In the context of the long-term impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on our country’s socio-economic situation, disputes in construction contracts are expected to be complicated, especially in construction projects that apply contract dispute resolution mechanism through Dispute Adjudication Board, but there are no specific laws and guidelines in our country.

Problems and inadequacies related to the construction contract dispute resolution mechanism through the Dispute Adjudication Board for many projects using official assistance (ODA), concessional loans from foreign sponsors using the FIDIC construction contract form need to be resolved by many ministries in negotiating capital financing, bidding, construction, and justice. FIDIC’s construction contract form is commonly applied in projects using ODA capital, foreign concessional loans and many projects using the contract dispute settlement mechanism through the Dispute Adjudication Board (DAB) or another name is the Dispute Board (DB), but have not really studied deeply from the beginning, so there have been and will encounter many problems. The difficulty and inadequacy is that there is no Vietnamese law or guideline that refers to the dispute resolution mechanism through the DAB, except for the concept of “Dispute Settlement Board” mentioned in Article 45, Decree No. 37/2015/ND-CP of the Government detailing construction contracts but different from the nature of the DAB under the FIDIC contract. Dispute settlement mechanism with DAB under the FIDIC contract is a construction contract management mechanism, limiting formal disputes if the standing DAB is used properly; The decision of the DAB is binding and final for employer, contractor, and consultant if one of the contracting parties does not give notice of dissatisfaction with the DB/DAB’s decision. within the agreement period. DAB members are unanimously selected by the employer and the contractor, which may include a single member or three members, who are experts with experience in the field of construction for which the contractor performs the contract, knowledgeable how to interpret contract documents, fluent in the main language of the contract. Remuneration and operating expenses of DAB members will be paid by the employer and the contractor as agreed, half borne by each party. This is the construction contract dispute resolution mechanism recommended by FIDIC if it is suitable with the laws of the country; International financial institutions recommend applying in the projects they finance. At recent international seminars on the use of construction contracts held by FIDIC, JICA delegates always emphasized the mandatory application and the condition for negotiating financial arrangements for projects. Experience in some ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, the Dispute Adjudication Board model can only be implemented when it has been institutionalized in the Indonesian Construction Services Law 2017.

In fact in Vietnam, many projects applying this mechanism are very confused in the constitution of DAB, about the funding source for payment of remuneration to DAB members, especially the recognition of the DAB mechanism because there are no specific laws.

With the responsibility and role of a socio-professional organization and sole Member of FIDIC in Vietnam, in Document No. 77/2021/CV-VECAS dated September 6, 2021, the Leaders of the Vietnam Engineering Consultant Association has reported and proposed to the Prime Minister and Government agencies to consider, review and study the suitability with Vietnam and issue synchronous legal regulations for the dispute resolution in the construction contract, creating conditions for relevant organizations and individuals to perform their tasks effectively and in accordance with the law.