Sixty-eight open items at PC. Closed in ninety days.
Closing 68 open items and recovering 88% of final account value, against a 65-70% benchmark without structured close-out.
Representative scenario based on real contractor-side commercial issues. Details are combined and anonymised to protect confidentiality. Figures are indicative and used to show the commercial mechanics.
Situation
A Tier-2 contractor on a complex UAE utility project under FIDIC Red Book 2017 with substantive Particular Conditions. Practical Completion achieved. Sixty-eight open commercial items on the table: a mix of unresolved variations under Sub-Clause 13, claims under 20.2 at various stages, deductions disputed by the Engineer, and final-account items including retention release.
Complication
The default expectation across the project team was a six- to nine-month negotiation phase post-PC, with the Engineer holding open items in suspension until commercial pressure built. On comparable projects, that process typically costs the contractor 25-35% of headline value: items collapsing on detail, evidence weakening as project staff dispersed, and bargaining leverage compressed across 68 items being negotiated as a single bundle.
Approach
A four-stream close-out programme, started 30 days before PC and running parallel to handover. Stream 1: variations and claims at quotation stage closed individually to determination, each item presented with full cause-effect-evidence pack. Stream 2: items at Engineer determination stage pushed to 3.7 outcome, with DAAB referral prepared for any item where determination was unsatisfactory. Stream 3: deductions challenged item by item, with evidence appendices issued in parallel. Stream 4: final account negotiation reserved for the residual items not closed through the other streams.
Outcome
Fifty-one of 68 items closed within 90 days of PC. Eleven items closed through DAAB referral within a further 60 days. Six items moved to arbitration (where the contractor's position was strongest); five of the six ultimately settled at over 90% of claimed value. Aggregate recovery against headline value: 88%. Comparable benchmark from prior similar projects without the structured close-out: 65-70%.
Lessons
Final account is not a phase. It is the visible end of commercial discipline that should have been running throughout. The contractors who recover materially more at close-out are doing the work at month 12, month 18, month 24, not at PC.
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