Abstract:
The construction industry is a major economic driver in Sri Lanka. However, the
construction industry was significantly affected by the responses made by the Sri Lankan
government to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The effects of those
government responses on construction projects are diverse as time, cost, and qualityrelated
impacts. These effects resulted in numerous contractual effects that were mostly
to be dealt with reference to the provisions made in the standard forms of contracts such
as ICTAD/SBD/02 and FIDIC 1999 in Sri Lanka. Since no similar pandemic has affected
Sri Lanka at this magnitude before, neither ICTAD/SBD/02 nor FIDIC 1999 have been
drafted giving due consideration to such exceptional circumstances. Furthermore, no
studies that researched these kinds of aspects can be found in the existing literature.
Hence, this research aims to explore the effects of the responses made by the Sri Lankan
government to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic on the construction
industry and the possible adaptations of standard forms of contracts to address the
contractual implications of those effects to mitigate the effects on the contractual parties
in both building and civil engineering projects. A desk review was carried out to identify
the existing provisions of ICTAD/SBD/02 and FIDIC 1999 to overcome the effects of
pandemic situations, and three case studies, including two building projects and one
civil engineering project, were used for the empirical data collection. Representing
contractors, consultants, and employers, twelve semi-structured interviews were
conducted within the three case studies. The research findings reveal that a collaborative
approach with cost and time-sharing is the best approach to address the effects of a
pandemic situation. Furthermore, defining terminologies, developing transparency in
contractual relationships, and establishing an equal assessment basis can all aid in the
contractual development of the ICTAD/SBD/02. As a result, the study suggests
improving documentation practices, developing guidelines for amicable settlement, and
eliminating the adversarial effects of ICTAD/SBD/02 through an equal assessment
process. Thus, this research contributes to the further development of ICTAD/SBD/02
while also improving Sri Lankan building and civil engineering projects by reducing
contractual issues in future pandemics
