FIDIC's board has agreed to the setting up of a new task group by the FIDIC contracts committee, which, in time, will lead to the development of a new FIDIC Collaborative Contract.

The new contract will be aimed at the global market and is a significant development for FIDIC in an important area of the international engineering, construction and infrastructure industry. The task group will research the collaborative contracts currently in the market to establish a clear framework of the various approaches currently being taken to collaborative contracting, consider what collaborative contract options are available to FIDIC and identify a preferred collaborative contract solution.

Commenting on the setting up of the task group and the prospect of a new collaborative contract, FIDIC contracts committee chair Vincent Leloup said: “I am really pleased that FIDIC has started work on this exciting project. We have assembled a highly knowledgeable task group, chaired by Andrea Chao based in the Netherlands. Andrea is head of projects and construction (NL) at Simmons & Simmons LLP and has recently delivered similar project in her country which makes her very well placed to lead and understand the challenges of delivering a contract like this.”

The full membership of the task group is as follows: -

• Andrea Chao, Head of Projects and Construction (NL), Simmons & Simmons LLP (Chair).
• David Mosey, Professor, Kings College London, UK.
• Stefan Cifu-Hayward, Regional Legal Director, Colas, based in Paris.
• Jide Okanye, Barrister, Nigeria.
• Justin Masterson, Contract Manager,  based in Ireland.
• Mike Hunting, Head of Governance, Risk and Commercial, Atkins, UK.
• Andrew Dixon, Commercial Director, QS background, UK.
• Lyndon White, Independent Consultant, Collaborative Contracting and ADR, Australia.
• Taka Kimure/Antoine Calmes, ITER Representatives.

FIDIC contract committee liaison Kiri Parr commented: “From my discussions with the task group, I know that we have a diverse powerhouse of global professionals representing multiple parts of the industry, jurisdictions and perspectives. I have been blown away by everyone’s intelligence and passion for this topic and project and I can’t wait to get started on this crucial project for FIDIC and the international engineering, construction and infrastructure industry.”

FIDIC chief executive Dr Nelson Ogunshakin commented: “We are very pleased to have FIDIC kick off this initiative, as the first of many to come, as a means of increasing our portfolio of contract forms to address the demands from both advanced and developing countries for collaborative and partnering procurement arrangements on international contracts. Such collaborative contracts will be highly welcomed by the seven multilateral development banks and multinational private sector clients who have adopted FIDIC contracts as their preferred standards.”