants must be
generally as implied in the General Conditions, and appropriate to the requirements of the project.
2. The Particular Conditions must be drafted clearly and unambiguously.
3. All time periods specified in the Contract for Contract Participants to perform their obligations must be
of reasonable duration.
4. Unless there is a conflict with the governing law of the Contract, all formal disputes must be referred to
a Dispute Avoidance/Adjudication Board (or a Dispute Adjudication Board, if applicable) for a
provisionally binding decision as a condition precedent to arbitration.
In most FIDIC forms there is a default hierarchy for the documents forming the contract.
The order of priority is as stated below and in the event of inconsistency the first on the
list takes precedence:
The Contract Agreement
The Letter of Acceptance (this is the formal acceptance of the contractor’s tender and
marks the formation of the contract).
The Letter of Tender.
Part II – the conditions of particular application.
Part I – general conditions of contract.
The Specification and Drawings (Red Book), The Employer’s Requirements (Yellow Book),
the Schedules (Red and Yellow Books)
Further documents (if any), listed in the Contract Agreement or in the Letter of
Acceptance.
Thank You
