FIDIC form

A building or works contract based on the FIDIC form will typically comprise the following documents:

• contract agreement – the formal record of the agreement between the parties;
• letter of acceptance – in the Red, Yellow and Gold Books this is defined as ‘the letter of formal acceptance, signed by the employer, of the letter of tender, including any annexed memoranda comprising agreements between and signed by both parties.’
• letter of tender – the letter from the contractor that submits its offer for the works in response to the employer’s invitation to tender (which also includes the completed appendix to tender (which sets out contract specific information such as the governing law, level of delay damages and currencies of payment);
• memoranda annexed to the letter of acceptance or contract agreement – documents recording the agreements made in the post-tender negotiations the rationale behind the memoranda is to assist with resolving any ambiguities which may occur in the other documents to be included in the contract;
• conditions of contract (general and particular) – these set out the core terms of the contract between the parties;
• specification – where the technical requirements for the works are set out;
• drawings – setting out the design of the works (to supplement the specification);
• employer’s requirements – (Yellow, Silver and Gold Books) set out the purpose, scope, design and technical criteria for the works;
• contractor’s proposal – (Yellow and Gold Books) contains the contractor’s proposals for the works i.e. the preliminary design for implementation of the employer’s requirements;
• schedules – (Red, Yellow and Gold Book) – these are defined as those documents ‘entitled Schedules completed by the Contractor and submitted with the Letter of Tender, as included in the Contract’. schedules would therefore comprise, if relevant, a bill of quantities, schedule of rates, day work schedules and schedules of payments; and
• tender – (Silver Book) this is equivalent to the letter of tender and the other documents to be submitted with the letter of tender including the contractor’s proposals and schedules in the other books.