FIDIC EOT Notice Deadline & Late Notice Tool

Calculate your notice deadline

Use the date you became aware — or should have become aware — of the event or circumstance. The FIDIC presets use 28 calendar days; always verify the executed Contract, Particular Conditions and notice-service requirements.

Contract basis The presets reflect the standard forms. Particular Conditions or amendments may change the period, trigger, recipient or service requirements.

Claim awareness date Use the date you became aware — or should have become aware — of the event or circumstance.

Notice period

Counting basis FIDIC presets default to calendar days. Use business days only when your executed contract expressly requires that basis.

Delay event

Project name (optional)

Issuing party Choose the party giving the notice so the generated draft uses the correct contractual role.

Relevant entitlement / event clause (optional) Enter a clause only if you have identified it from the executed contract. This tool does not determine entitlement.

Brief event description (optional)

Notice recipient (optional)

Your result

Enter the awareness date and click Calculate deadline. Your result and draft notice will appear here.

Calculated

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Potential notice time-bar risk — act now

Issue a protective notice without waiting for the full EOT analysis.
Verify the actual awareness date and the contractual trigger for notice.
Review earlier letters, RFIs, emails, meeting minutes and site records for any communication that may be relevant to notice compliance.
Check the Particular Conditions, amendments, notice recipient, service method and governing law.
Record the factual circumstances relevant to the timing of formal notification and preserve the supporting evidence.

Circumstances relevant to timing of notice (optional) State facts only. Avoid admitting that the notice is late, waived, or ineffective unless that position has been professionally assessed.

Awareness date—

Notice period—

Contract basis—

Counting assumption—

Draft protective notice

Preserve these records now

Relevant baseline and contemporaneous programme update
Instruction, RFI, drawing or correspondence establishing the event
Daily reports, photographs and site diaries
Labour, plant and subcontractor records where relevant
Mitigation, resequencing and recovery records

Important: This is a planning and claims-support utility, not legal advice and not a determination of contractual entitlement. It calculates a date from the information you enter. Particular Conditions, amendments, governing law, deemed-awareness rules, communication/service provisions and project-specific procedures may change the actual notice requirement. Verify the executed Contract before relying on or issuing the result.

How to use the FIDIC EOT notice calculator

This free construction claims tool is designed for contractors, subcontractors, planners, commercial managers and claims teams who need a quick first check of an Extension of Time notice deadline. It does not analyse entitlement or critical delay; it helps you identify the procedural notice date and prepare a concise first notice while the detailed claim is being developed.

Select the applicable FIDIC edition or choose a custom / amended contract.
Enter the date you became aware — or should have become aware — of the event or circumstance.
Confirm the contractual notice period and calculate the deadline, then review the generated protective notice against the executed Contract before issue.

What the FIDIC 28-day notice rule means

Under the standard FIDIC 1999 claims procedure, the Contractor is required to give notice within 28 days after becoming aware, or when it should have become aware, of the event or circumstance giving rise to the claim. FIDIC 2017 retained a 28-day Notice of Claim period for claims for payment and/or Extension of Time. The executed Contract may amend these standard provisions, so the Particular Conditions must always be checked.

What to do when the EOT notice deadline has passed

Late notices are common on live projects, particularly where site teams focus first on solving the construction problem and formal claims administration follows later. A calculated missed deadline should be treated as a procedural risk requiring immediate action — not as an automatic conclusion that the claim is lost. Issue a protective notice promptly, verify the correct awareness date, review earlier project correspondence, check the executed Contract and Particular Conditions, and preserve the factual reason for the timing of the notice.

The calculator therefore switches to a late-notice workflow when the entered deadline has passed. It shows the approximate lateness, highlights the potential time-bar issue, provides an immediate action checklist and generates a protective notice that reserves the issuing party’s position rather than automatically describing the notice itself as late.

Why the first delay notice should be concise

The initial notice is not the full EOT claim. At notice stage, the priority is usually to identify the event, establish the relevant awareness date, state the potential time and/or cost effect, preserve contractual rights and begin maintaining the records needed for later substantiation. Detailed programme causation, concurrency, mitigation and quantum analysis normally follow under the applicable claims procedure.

What to do after issuing an EOT notice

Preserve the contemporaneous programme and project records, identify the affected activities, review the critical path at the time of the event, document mitigation and resequencing, and build a clear cause-and-effect chronology. A defensible EOT claim should connect the contractual event to the actual delay to completion using the project records and an appropriate delay-analysis methodology.

When does the FIDIC 28-day period start?

The standard wording uses the point when the claiming party became aware, or should have become aware, of the event or circumstance. Determining that date can be fact-sensitive, so use the calculator as a first procedural check and verify the contract and project record.

Is the notice the same as the full EOT claim?

No. The initial notice starts the contractual claims process. Further particulars and substantiation are normally required later, including the contractual basis, factual chronology, programme impact, records, mitigation and the extension of time claimed.

What if the calculated notice deadline has already passed?

Issue a protective notice without further delay and do not assume the claim is automatically lost. Verify the correct awareness date, review the executed Contract and Particular Conditions, check whether earlier project correspondence may be relevant to notice compliance, document the factual circumstances relevant to the timing of the notice, and obtain specialist contractual or legal advice where the claim is material.

Does this calculator prove EOT entitlement?

No. Notice compliance is only one part of an EOT claim. Entitlement also depends on the contract, the event, causation, critical-path effect, concurrency, mitigation and the supporting project records.

Reference: FIDIC's published contract guidance confirms the 28-day notice procedure and, for the 2017 forms, that the period runs from when the claiming party became aware or should have become aware of the event or circumstance. See FIDIC Contracts FAQ and FIDIC Clause 20 guidance.

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