The second day of FIDIC’s International Contract Users’ Conference in London on 4 December 2024 was opened by FIDIC’s president-elect Alfredo Ingletti, co-founder and chairman of the Italian consultancy firm 3TI Progetti, who highlighted the day’s packed agenda which included a much anticipated and very topical session exploring the application of AI in procurement, contracting, contract management and dispute resolution.
The first session of the day, Global Project Highlights, chaired by Fenwick Elliott partner Nicholas Gould, showcased a selection of noteworthy projects from around the world and offered insights into some of the diverse approaches and innovations in infrastructure development. The range of projects highlighted during the session demonstrated the global use of FIDIC contracts in various sectors.
Koray Ateş, international tenders and business development manager at Yuksel Proje, discussed the Marmaray Tunnel project, a 13.5 km (8.4 mi) long undersea railway tunnel in Istanbul, Turkey, beneath the Bosporus strait, linking Kazlıçeşme, Zeytinburnu in Europe with Ayrılıkçeşmesi in Asia. Jacob C Jørgensen, associate general counsel at Femern, talked about the Fehmarn fixed link project from Copenhagen to Hamburg, which contains the world’s longest immersed tunnel. He outlined the project and reflected on its financing model. Bree Miechel, partner at Ashurst (pictured below), spoke about the Humelink project, which is made up of 385km of 500-kilovolt (kV) transmission lines that will travel from Wagga Wagga and Maragle to Bannaby in Australia. She highlighted that in her view Australia wass becoming more receptive to FIDIC forms of contract, citing the Snowy Hydro 2.0 Contract as an example of this trend.
Following this, a Collaboration Conundrum session examined the case for collaborative contracts and introduced FIDIC’s approach towards relational contracts, presenting its collaborative contract framework along with key concepts and contractual provisions. During the session, chaired by Vincent Leloup, chair of the FIDIC contracts committee, panellists highlighted that “disputes don’t suddenly arise” they can be foreseen, prepared for and mitigated, especially when the contract parties work together. Speakers also discussed why collaborative contracting matters, the issues in the construction industry that it aims to combat, what needs to be done to make it happen, how to bring along those who never worked in this way to do so and an overview of FIDIC’s task group 17’s work on a collaborative contract and a broad timeline for the next steps to publication.
The Collaboration Conundrum session was followed by the much-anticipated session on the use of AI in procurement and contracting, which looked at the application of AI in procurement, contracting, contract management and dispute resolution. The session, chaired by Stacy Sinclair, partner and head of technology and innovation at Fenwick Elliott, saw panellists take a look at some practical examples of how AI has been and is being used by various project participants and discuss its impact on project efficiency and the decision-making processes.
“We are seeing the use of AI across the project lifecycle and used properly and ethically it can make a massive positive difference to our industry,” Sinclair said. FIDIC has embraced AI in its initiatives, she said, recently working with EY on a groundbreaking industry report on AI and infrastructure and the FIDIC digital transformation committee is also taking a deeper dive into the issues too.
The session covered a lot of ground on an issue where there was clearly a great deal of interest from those present, including how AI is being used in contracts and procurement, data management aspects and expert analytics, claims preparation, the efficiencies made and benefits to clients, issues arising from using AI tools and the use of AI tools in analysing claims, providing legal advice and resolving disputes.
The penultimate session of the conference on Construction Adjudication, application of DAABs and Dispute Avoidance looked at some of the latest industry developments around construction adjudication and the application of DAABs. Speakers in the session, chaired by FIDIC general counsel Daduna Kokhreidze, presented FIDIC’s newly launched Practice Note on the Appointment of Dispute Boards, which offers guidance to those appointing dispute boards on their projects. The session also reported some exclusive pre-release findings from a global survey on the worldwide use of dispute boards conducted by King’s College London. The survey was based on six years of dispute board practice and 12 months of research, with 173 graphs of information collected from 213 respondents from 4,019 dispute boards reporting.
In the final session of the conference, chaired by Husni Madi, CEO of Shura Construction Management, participants focused on focus on arbitration practices within FIDIC contracts and offered insights from experienced arbitrators. Speakers addressed a range of issues including arbitration under FIDIC Contracts, with practical case examples highlighting the conflicts of interest, the growing use of expedited arbitration rules and the enforcement of DAAB decisions through arbitration. The session also discussed the growing use of expedited arbitration rules and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) new Model Clause on Adjudication, and its highly expedited compliance arbitration to enforce the decision of the adjudicator. Speakers also discussed the enforcement of DAAB decisions through arbitration under both civil and common law.
Summing up the conference, FIDIC president Catherine Karakatsanis said that she never ceased to be impressed by the enthusiasm, interest and involvement of FIDIC’s contract users at events like the International Contract Users’ Conference. “FIDIC relies on your input and feedback to ensure that we keep our contracts up to date and in tune with the latest industry developments and we really appreciate the time you have taken out of your busy schedules, not only to attend the conference but to also participate so enthusiastically in the discussions, Q&A sessions, workshops and forums,” she said.
Future FIDIC contract users’ events include an online regional FIDIC contract users’ event for North America in 2025, the annual ICC/FIDIC international construction contracts and dispute resolution conference and the Official FIDIC International Contract Users Conference 2025 in London.
FIDIC is grateful for the support it has received from the sponsors of the 2024 Official FIDIC International Contract Users Conference. Thanks go to strategic partner Fenwick Elliott, platinum sponsors White & Case and CMS, gold sponsors Pinsent Masons, HFW and Lupa Technology, the welcome reception and silver sponsor Howard Kennedy and bronze sponsor Oracle.
