FIDIC is an acronym for "Federation Internationale Des Ingenieurs -Conseils," which is the organization who publish and maintain the contract documents. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland the Federation has made copies available in the USA through the Associated General Contractors of America located in Washington, D.C.

FIDIC is the most commonly used form of contract for international civil engineering works. It has been used worldwide and has been employed on many large projects in the Middle East, Africa and the Far East. It has also been successfully used for architectural work with suitable amendments made to the contract.

Specifically developed for construction of civil engineering works where bids are invited on an international basis, FIDIC was originally derived from the British Institution of Civil Engineers (I.C.E.) standard form of contract. Because of this origination, many of the terms and wording used are from the U.K. 

The form is different from that used in the USA where generally  AIA standard forms are used. For example, the terminology Variation, Provisional Sum, Nominated Sub Contractor, Tender and Bills of Quantities are not in common usage in the USA.  

FIDIC 1999 New Standard Forms of Contract - 

The four books are -

1. Conditions of Contract for Construction (an update of FIDIC’s Conditions of Contract for Works of Civil Engineering Construction, known as the “Red Book”);

2. Conditions of Contract for EPC Turnkey Projects, the Silver Book;

3. Conditions of Contract for Plant and Design-Build Projects (intended to ultimately replace FIDIC’s Conditions of Contract for Design-Build and Turnkey, known as the “Orange Book”); and

4. Short Form of Contract (known as the “Green Book”).

In essence, the purpose of these new standard forms of contract is to:

As with the old FIDIC Red Book, the Conditions of Contract for Construction cover works designed by (or on behalf of) the Employer who then pays the Contractor on a remeasurement basis for constructing the works. However, the contract is versatile and can apply to a wide variety of situations including those where the Contractor designs some elements of the works.

The Conditions of Contract for EPC Turnkey Projects provide for a lump sum contract and are recommended by FIDIC for use where one party takes the entire responsibility for the design and execution of a project. Clearly, as the Contractor assumes a greater degree of risk than under the traditional contracting structure, the price charged may include a greater degree of profit. An Employer must consider whether the advantage of certainty of price outweighs the potential disadvantage of Contractors submitting high tender prices.

The Conditions of Contract for Plant and Design-Build Projects contemplates that the Contractor will design and provide plant and/or other works in accordance with the Employer’s requirements. These works may include any combination of civil, mechanical, electrical and/or construction works. The risk allocation is more even than in the EPC Contracts and Employers using this form will hope that tender figures will be lower than for the EPC Contract.

Finally, the Short Form of Contract is intended for engineering and building work of relatively small capital value (although not necessarily) and works that are fairly simple or repetitive, or for work of short duration.

v. Christopher Seppala, FIDIC's new (1999) Standard Forms of Construction Contract, An introduction, IBA Section on Business Law, International Construction, Sept 2000, p. 10

FIDIC

www.fidic.com

FIDICDIREC

http://www.fidicdirect.com/

GUIDE CONTRATS FIDIC

LEGAL GUIDE, Edward Corbett

http://www.nhic-tt.com/intranet/fidic4_guide/default.html

FIDIC ORANGE BOOK, Conditions of Contract for Design-Build and Turnkey

http://www.powerdoc.co.uk/orange.htm

CONFERENCE ON FIDIC 97

http://www.virtual-conference.com/

RECHERCHE JURIDIQUE