Due to COVID-19 the Government of the Country has introduced new legislation that resulted in the closure of its borders to travel. This has resulted in a team of essential workers, recruited by the Contractor from abroad, not being able to travel to Site to commence with their work. The Contractor was not able to find adequately skilled workers to carry out the work in question locally and is dependent upon the skill and experience of the workers that it has recruited from abroad. For these reasons, the Contractor is not able to commence with certain critical activities, as per the construction program and thus fear that it will not be able to complete the works within the Time for Completion.

Question 2(c) 2(c)(i) What would the consequence be if the Engineer failed to give Notice of his determination in respect of the Contractor's Claim to the Contractor within 42 days after the claim was received? 2(c)(ii) What may or could the Contractor do should the Contractor decide not to accept that outcome and if wishes to push ahead with its Claim? Question 2(d) On the assumption that the Contractor relied upon a force majeure event in order to submit a claim, how would you, as the Engineer, in your response to the Contractor's substantiated claim, deal with the fact that the Contractor did not give a notice in terms of Sub-Clause 19.2 [Notice of Force Majeure] within 14 days after becoming aware of the event or circumstance in question. Question 2(e) Explain the fundamental differences relating to Employer's Claims when comparing the provisions of the 1999 and 2017 editions of the Red Book.