Quantitative impact of major modifications to standard contractual
forms in construction projects - the Middle East

Sadek, S; Kulatunga, U

Abstract

Despite the fact that there exists several construction forms of contract that aimed at standardizing the contractual clauses in relation to the construction industry, the adoption of the same was being subject to major modifications and alteration endangering the overall spirit and consistency of the contractual forms.
Within the construction industry many parties are involved in projects. Those parties do mainly include the Client and the Contractor, in addition to the Project Manager, Project Consultant(s), Subcontractor(s) and Suppliers. Hence, Contracts needs to be customized, agreed, and signed to formalize parties’ relationships. Knowing that the Middle East region is, and will be, subject to major construction projects during the upcoming years, it is of major importance to understand the nature of Standard Contractual forms being used and the modifications that are being introduced noting that well configured contractual clauses would play major role in simplifying part of the complexity associated with the construction environment.
The problem is that if the contractual clauses were not drafted responsibly or modifications to Standard forms were introduced without proper reasoning, contracts negotiation and signature would be a time consuming challenge and would take considerable time from the total originally allocated for the project. Furthermore, the project parties would be focusing on the contractual aspects, governing the project, leading to more claims i.e. fertile ground for contractual disputes, rather than technical and execution issues which would eventually flag hindrance in the project original schedule and certainly an escalation to the project original budget notwithstanding the project works atmosphere. The above issues represent a challenge to any responsible project party whose aim is to have his project executed noting the given time frame and allocated budget constraints.
This paper focuses on the major modifications introduced to one of the mostly being used standard contractual form for the past 10 years in the Middle East, the Conditions of Contract for Works of Civil Engineering Construction (Red Book 4th Edition 1987) one of the FIDIC Forms of Contracts, and it shows the impact and effect that the projects are experiencing due to the said major modifications as relayed through major industry practitioners. Of course, semi structured interviews and special tailored questionnaire surveys are the key to reveal how the major modifications would influence projects. The being assessed impact of the major modification to the standard conditions is presented in a quantitative way as they do relate to project duration and project cost.

Citation

forms in construction projects - the Middle East. Presented at International Postgraduate Conference 2015, Mediacity University of Salford

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: International Postgraduate Conference 2015
• Conference Location: Mediacity University of Salford
• Start Date: Jun 10, 2015
• End Date: Jun 12, 2015
• Acceptance Date: Mar 19, 2023
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Dec 7, 2015
• Publisher URL: http://www.salford.ac.uk/news1/international-postgraduate-research-conference-2016
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference