International Construction Law Review
FIDIC INTRODUCES THE DBO FORM OF CONTRACT—THE NEW GOLD BOOK FOR DESIGN, BUILD AND OPERATE PROJECTS
CHRISTOPHER WADE1
Consulting Engineer, Kent, England 2
I. INTRODUCTION
FIDIC will be publishing in 2008 a new form of contract for Design, Build and Operate Projects. The Gold Book will join FIDIC’s “rainbow” of standard forms for various types of international engineering projects. The current series of standard conditions of contract from 1999 comprise the “new3
Red Book” for engineering construction works designed by the employer,4
the “new5
Yellow Book” for plant and design-build and the “Silver Book” for EPC6
/Turnkey projects, both having design by the contractor. FIDIC’s current rainbow also includes the “Green Book” from 1999—the “Short Form of Contract”—for engineering works of limited value and shorter implementation time or works of uncomplicated or repetitive nature, as well as the Dredgers Contract for Dredging and Reclamation Works from 2006, and the “White Book”, recently updated in 2006, for agreements between clients and their consultants.7
The new “Gold Book” for Design, Build and Operate (DBO) Projects is a development of, and based on, the new Yellow Book, and is intended for projects where the employer wishes the contractor who has designed and constructed a facility to continue to operate and maintain that facility for a number of years. FIDIC realised some time ago that many developers and owners/authorities would welcome a standard form to cover not only the construction or implementation of a facility, e.g., a water treatment plant, a power generation plant or a factory, but also its operation after completion of construction.
FIDIC’s Contracts Committee therefore appointed a Task Group to study the requirements and prepare such a contract form. The Task Group under the leadership of Michael Mortimer Hawkins, a past-chairman of FIDIC’s
1 Chairman 1999–2006 of FIDIC’s Contracts Committee. Arbitrator and adjudicator.
2 Chris Wade Consulting Engineer Ltd, Sharsted Court, Newnham, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 0JU, England; e-mail: chris.wade2@btopenworld.com
3 “New” as opposed to the “old” Red Book with Fourth Edition from 1987.
4 “Employer” is FIDIC’s term for the owner, the developer or the promoter of the project.
5 “New” as opposed to the “old” Yellow Book with Third Edition from 1987.
6 EPC means “Engineering, Procurement and Construction”, roughly the US equivalent of the European term “Turnkey”.
7 Consulting engineers or other professional advisers.
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The New Gold Book for DBO Projects
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