FIDIC Contract Management and Administration Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Contract Managers, Project Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CM-072

Before you join: Participants should have experience working on construction, engineering or infrastructure projects and be familiar with basic contract documents such as specifications, drawings, bills of quantities and programmes.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

FIDIC contracts depend on disciplined administration after award. Missed notice deadlines, unclear Engineer instructions, weak site records and unsupported payment applications can turn manageable events into disputed claims. Project managers, contract administrators and commercial teams need to understand both the allocation of risk in the contract and the procedural steps that protect entitlement when change, delay, defective work or non-payment occurs.

This course examines the administration of FIDIC-based construction contracts, with primary attention to the 2017 Red Book and reference to Yellow, Silver and earlier FIDIC forms where relevant. Participants learn to interpret contract documents, establish an administration plan, manage notices, assess variations, prepare claims, administer payments and support the Engineer’s consultation and determination process. The course also addresses programme records, extension-of-time analysis, Taking-Over, defects obligations, DAAB referrals and escalation to arbitration.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with contract clauses, realistic project cases, group analysis, drafting simulations and application planning. Cases reflect common issues in civil works, building projects, utilities, transport infrastructure and industrial construction. Participants receive a certificate of completion and leave with practical administration documents that can be adapted for live FIDIC contracts, including notice, claims, variation and payment-control materials.

The course is suited to professionals already involved in construction delivery, commercial management or contract administration who require a working command of FIDIC procedures rather than a general introduction to construction law. It is delivered over five instructor-led days in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online. Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret FIDIC contract documents, risk allocation and clause hierarchy for project decisions
  • Establish a contract administration plan with deadlines, owners, records and approval routes
  • Prepare valid contractual notices using FIDIC timing, delivery and content requirements
  • Assess variations using scope analysis, valuation hierarchies and instruction records
  • Develop substantiated extension-of-time and cost claims using programme and site evidence
  • Administer payment applications, certifications, securities, retention and final account procedures
  • Manage Engineer determinations, DAAB referrals and dispute escalation under FIDIC procedures
  • Apply a clause-to-action matrix to current contract administration responsibilities

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence identifying notice triggers before contractual deadlines expire
  • Practical ability to convert site events into evidence-based FIDIC submissions
  • Stronger judgement when assessing variation scope, rates and time consequences
  • Improved credibility in meetings with Employers, Engineers, contractors and counsel
  • Reusable documents for administering current and future FIDIC projects

For your organisation

  • Fewer lost entitlements caused by late or defective contractual notices
  • More consistent variation valuation and payment administration across projects
  • Earlier identification of delay, disruption and compensation-event exposure
  • Better project records supporting determinations, negotiations and formal proceedings
  • Reduced dispute escalation through clearer contractual communication and issue control

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify the appropriate FIDIC form, document hierarchy and principal risk allocations.

  • FIDIC contract families: Red, Yellow, Silver and Green Book purposes
  • Risk allocation differences between construction, plant, EPC and short-form contracts
  • General Conditions, Particular Conditions and Contract Data hierarchy
  • FIDIC Golden Principles and limits on amended risk allocation
  • Selecting governing law, language, currencies and dispute board arrangements
  • Reading definitions, interpretation rules and priority-of-documents provisions

Participants can establish clear responsibilities, authorities and controls for contract administration.

  • Employer, Engineer and Contractor roles under the 2017 Red Book
  • Engineer’s duty to act neutrally when making determinations
  • Delegations, communications and authority limits recorded before contract commencement
  • Sub-Clause cross-referencing for responsibility, risk and procedural ownership
  • Contract administration plan linking clauses, deadlines, owners and records
  • Project start-up checklist for insurances, securities, permits and access

Participants can control commencement requirements, programme obligations and contemporaneous project evidence.

  • Notice of Commencement, access dates and programme submission requirements
  • Baseline programme review using critical path method and float analysis
  • Sub-Clause 8.3 programme contents under FIDIC 2017 conditions
  • Time for Completion, sectional completion and Taking-Over Certificate criteria
  • Early-warning records for foreseeable delay, disruption and mitigation
  • Site diaries, photographs and correspondence as contemporaneous evidence

Participants can issue and control contract communications that preserve contractual rights.

  • Clause-based notice register capturing trigger, recipient, deadline and response
  • Notice validity: form, delivery method, content and contractual timing
  • Distinguishing notice, claim, submission, consultation and determination communications
  • FIDIC 2017 28-day notice requirements and time-bar consequences
  • Drafting notices that preserve entitlement without conceding liability
  • Correspondence protocols, transmittals and document-control audit trails

Participants can assess instructed changes and determine the appropriate valuation route.

  • Variation instructions, proposals and value-engineering routes under FIDIC
  • Testing whether changed work falls within original contractual scope
  • Valuation hierarchy: agreed rates, contract rates, new rates and cost
  • Daywork records, measurement sheets and signed daily resource evidence
  • Provisional Sums, omissions and nominated subcontractor payment implications
  • Engineer’s instruction register linked to valuation and programme effects

Participants can prepare structured claims supported by entitlement, evidence, programme analysis and quantum.

