Over the next few blog posts, we will look at the FIDIC Green Book. The first edition was released in 1999 and the latest version is the 2021 Edition. In this blog mini-series, we will go through them and the changes introduced.

Overview

The Green Book is a short form of contract and is recommended for engineering and building works of a smaller scale. A maximum of USD$500,000 and a six-month construction period was initially considered as a reasonable limit on the capital value and duration.

However, the World Bank has suggested its use for contract values up to USD$10 million. Depending on the type of works, the Green Book may be suitable for contracts of considerably greater value. Also, it is considered more likely to be suitable for fairly simple or repetitive work or work of a short duration without the need for specialist subcontracts.

The main intention is to produce a flexible document of 15 clauses containing essential commercial provisions with a variety of administrative arrangements. Usually, for this type of contract, the Contractor constructs works in accordance with the design provided by the Employer.

However, is suitable for purely Contractor-designed civil or electrical and mechanical works. It excludes the express requirement for a third person, like an Engineer, to undertake any contract administration.

There are no particular conditions and the intention is that all necessary information should be incorporated in the Appendix to the agreement.

The dispute resolution provisions are more basic than other FIDIC contracts. There is no provision for amicable dispute resolution, nor a standing DAB, but an adjudicator. Also, perhaps due to the smaller value of the contract, there is no reference to the ICC arbitration. The parties instead decide the applicable rules and other arrangements in the appendix.

Apart from the Appendix, the contract includes rules for adjudication and adjudicators, agreement, and guidance notes. Pricing is also a matter of choice, lump sum reimbursement as well as cost reimbursable options. A single document is proposed for the form of tender and agreement, reflecting the simple projects envisaged.

One result of the simple form of contract is that there is an increased burden on the Employer to set out the full scope of works in specifications and drawings, including the extent of any design to be done by the Contractor. The conditions contain no overall limit on Contractor liability.

Procedure

The Green Book provides a printed form of Agreement, which is a simple procedure of offer and acceptance. It is intended that the Employer will write in the Employer’s name in the agreement and fill in the Appendix where appropriate and send two copies with the full tender package to the Contractor to complete the remaining spaces and sign.

Having decided which tender to accept, the Employer signs the acceptance section of both copies and returns one copy to the Contractor. The contract comes into effect upon receipt of this copy by the Contractor.

If post-tender negotiations are made, a revised offer from the Contractor is accepted by the Employer signing and returning the acceptance form or a new form of agreement is completed by the parties.

When the applicable law imposes any form of tax such as VAT on the works, the Employer should make clear whether tenderers should include such taxes in their prices. Similarly, if the payment is to be made in whole or in part in a currency other than the currency of the country, the Employer should make this clear to the tenderers.

The Employer should complete the Appendix as indicated prior to inviting tenders. Tenderers may be asked to insert a time for completion if none is specified. Where tenderers are required to submit designs with their tenders, the document containing the design should be identified by the tenderer against item 1.1.1(f) of the Appendix.

The next post will cover an overview of the Green Book Clauses.

This guest post was written by Mansoor Ali, FICCP. This post was originally published as two LinkedIn videos, available here and here.

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