CONS

(d)

omission of any work unless it is to be carried

out by others,

(e)

any additional work, Plant, Materials or

services necessary for the Permanent Works,
including any associated Tests on
Completion, boreholes and other testing and
exploratory work, or

(f)

changes to the sequence or timing of the

execution of the Works.

P&DB

EPCT

The Contractor shall not make any alteration and/or

modification of the Permanent Works, unless and
until the Engineer instructs or approves a Variation.
RB 18 & 51; YB 31; OB 14.1

Having received an instruction to execute a Variation, the Contractor must comply

with it unless he promptly gives the notice described in the second paragraph of
this Sub-Clause. He may be unable readily to obtain the Goods, which are the
Contractor's Equipment, Materials, Plant and Temporary Works required for the
Variation. Under P&DB/EPCT, he may have concerns regarding his design
responsibilities, such as safety, suitability or achievement of performance criteria.
Under EPCT, the instruction should state that it is a Variation, because of EPCT 3.4.
If the Contractor gives notice under the second paragraph, the notice and
supporting particulars should be studied carefully, by CONS' or P&DB's Engineer
or EPCT's Employer, before the Variation is cancelled, confirmed or varied:
-

If the Variation is confirmed and not varied, the confirmation should be in

writing and address the issues raised in the Contractor's notice.

If the Variation is itself varied, it may be a new "Variation", to which the

Contractor may respond by giving a new notice under the second
paragraph.

CONS 13.1 continues by listing the broad extent to which the Engineer may
instruct Variations. Under sub-paragraph (a), Variations may involve changes in
quantities, but a change in the quantity of an item in the Bill of Quantities does not
necessarily constitute a Variation. For example, the final volume of general
218

excavation is typically not exactly identical to the Bill quantity for this work, without
there having been any Variation. See also CONS 12.3(a).
CONS 13.1(d) empowers the Engineer to instruct omissions, to which CONS 12.4
refers, unless the work is to be carried out by others. A similar provision and
restriction are contained in the first paragraph of P&DB/EPCT 13.1.
CONS 13.1(f) empowers the Engineer to instruct "changes to the sequence or
timing of the execution of the Works". However, "changes to the timing of the
execution" only empowers the Engineer to instruct changes to the timing of
execution operations, not to the timing of completion. In other words, the Engineer
is not empowered to instruct the Contractor to complete major parts (or all) of the
Works or any Section before the relevant Time for Completion expires.
Acceleration to complete within the Time for Completion is covered in Sub-Clause
8.6. Acceleration to complete prior to the Time for Completion is covered in the
first sentence of Sub-Clause 13.2. This "Time for Completion" is defined in SubClause 1.1.3.3 as including extensions of time due under Sub-Clause 8.4. If the
Engineer (under CONS or P&DB) or Employer (under EPCT) fails to determine
extensions of time in accordance with Sub-Clauses 8.4 and 20.1:
-

there would thereafter be no "Time for Completion" (time is said to be "at

large"),
FIDIC 2000