UNDERSTANDING THE ENGINEER’S ROLE IN ADMINISTERING THE CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT

Abstract

The role of the Engineer has been carried out by the design consulting firm, traditionally in charge of not just designing and providing technical supervision for the construction work, but also of administrating the construction contract and further assisting in adjudication and arbitration processes in the case of disputes arising along the way. However, due to the increase of the projects’ size and complexity, employers nowadays tend to assign other entities for handling the managerial and administrative tasks normally required of the Engineer. Using the FIDIC's 1999 Red Book as a platform, the Engineer's roles have been systematically identified on a clause-by-clause basis, and various statistics as to the roles’ frequency are offered. A method has been devised to properly classify these identified roles. The proposed classification is based on parameters and attributes which include: the exact deduced role; the role’s timing and frequency of application; the time-barring stipulated for its application; the role’s nature, being reactive, proactive, or passive; the role fulfillment capacity; and the role fulfillment exclusivity. The outcome of this work offers employers with a profound understanding of the roles expected of the Engineer in administrating the construction contract, particularly assisting in the apportionment of these roles between or among multiple employer-appointed entities, when such a split in role-assignment is deemed desirable by employers.