The Caribbean Development Bank has renewed and expanded a major agreement to use FIDIC standard contracts for a further five years.
International engineering federation FIDIC (the International Federation of Consulting Engineers) has renewed and expanded a major agreement with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) that will now see the international funding organisation adopt the use of 12 FIDIC standard contracts for the next five years.
CDB is the leading source for development financing in the Caribbean and is committed to supporting inclusive and sustainable growth and good governance in the region. The bank has 19 borrowing member countries and a further nine non-borrowing members and has total assets of $3.43bn.
Under the terms of the agreement, FIDIC has granted the CDB a non-exclusive licence to refer to 12 major FIDIC contracts for projects they finance and the documents will be used as part of the bank’s standard bidding documents. The list of contracts now include the reprints of the 2022 FIDIC Rainbow Suite, the latest FIDIC Green book 2021 and the Emerald Book contract for Underground Works and the Dredgers contract.
The suite of contracts covered by the agreement with FIDIC covers a wide range of international construction and infrastructure work and the CDB’s move represents a further key endorsement for FIDIC contracts from a major international funding organisation, following similar agreements signed with the World Bank and many other multilateral development banks around the world.
FIDIC president Catherine Karakatsanis said: “I am delighted that the CDB has renewed and expanded its agreement with FIDIC to be used as an accepted form of contract for use with their standard bidding documents. As well as being another major development for FIDIC, this move will create more certainty in the market, as by facilitating the use of FIDIC contacts on major projects the CDB is saying that they endorse the fair and balanced approach that these documents offer to parties on major construction contracts. We know that the certainty that FIDIC contracts bring make it easier to get projects underway as many of the common commercial risks are clearly addressed in the contracts and all parties understand their obligations and responsibilities.
“I look forward to the CDB’s continuing endorsement of these contracts providing additional comfort to the financial, institutional and private equity investors operating in the global market to adopt the use of FIDIC standard procurement contracts as an effective tool to mitigate the risk associated with major infrastructure projects and assets.”
Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Therese Turner-Jones, acting vice president of operations at the Caribbean Development Bank, said: “We are delighted to be renewing this agreement with FIDIC, as it provides our clients with the ability to use internationally recognised and balanced forms of contract to further their project-specific and development objectives across the Caribbean region and beyond. We have found the FIDIC forms to be very effective and we look forward to working with FIDIC for another five years.”
