Extension of Time Claim Management and Dispute Avoidance in Public Construction Projects in Bangladesh: A Literature Review and Interview Study

Abstract

Construction delays in public works projects cannot usually be addressed through the scheduling process alone; rather, a structured contractual response is required that involves a renegotiation of responsibility, entitlement and time. This renegotiation takes place primarily through the exten-sion of time (EOT) claim, though in practice it is often poorly documented, institutionally limited, and disjointed. For dispute avoidance and project delivery performance, the quality of EOT claim management is particularly strategically important in the Bangladeshi public construction sector, which is known for its multi-layered approval chains, fragmentation of stakeholders and time over-runs.

This thesis explores the relationship between the quality of EOT claim management and dispute avoidance and project delivery in public construction projects in Bangladesh. It has adopted a two-phase qualitative research methodology involving a structured literature review to synthesize international academic research on EOT claims, delay analysis, documentation, contract admin-istration and dispute avoidance and nine semi-structured interviews with experienced practition-ers from both the contractor and consultant organizations and public-client organizations in Bang-ladesh. The data from interviews were analysed by themed analysis in NVivo 15.

The results show that four aspects of the quality of EOT administration (i.e. procedural discipline in notice-giving, contemporaneous documentation, the rigor of delay analysis, and closed-loop com-munications) collectively explain the likelihood of delay being absorbed in the contractual process or escalating to a formal dispute. A five-step pathway toward escalation is identified in which as individuals grow more resistant to trusting EOT administration, attitudes solidify, and ultimately, disagreements emerge in the implementation of EOTs that impact project delivery. Technical is-sues are compounded by institutional issues including the erosion of consultant independence and the length of the approval chain. This cultural resistance to written communication further exac-erbates the cultural-evidentiary paradox whereby the most important practices for substantiation of claims are the ones least linked to project culture.

The thesis concludes that EOT administration is necessary governance condition otherwise dispute will be impossible to prevent in the delivery of public construction in Bangladesh in a functional way, without depending on a single factor. Recommendations are provided for contractors, con-sultants, implementing agencies, and policy-makers, focusing on the need to keep consultants independent, to make the EOT clause consistent throughout the public procurement contract suite, and to build capacity for structured claim management.