The 5 th World Construction Symposium 2016: Greening Environment, Eco Innovations & Entrepreneurship 29-31 July 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka 534 USE OF PROVISIONAL SUMS IN THE UAE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY Krisanthi Seneviratne * , Ahmad Feras Arar and Hagir Hakim School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Herriot Watt University Dubai Campus, UAE ABSTRACT Provisional sums are widely used in the FIDIC (Red Book) forms of contract in the UAE construction industry. The practices on dealing with provisional sums have exposed the contracting parties to a number of risks. Therefore, this research aimed at identifying such risks and mitigation measures to limit such risks in using provisional sums in the UAE. The research started with a comprehensive literature review followed by a questionnaire survey among the UAE construction industry professionals. Based on the survey findings, six semi-structured interviews were conducted with expertise in the construction industry to verify the survey findings and close any gaps in the data. The study found that provisional sums are mainly used in the FIDIC (Red Book) forms of contract in the UAE for special works, contingencies, the works which can be only defined in the site, facilitating the appointment of nominated subcontractors and overlapping design and construction. The most common risks of using provisional sums are related to claims, variations and conflicts among the contracting parties. Defining the scope of provisional sums before tendering, incorporating the provisional sums into the project programme and limit the value of provisional sums in the contract are suggested as the key measures to minimize the risk of provisional measures. Keywords: Provisional Sum Uses; Advantages; Risks; Mitigation Measures; FIDIC; UAE. 1. INTRODUCTION Provisional sums are mainly used for the works still under design or when their costs are unknown at the time of signing the construction contract. Their existence in the contract however, does not necessarily suggest any obligation on the employer to spend them. According to Murdoch and Hughes (2000), they are simply a method for the employer to express part of the budget of the project in the main contract. Okuwoga (1998), finds that provisional sums make 25% of contract sum and according to Ameer (2013), in some projects the value of provisional sums increased up to 50% of the project contract value. With this increased use of provisional sums and due to their uncertain nature, the risks related to cost uncertainty, schedule incorporation, quality and scope control are significant. Therefore, it is worth to identify the risks of using provisional sums in the construction contracts in order to develop strategies to mitigate such risks. Use of provisional sums is a common practice in the UAE construction industry and Skaik and Al-Hajj (2013) indicate that the use was increased by the economic crisis in 2008 and this furthers the associated risks. However, there is a lack of research carried out in this area and therefore, this study intended to fill this gap through identification of the risks of using provisional sums in the UAE construction industry. As the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) standard forms of contract are mostly used internationally including in the UAE, this study is focused on FIDIC in general and FIDIC Redbook (1987 and 1999 editions) in particular. The research aim was to enhance the management of risks related to provisional sums through identification of such risks in the UAE construction industry. This aim was achieved through following objectives:  Identify of the use of provisional sums in FIDIC (Red Book) form of contract  Discover the purpose of using provisional sums * Corresponding Author: E-mail - K.Seneviratne@hw.ac.uk