Scope Creep-Silver and Yellow Book of FIDIC

Dear Francis,

A mess can happen on any type of Contract if the people are not experienced and the management is absent!

Scope creep is the result of lack of managment not the type of Contract. Each FIDIC Book is produced to provide a balanced contract between the two parties and minimize the risk to them depending on the experience of Consultants, Contractors, and specialist for the past 80 years.

With kind regards,

Samer

Dear Samer,

With due respect to your comment, I am disagreeing to your point of Mismanagement being the cause of Scope Creep.As you pointed out, Scope Creep happens in any form of contract and it is obviously due to the Clients’ additional requirements or any deviation from the Scope Baseline.Mismanagement could result in Cost & Schedule Overrun due to Improper handling of Scope changes in the Project.

The provisions/conditions set forthwith Yellow Book Contracts, gives room for the Engineer to contribute more to result in a Scope Creep, which I feel shall be consistently defined to remove any unambiguity in defining the contract conditions.

Appreciate your take on this.

Cheers

Hi Francis

Isn’t "Improper handling of Scope changes in the Project" one the most common forms of mismanagement?

Best regards

Mike Testro

Dear Francis,

The Contract scope is determined at the start in the bidding stage and before the signature of the Contract.

When the scope is increased due to several reasons, it might be additional quantities or changes in design or other requirements, it is up to the Client to approve or reject the additional works. The Contract type has nothing to do with the additional works or change in requirements!

If the project is properly reviewed by experienced people at the design stage, then the requirements should have been properly incorporated into the design and issued in drawings and BOQs. If the design drawings are not sufficiently developed or the client changes the function, then this is not the fauly of the Contract type. This is mismanagement before the award of the Contract.

The worst and most expensive change, is the change during contruction. This should be minimized as much as possible. It is all about the project managment. Maybe it is ok, maybe not!

With kind regard,

Samer