Claim management starts when the event occurs, not when the final submission is drafted. On projects using FIDIC forms, the signed edition and Particular Conditions must be read carefully because notice periods, procedures, and the Engineer's role vary by edition and amendment. This article provides a general management and technical framework, not legal interpretation of a specific contract.
Why can a genuine claim still fail?
Common weaknesses include late notice, missing contemporaneous records, and failure to establish the causal link between the event and time or cost. A letter may describe a real problem but fail to identify the contractual basis, affected activity, or method used to calculate the impact.
A file also becomes difficult to defend when hundreds of records are submitted without an index or chronology, or when a global cost is claimed without resource records, invoices, and a defined event period. Strength comes from a clear path from event to entitlement and then to impact.
A practical workflow from event to submission
- Record the event: note when and where it occurred, the affected work, people involved, and immediate response.
- Review the contract: identify the entitlement clause, notice procedure, recipient, delivery method, and follow-up requirements.
- Issue notice on time: preserve the position without overstating figures that have not yet been analysed.
- Open a claim register: retain correspondence, daily reports, photographs, minutes, instructions, approvals, and programme updates.
- Update continuing effects: document how the event develops, mitigation attempted, and decisions still outstanding.
- Test causation: explain how the event affected an activity, path, or resource and consider alternative or concurrent causes.
- Measure time and cost: use a reviewable method and separate actual, estimated, direct, and time-related amounts.
- Submit an indexed file: include an executive summary, contractual basis, chronology, analyses, and appendices.
What are contemporaneous records?
These are records created at or near the time of the event: daily reports, labour and equipment logs, requests for information, approvals, dated photographs, meeting minutes, quantities, and schedule updates. They reduce reliance on memory months later and allow the event to be reviewed while facts are still available.
Records must also be consistent. If a daily report states that work stopped completely while resource logs show continuing production without explanation, credibility suffers. Clear ownership of the claim register and periodic review between project management, planning, commercial, and cost teams are therefore essential.
How is time impact demonstrated?
Delay to an individual activity does not automatically delay project completion. Review the baseline and updates, logic, critical path, float, and the period in which the activity was genuinely driving. Concurrent delays, subsequent logic changes, and mitigation must also be considered.
Material or disputed matters may require specialist schedule analysis using the records available. Our guide to root cause analysis for project delays explains the difference between observing slippage and identifying the event that moved the completion forecast.
How should cost be built up?
Start with cost categories directly connected to the event: labour, equipment, materials, subcontractors, rework, or time-related cost where the contract permits. State the source, period, and calculation method, and avoid mixing the event cost with unrelated inefficiency.
Use actual records where available. If an estimate or assumption is necessary, identify it and explain its limits. Payment evidence alone does not prove that a cost was caused by the claimed event; the financial case must remain connected to the technical and time analysis.
When is expert support needed?
Independent support becomes valuable where causes overlap, records conflict, or the claim depends on design quality, execution defects, or complex critical-path logic. Technical consulting can test the issue and available options early, while claims and dispute support separates facts from negotiating positions and structures material for management and legal review. Effective PMO controls also preserve decisions, records, and time-and-cost signals before escalation.
Pre-submission checklist
- Were the notice requirements in the signed contract followed?
- Does every material event have a date, record, and identifiable source?
- Is the link between cause, affected work, and result explained?
- Does the time analysis use reliable updates and reviewable logic?
- Is each amount connected to a record, period, and method?
- Are mitigation actions and their results documented?
Example: a late drawing and an extension request
For a hypothetical late detail drawing, identify request, required and receipt dates, contractual responsibility and revision. Link it to a specific activity in the relevant schedule update. Check labour, materials and workfront readiness during the same period: the missing drawing may not be the sole constraint. Site supervision records can support the chronology within the appointment. Do not present reconstructed records as contemporaneous originals.
Distinguish demonstrated impact, requested extension and entitlement determination. Separate prolongation costs from additional work and check overlaps so the same cost is not claimed twice.
Is there one notice deadline for every FIDIC contract?
Do not transfer a deadline or clause number from a generic example into a project contract. Check the book, edition, Particular Conditions, claim type, recipient and service requirements, and record applicable deadlines. The linked FIDIC paper dates from 2005: it provides historical context, not a substitute for later editions or the signed contract.
Professional reference
A paper published by FIDIC on contractor claims explains the importance of timely notice and contemporaneous records. The executed contract, its edition, and Particular Conditions remain controlling; general guidance does not replace the contract or legal advice.
Executive takeaway
A strong claim is managed daily through correct notice, contemporaneous records, causal analysis, and traceable time and cost measurement. Early discipline gives the project a better chance of resolving the issue before it becomes an expensive dispute.