Administering Variations and Claims Without Losing the Record

A variation is not a failure of planning; it is a contractual mechanism with its own instruction route, valuation formula, sanction ceiling and clock. This advisory sets out how that mechanism works under the CPWD General Conditions of Contract as amended in December 2023, the Ministry of Finance Manual for Procurement of Works, and the MoRT&H standard EPC agreement, and shows where the record has to be built before it is needed — for the moment when a claim is contested and the only thing that counts is what was written down, by whom, and when.

Part of AECS Research Global's publications programme — drawing on ARG's work across cost management, EPC advisory and integrated project delivery. Download the full report below.