A contract is signed on a large construction project. The parties leave the table and the teams move to the field. Months pass. Payments are delayed, schedules are stalling, and the engineers on each side are producing different calculations. The matter is not yet a formal dispute, but both parties can sense where it is heading.
This is precisely the moment when a mechanism that has become standard in international construction projects can step in: DAAB, the Dispute Avoidance and Adjudication Board. In Turkey, however, this mechanism is most often removed during contract negotiations. Why?
What Is DAAB?
DAAB stands for Dispute Avoidance and Adjudication Board. It features at the centre of the contract suite updated by FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, in 2017. It is an independent panel of experts that remains active from the beginning of a project to its end.
DAAB’s predecessor, the DAB (Dispute Adjudication Board) introduced in 1999, only became involved once a dispute had already arisen. The 2017 update added the word ‘Avoidance’ to the name. This small change reflects a significant philosophical shift: preventing disputes from forming, rather than resolving them after the fact.
How Does It Work?
The DAAB is established within 28 days of contract signing. It typically consists of three independent experts with backgrounds in engineering, law, and contract management. These three individuals move with the project.
The board visits the site at regular intervals, reviews monthly reports, and holds meetings with the parties. When a disagreement arises but has not yet become a formal dispute, the parties can request an informal opinion from the DAAB. At this stage, the board does not issue a binding decision. But an assessment from an independent eye that both parties trust is often enough to unblock a stalled negotiation.
When a disagreement escalates into a formal dispute, the DAAB exercises its adjudication authority. Its decision is binding. If neither party objects within 28 days, the decision becomes final. If an objection is raised, arbitration can follow, but the DAAB decision continues to apply until the arbitration is concluded.
Why Is It So Valuable?
The real strength of DAAB does not come from its adjudication authority. It comes from the fact that it knows the project.
An arbitral tribunal is constituted after the dispute has already emerged. It reviews files, hears witnesses, and issues a decision. This process takes months, sometimes years. During that period the project either stops or limps forward; in either case the costs accumulate.
The DAAB, by contrast, breathes alongside the project. The board members handling a payment dispute have seen with their own eyes the variation in works that gave rise to it. They have known from the beginning how the parties communicate, where they get stuck, and what is contested. This contextual knowledge makes DAAB decisions both faster and far more accurate.
International data confirms this. Research by the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation shows that well-functioning DAAB mechanisms can reduce dispute costs on large-scale projects by up to eighty percent. Projects are completed without reaching arbitration, relationships are preserved, and contracting parties retain the confidence to work together again on the next project.
The Situation in Turkey
Turkey is among the countries that frequently use FIDIC contracts in international construction projects. Turkish contractors are active on major projects at a global scale, and domestically the sector spans from public infrastructure to private construction.
There is, however, a critical contradiction: Turkish parties are widely observed to remove DAAB clauses from their contracts. Legal commentary examining this practice reaches the same conclusion; reluctance toward DAAB remains a distinctly Turkish pattern.
Several reasons consistently come to the surface.
The cost perception
The most common objection to DAAB is cost. Keeping three independent experts active throughout the life of a project, funding their site visits and meetings, represents an additional expense. But this calculation is incomplete. The cost of establishing a DAAB is modest when compared to the legal fees of arbitration or litigation, the cost of project delays, and the sometimes irreversible damage to a business relationship. FIDIC’s own recommendation is consistent with this: on projects carrying significant dispute risk, a DAAB delivers savings that far exceed its setup cost.
Lack of familiarity
The DAB concept has featured in contracts in Turkey since 1999. But the ‘avoidance’ dimension introduced by DAAB in 2017, its proactive intervention role, has not yet been widely discussed in Turkey’s construction and legal sectors. The gap between knowing the mechanism exists and using it effectively has not been closed.
Enforcement uncertainty
Turkish law contains no specific provision governing the enforcement of DAAB decisions. This gap discourages parties from relying on the mechanism. In international practice, however, this issue is settled: a party that fails to comply with a DAAB decision is treated as being in breach of contract, and that breach can be enforced through arbitration. FIDIC 2017 contains explicit provisions to this effect.
What Did the December 2024 FIDIC Practice Note Introduce?
In December 2024, FIDIC published a new practice note strengthening the dispute avoidance function of the DAAB. According to the note, five core tasks are assigned to the board: holding an ‘opening meeting’ before the project begins, building a relationship of trust with the parties, determining when and how dispute avoidance should be activated, helping the parties identify which matters are suitable for the avoidance process, and actively shaping the form of dialogue.
This note marks an important step toward repositioning the DAAB from a reactive decision-making body to a proactive management tool. In other words: not a fire extinguisher, but a smoke detector.
What Does This Mean for Turkey?
Two concrete developments lie ahead for Turkey.
First, DAAB is becoming increasingly mandatory in projects financed by multilateral development banks such as the World Bank, EBRD, and IFC. The number of infrastructure projects in Turkey subject to this type of financing is growing. Regardless of whether the mechanism is included in the contract, understanding and applying DAAB will become unavoidable for those seeking to meet the standards required by international financiers.
Second, the use of FIDIC 2017 is expanding in Turkey. In this contract suite, DAAB is defined as the default mechanism. That means it is something the parties must actively remove, not add. Parties encountering this clause in contract negotiations need to understand the mechanism, evaluate it on its merits, and make a conscious decision about whether to retain or exclude it.
How Does It Relate to Mediation?
DAAB does not replace mediation. The two serve different stages and different needs.
Mediation places the parties’ willingness to reach agreement at its centre and seeks a resolution in a confidential dialogue setting. DAAB, by contrast, is a mechanism in which an independent board equipped with project-specific technical knowledge performs both a preventive and an adjudicative function. Considered together, the two can form a multi-layered dispute management architecture for large infrastructure projects: DAAB moves with the project, mediation focuses on preserving the relationship, and arbitration remains as a last resort.
This layered approach is becoming the standard framework for international construction projects. Turkey’s familiarity with this architecture will contribute directly to the sector’s international competitiveness and to the success of individual projects.
References
FIDIC. (2017). Conditions of Contract for Construction (Red Book), 2nd Edition. fidic.org.
FIDIC. (2024). Practice Note II: Dispute Avoidance, Focusing on Dispute Boards. fidic.org.
Dispute Resolution Board Foundation. (2024). Dispute Board Concept. drbf.org.
Ak Gungor, C. (2023). Construction Disputes in Turkey: What to Expect. Daily Jus / ISTAC.
Cetinel Law Firm. (2024). The Enforcement of DAB Decisions in Arbitration. Daily Jus.
Kesikli Law Firm. (2025). Dispute Adjudication Boards: Best Practices and Insights from FIDIC’s December 2024 Practice Note. kesikli.com.
HKA. (2025). Dispute Avoidance/Adjudication Boards: Dos and Don’ts. hka.com.
Linklaters. (2023). New FIDIC Practice Note: Dispute Avoidance, Focusing on Dispute Boards. linklaters.com.
International Bar Association. (2024). On Adjudication Boards in Construction Matters. ibanet.org.
