FIDIC glossary · Payments
Interim Payment Certificate (IPC)
Interim Payment Certificate
In short
The Engineer’s certificate for an interim payment for completed work and delivered materials (Clause 14).
What is a Interim Payment Certificate (IPC)?
An Interim Payment Certificate (IPC) is the certificate the Engineer issues in response to the Contractor's Statement, and it is what creates the Employer's obligation to pay. The key idea: payment under FIDIC attaches to a certificate, not to an invoice or a completion act.
The cycle runs like this. The Contractor submits a Statement with supporting documents. The Engineer issues an IPC within 28 days, for the amount it considers due. The Employer pays within 56 days of receiving the Statement. The exact periods are set in the Contract Data and can differ, but the structure holds.
The Engineer may adjust the amount, but may not simply withhold the certificate: if it considers the claim overstated, it certifies what it believes to be correct, and the difference becomes a matter to be resolved through determination and the DAAB — not through silence.
If payment does not come, the Contractor has a sequence of rights under Sub-Clauses 14.8 and 16: financing charges, then, on substantial default, suspension of work and ultimately termination. Every step requires prior notice, and here the order matters more than the speed.
On projects where local reporting requires completion acts, the interface with FIDIC certificates has to be written into the Particular Conditions deliberately — otherwise the two paper trails start contradicting each other.
Where it sits in the contract
Related terms
Need this read against your own contract?
This explains how the mechanism works in the standard form. How it works in your contract, after the Particular Conditions, is a separate question.
Talk to an expert →A reference explanation of the FIDIC standard conditions. Not legal advice, and not a reproduction of the FIDIC books.