FIDIC-related Contracts

Of course it is only opinion but people often confuse the fact that once someone amends the template contract being used, it can, in many instances, cease being an "XYZ-contract" as deemed so by others.

The danger with deeming it to be an "XYZ-contract" is that one can be lured into thinking it will follow a certain, prescribed trajectory throughout the Project yet, unless these amendments introduced (usually explained further in the "Particulars" section of amended Contract) are tracked themselves within the Contract Documents it can leave the door open for bad practice to walk through.

It may be "old school" but many people prefer hard copies of Documents rather than reading off the Screen (irrespective how hi-res it may be).

As such, it is also prudent to then get an unamended hardcopy version of the "XYZ-contract" and cut/paste the amended parts on said hardcopy so that one has a full and intact complete version of the Contract as deemed to be relevant by the Parties in question.

Not only is it good practice to do this, but only in so doing and reading through (over and over and over again as mentioned earlier) can one sometimes identify anomolies with conflicting articles and clauses (especially with amendments introduced) which need to then be notified to the Parties and clarity sought.

The earlier this is done the better.

Of course, it may seem like going back to infants school cutting out passages and pasting or taping into another document but for the sake of becoming aware of how many changes have been made and how their interactions may or may not impact other unamended passages of the Contract, there is no better way to grasp the magnitude of what changes may entail.

It may well be that there is no "smoking gun" apparent - deliberate or otherwise - within the Contract Documents but only by doing can you be "seeing" if this is the case and the age old adage of better to have done and not need than need but not done will be more relevant than ever.