  • Claim entitlement analysis using cause, effect, notice and proof
  • Sub-Clause 20.2 claim procedure under FIDIC 2017 conditions
  • Contemporaneous records matrix for delay, disruption, cost and mitigation
  • Time impact analysis using accepted programme updates and fragnet insertion
  • Prolongation cost build-up using labour, plant, site overhead and invoices
  • Concurrent delay assessment and apportionment under applicable governing law
  • Fully detailed claim submissions with chronology, clauses, evidence and quantum

Participants can administer payment processes from interim applications through final certification.

  • Interim Payment Applications supported by measurement, records and substantiation
  • Statement, certification and payment timelines under FIDIC payment clauses
  • Retention, advance payment, performance security and release conditions
  • Price adjustment calculations using contractual indices and formulae
  • Final Statement preparation, Engineer review and Final Payment Certificate
  • Payment shortfalls, financing charges and suspension rights following non-payment

Participants can administer quality obligations, handover procedures and defects-period responsibilities.

  • Quality management records linked to Specifications, inspections and test plans
  • Inspection requests, nonconformity reports and corrective-action close-out records
  • Tests on Completion, retesting and failure-to-pass consequences
  • Taking-Over Certificates, outstanding work lists and sectional handover
  • Defects Notification Period obligations and Defects Notification Certificate
  • Care of Works, risk transfer and insurance incident procedures

Participants can support determinations and manage dispute avoidance procedures before formal escalation.

  • Engineer consultation and determination procedure under Sub-Clause 3.7
  • Reasoned determination submissions presenting facts, clauses, evidence and remedy
  • Dispute Avoidance/Adjudication Board referral process and procedural timetable
  • DAAB informal assistance for dispute avoidance before formal referral
  • Notice of Dissatisfaction, amicable settlement and arbitration escalation
  • Settlement authority matrix and without-prejudice negotiation preparation

Participants can implement practical controls for current FIDIC contract responsibilities.

  • Contract administration dashboard showing notices, claims, payments and decisions
  • Clause-to-action matrix assigning owners, deadlines, evidence and approvals
  • Risk register updates from emerging contractual events and early warnings
  • Monthly contract review agenda for Employer, Engineer and Contractor
  • Escalation paths for unresolved instructions, certifications and determinations
  • Personal 90-day application plan for current contract responsibilities

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. FIDIC contract administration plan template
  2. Clause-based notice register
  3. Variation instruction and valuation checklist
  4. Claims evidence and chronology matrix
  5. Payment certification control schedule
  6. Clause-to-action responsibility matrix

Who should attend

  • Contract Managers — administer FIDIC obligations, notices, claims and commercial controls
  • Project Managers — manage contractual events alongside programme, cost and delivery responsibilities
  • Quantity Surveyors — value variations, prepare payment applications and support final accounts
  • Resident Engineers — issue instructions, maintain records and support determinations
  • Claims Consultants — structure entitlement, evidence and quantum submissions under FIDIC procedures
  • Procurement and Commercial Managers — oversee post-award risk, contract performance and dispute exposure

Skills and tools covered

FIDIC clause interpretationNotice administrationVariation valuationConstruction claims preparationPayment certificationDispute avoidance

Tools and standards

FIDIC Red Book 2017, FIDIC Yellow Book 2017, FIDIC Silver Book 2017, FIDIC Golden Principles 2019

How the course runs

Training methodology

The instructor uses short briefings to explain FIDIC clauses, procedures and risk allocation, followed by guided analysis of project correspondence, programmes, payment records and claim evidence. Group exercises address notice drafting, variation valuation, time-impact reasoning and Engineer determinations. Simulations examine consultations, payment certification and DAAB dispute avoidance discussions. Participants apply the methods to their own contract responsibilities through an administration action plan. The instructor adapts examples to the cohort’s project types and contract forms.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience working on construction, engineering or infrastructure projects and be familiar with basic contract documents such as specifications, drawings, bills of quantities and programmes. Prior exposure to FIDIC, NEC, EPC or other standard-form contracts is helpful but not essential. The course assumes participants can read contractual clauses and discuss project events such as delay, variation, payment and defects. A law degree, formal legal training, claims-specialist experience or prior use of FIDIC 2017 forms is not required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You do not need previous FIDIC training. You should have experience with construction projects and basic familiarity with contract documents, programmes, payment records or project correspondence.

Bring a laptop or tablet if possible, plus anonymised examples of notices, variations, payment applications or claim issues from your projects. Course materials are provided, and participants do not need to purchase FIDIC publications beforehand.

It is designed for contract managers, project managers, quantity surveyors, engineers, commercial managers and claims personnel working on FIDIC-based projects. It also suits Employer, Engineer and Contractor personnel who need a shared procedural understanding.

This course focuses on the practical administration procedures within FIDIC contracts, including clauses, notices, determinations, payment and dispute-board processes. General legal principles are addressed only where they affect FIDIC administration and contractual entitlement.

Participants can use the notice register, administration plan, claims evidence matrix and clause-to-action matrix on active projects. The course also helps them review whether current records, deadlines and approval routes are adequate.

The course progresses from FIDIC structure and roles through programmes, notices, variations, claims, payments, completion and disputes. Each day combines clause explanation with case analysis, group work, simulations and time to translate methods into project controls.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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