An event affects the programme or the cost. The cause is clear, the impact is real, the documentation exists.
And yet, the right can be lost — not because the facts don’t support the position, but because the notice arrived late.
Notice is not an administrative formality attached to a claim. Under FIDIC, it can be the condition necessary for preserving the right to time or additional payment — regardless of how solid the facts and documents behind the position are.
WHAT MAKES NOTICE A CONDITION FOR PRESERVING THE RIGHT
Under FIDIC, notification is not just an administrative formality that accompanies a claim.
It can represent the contractual condition through which the right to time or additional payment is preserved.
Under the 2017 edition, Sub-Clause 20.2.1 requires the Notice of Claim to be submitted within 28 days of the claiming party becoming aware — or when it should have become aware — of the event or circumstance giving rise to the claim. Under earlier editions, the same mechanism was governed by Sub-Clause 20.1.
Missing the deadline can trigger the contractual time-bar mechanism and can result in the loss of the right to time or additional payment.
The 2017 edition, however, introduces a more nuanced mechanism than a straightforward automatic rejection. The Engineer must state whether it considers the notice to have been submitted late, and the claiming party may present, within the detailed claim, the arguments and circumstances relevant to the delay. The outcome must still be assessed against the full contractual mechanism, including the Particular Conditions and the governing law.
The practical principle remains the same: it is not enough for the event to exist and for the impact to be demonstrable. The right must be preserved through compliance with the applicable notice mechanism.
WHY THE WINDOW IS SO EASILY MISSED
The notice window is rarely missed through outright negligence. It’s missed through decisions that seem entirely reasonable in context.
The technical team notices an event but decides to wait and “see how it develops” before formalising it — reluctant to raise an alarm over something that might resolve itself.
Commercial waits for a clearer picture of the financial impact before notifying at all, so the notice can be “complete” from the outset.
Project management, focused on maintaining the relationship with the Employer, treats a formal notice as something that might be perceived as aggressive or uncooperative.
All of these hesitations are human, reasonable, even prudent from a relationship standpoint. But the contract doesn’t wait for full clarity. The clock runs from the moment of becoming aware of the event — not from the moment the impact is fully understood or quantified.
NOTICE DOESN’T NEED TO BE COMPLETE. IT NEEDS TO EXIST.
A common misconception is that a notice must contain the full substantiation — cause, programme impact, value claimed — before it can be submitted.
Most of the time, it doesn’t. The role of the initial notice is to record that an event with potential impact has occurred and that the right to claim it is reserved — not to deliver the complete analysis of consequences. The detail, quantification and substantiation can — and often should — follow separately, through supporting documentation the contract provides for.
Waiting for the “perfect notice” before sending anything at all is, in practice, the most common cause of missing the window. A simple notice, sent on time, stating the essentials — what event occurred, which contractual clause is being invoked, that the impact on time or cost will be quantified separately — protects the position. A complete analysis, sent two weeks late, protects nothing.
WHAT HAPPENS ONCE THE WINDOW CLOSES
Once the deadline is missed, the conversation shifts fundamentally.
It’s no longer about whether the event occurred, whether it actually caused delay or cost, or how strong the technical documentation is. It becomes about whether the right to raise the claim still exists at all.
This shift is often more costly than any technical weakness in the original claim. A technically strong position, backed by excellent evidence, can be entirely neutralised by a single procedural argument: the notice came too late.
Experienced Employers and Engineers know this — and, in practice, checking the notice date is often the first thing examined before any discussion of the claim’s merits.
WHAT A DISCIPLINED NOTICE PRACTICE ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE
A functioning notice discipline requires actively identifying claim-triggering events as they occur — not at the end of the month, at the progress meeting.
It requires a simple notice, sent immediately, that reserves the right without waiting for the impact to be fully quantified.
It requires a clear line of ownership — who on the team is responsible for identifying these events, and who has the authority to sign and issue the notice — so the decision doesn’t stall in uncertainty about whose job it is.
And it requires treating notice as an instrument of contractual discipline, not as a confrontational gesture. A notice sent correctly and professionally does not damage the commercial relationship. A position lost because no one notified in time, does.
THE PRINCIPLE
A technically correct claim, backed by solid evidence, can be worth nothing at all if the contractual notice window was missed.
Notice is not the stage where it’s decided whether the claim is good. It’s the stage where it’s decided whether the claim can exist at all.
Technical merit matters enormously — but only once the right to invoke it has been actively preserved, on time.
How ACC TRUST Can Support
ACC TRUST supports contractors and subcontractors in protecting contractual rights through notice discipline, including:
- identifying the notice deadlines and mechanisms applicable under FIDIC and other contract forms used on the project;
- structuring internal processes for the early identification of claim-triggering events;
- preparing and reviewing formal notices for procedural compliance;
- clarifying notice authority and responsibility within the project team;
- retrospective assessment of positions where notice deadlines are already uncertain or contested.
For independent support with claims strategy and contract administration:
Explore ACC TRUST services:
→ https://acctrust.ro/en/services
Discuss a specific project:
→ office@acctrust.ro
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