The purpose of this article is to explore Employer's Claims within FIDIC Contracts.
The below article is based upon the FIDIC contract type and the terminology reflects this. Certain actions may be unavailable if you do not have the appropriate permissions. Please speak with your Superuser if this is the case.
The Employer's Claims module can be switched on by a Superuser within the admin panel.
To do this, enter the contract in the admin panel and select the Events menu.
Within the Event Preferences menu, there is a tick box for Employer's Claims. Select this and ensure to select the save icon.
Please note that once this has been switched on, it cannot be switched off.
You may also wish to ensure that the Party names on your contract are correct before completing this. The PDFs are configured to ensure that when a Claim is submitted, it will be signed off by the Employer. When a Claim or Detailed Claim is responded to, it will be signed off by the Employer's Representative. If you have any queries about the Party names, please reach out to cemarsupport@thinkproject.com.
Role Setup
The FIDIC contract type in CEMAR is set up for two Parties. If you wish to use the Employer's Claims module, you may wish to configure the roles available to ensure that only the appropriate users are able to create or respond to Claims and Detailed Claims.
For example, you may wish to create a role for the Employer that allows the creation of Claims and Detailed Claims and a separate role for the Employer's Representative to respond to Claims and Detailed Claims.
The 'Employer Full Permissions' role below is set up to allow for the creation and submission of Claims and Detailed Claims.
The 'Employer's Representative Full Permissions' role below is set up to allow the response to a Claim and Detailed Claim.
To access the register, firstly navigate the to left-hand expandable menu and select Registers followed by Claims.
Each event will be in one of the following states;
i) Draft – the claim is yet to be communicated (only visible to the Employer’s Party)
ii) DC Submitted – a response is pending or not required by the Employer
iii) Awaiting DC – awaiting a detailed claim to be submitted by the Employer's Representative
iv) Closed – implemented
v) Disapproved – claim has been rejected by the Employer
Once a detailed claim (DC) or Employer's Representative's Decision (ERD) has been submitted against a claim, a plus sign will appear in the far left column. When selected, this will expand the event to show further details:
As well as a reference number for each event, claims are also given a change control reference, which is located in the CC Ref column.
If the tick box in the column TBD is selected, this indicates the Employer has made their intent to assess the claim.
At the bottom of register there is a totals bar that displays the total values (price and days) of implemented claims (blue text) and current estimations (dark text):
Start by navigating to the left-hand expandable menu and selecting Create New followed by Claim.
This will open a new window in which you may enter the title, type and details of the claim. The fields highlighted in red below are required to be filled in before the event can be communicated:
Once this has been completed, select Send / Progress to communicate the event.
This will automatically create a draft detailed claim which can be located in the Detailed Claims / ERD tab within the claim:
This will also now appear within the change control register, as identified by the claim's new CC reference.
This will now also be visible within the Employer’s reminders page to prompt a response from the Employer's Representative.
The event will also appear in the Employer's reminders to prompt the submission of a detailed claim.
Once a claim is communicated, a draft claim is automatically created and will appear in the Employer's reminders page.
To submit the detailed claim, navigate to the Detailed Claims / ERD tab within the original claim and click on the draft event to open it.
You will then be displayed with the below edit form in which you can enter the type, details and impacts of the claim. The fields outlined in red below are mandatory:
The impact on value and days may be set as zero if required.
Selecting Interim Claim or Final Claim opens different options for the Employer to select once the event is communicated.
Selecting Send / Progress will communicate the detailed claim and it will now appear in the Employer's reminders.
When a claim is communicated by the Employer, a reminder will appear in the Employer’s reminders page.
Selecting the event from the reminders page, or entering it from the claims register will open the original claim for the Employer to evaluate.
To reply to the claim, navigate to the Response tab.
Within this tab there are four options to choose from:
i) Pending
ii) Response not required – this will disable the response tab
iii) Not valid as Claim notified later than 28 days – this also disables the response tab
iv) Instruct enhanced records – this instructs the Employer to submit further details
When a detailed claim is communicated, a reminder will appear in the Employer’s reminders.
To enter the detailed claim, you may either select it from the reminders page or navigate to the claims register and open the claim.
Navigate to the Detailed Claims / ERD tab and and select the detailed claim:
To reply to the detailed claim, navigate back to the Reply tab.
There are a number of options to choose from and this varies on the type of claim it is:
Interim Claim
i) Pending
ii) Approve in principle with comment – awaiting final claim
iii) Disapproval with comment – disapproves the claim and supersedes
Final Claim
i) Pending
ii) Approve and agreed – implements the claim and the status update within the register
iii) Approve in principle and give notice will determine iv) Disapproval with comment