Under the FIDIC Conditions of Contract, the Engineer may delegate any of the duties and powers vested in him to the Engineer’s Representative. Nevertheless, some of the delegated duties and powers might require prior approval from the Employer. The “Delegation of Authority by the Engineer” letter should identify the normally delegated clauses which deal with duties or powers of a more routine nature or which have little contractual or financial significance as well as the clauses containing powers or duties which the Engineer may or may not choose to delegate. Any such delegation or revocation shall be in writing and shall not take effect until a copy thereof has been delivered to the Employer and the Contractor.
Using Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) like PMWeb help in automating the process for issuing the Delegation of Authority by the Engineer letter. PMWeb form builder module will be used to capture the fields needed for the letter such as the Resident Engineer’s name and title, the effective date of the delegation, and letter issuance date among others.
In addition, the form will include a table that will list all duties and powers that might be delegated by the Engineer. The table will list the FIDIC contract sub-clauses reference, sub-clauses title, and whether the duties and powers that are part of this sub-clause will be delegated or not. As an option, the table could also include a field to verify if this was approved by the Employer or not.
The attachment tab will be used to keep a copy of the formal Delegation of Authority by the Engineer letter that has been issued to the Employer and Contractor. Of course, the attachment tab could include other documents such as the Resident Engineer CV and other details.
The workflow tab will capture the review, approval, and final approval steps before the Delegation of Authority by the Engineer letter is formally issued to the Contractor. The workflow steps could also include the Employer who needs to approve the delegation before it is formally communicated to the Contractor.
The formal communication template of the Delegation of Authority by the Engineer letter will be created in PMWeb using the PMWeb Word module. The letter will capture the fields from the Delegation of Authority by the Engineer form which will also include the table for delegated and not delegated FIDIC contract clauses.
About the Author
Bassam Samman, PMP, PSP, EVP, GPM is a Senior Project Management Consultant with more than 35-year service record providing project management and controls services to over 100 projects with a total value of over US $5 Billion. Those projects included Commercial, Residential, Education and Healthcare Buildings and Infrastructure, Entertainment and Shopping Malls, Oil and Gas Plants and Refineries, and Telecommunication and Information Technology projects. He is thoroughly experienced in complete project management including project management control systems, computerized project control software, claims analysis/prevention, risk analysis/management (contingency planning), design, supervision, training, and business development.
Bassam is a frequent speaker on topics relating to Project Management, Strategic Project Management, and Project Management Personal Skills. Over the past 35 years, he has lectured at more than 350 events and courses at different locations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and South America. He has written more than 250 articles on project management and project management information systems that were featured in international and regional magazines and newspapers. He is a co-founder of the Project Management Institute- Arabian Gulf Chapter (PMI-AGC) and has served on its board of directors for more than 6 years. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), a certified Planning and Scheduling Professional (PSP), and Earned Value Professional (EVP) from the American Association of Cost Engineers (AACE) and Green Project Management (GPM).
Bassam holds a Masters in Engineering Administration (Construction Management) with Faculty Commendation, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, Bachelor in Civil Engineering – Kuwait University, Kuwait and has attended many executive management programs at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA and London Business School, London, UK.