Perspective

Procurement

Rules on project review in AB 18

Written by

Betina Kristiansson

Attorney-at-law / Head of Legal Team

Published

9 September 2026

The project review under AB 18 § 19 is described in more detail than the project review under AB 92 § 11.

AB 18 § 19 also contains new features, including, for example, the client’s duty to prepare a report on the project review. Here we give a quick introduction to AB 18 § 19.

The purpose and intention of the project review

The purpose of the project review is to promote collaboration between the parties to the construction project and thereby ensure a more efficient construction process. The intention is partly to prevent ambiguities, inadequacies and errors in the design before the work begins, and partly to give the contractor an early opportunity to influence the construction process by pointing out inappropriate aspects of the design.

What must the project review cover?

Under AB 18 § 19, the project review has been extended to the entire project, as it now also covers design contributions from contractors and suppliers. Under AB 92 § 11, the project review covered only the tender design. The start and end dates of the project review must appear in the master schedule, and the extent of the contractor’s participation in the project review is set out in the tender design.

According to AB 18 § 19(2), the project review must as a minimum cover the following:

A shared understanding of the project, including the interfaces and sequencing between the individual parts of the project.
The contractor must be given the opportunity to influence the construction process by pointing out inappropriate aspects of the design.
Risks, ambiguities and inadequacies in the design, and how they are to be handled, must be identified.
Identification of work or materials for targeted supervision under AB 18 § 21(4).

Although the project review is not an actual quality assurance or scrutiny of the design, errors may be discovered, e.g. incorrect information or methods that cannot be carried out in practice. In that case, the parties must give notice of this under AB 18 § 19(5) and consider whether it triggers a duty to give notice of claims (e.g. under AB 18 §§ 22, 25, 26 and 39), as the general rules of AB 18 on the duty to give notice apply alongside the rules on the project review.

It should be noted that the discovery of serious errors during the project review cannot in itself cause the contract to lapse, as the project review takes place after the construction contract has been entered into. It is therefore not unusual for the client to supplement AB 18 § 19 with a right of termination (an exit clause), e.g. if the project review results in claims from the contractor of more than 20-25% of the contract sum. Such an exit clause is a departure from AB 18 that public clients in particular should be cautious about, cf. the AB 18 report, pp. 13 and 64.

Who is responsible for carrying out the project review?

The client is responsible for the project review, cf. AB 18 § 19(3). This means that the client must plan and set the agenda for the project review meetings, including deciding the scope and possibly dividing the review into phases. These tasks are normally part of the consultant’s services, and in practice they will most often be handled by the client’s design manager. It is, however, the client’s task to convene the meetings and to prepare the minutes and the report under AB 18 § 19(6). The client will often agree with its client adviser or consultant that they handle these tasks, but that requires a separate agreement.

The contractor’s participation in the project review

The contractor is only obliged to take part in the part of the project review that is relevant to its trade. It is not the contractor’s responsibility to scrutinize a design for errors, nor is the review a quality assurance of the client’s design. That is the designers’ task before the project review, cf. AB 18 § 17(6) and ABR 18 § 11(2). As a starting point, the project review therefore does not change the allocation of responsibility between client and contractor. Nor does the contractor assume responsibility or risk for the proposals that the client implements, cf. AB 18 § 17(1) and ABR 18 § 27(6). However, the contractor should be aware of its duty to object under AB 18 §§ 22 and 26, as the knowledge the contractor gains, or ought to gain, during the project review may trigger precisely that duty.

The report on the project review under AB 18 § 19(6)

A new feature of AB 18 § 19(6) is the client’s duty to prepare a report on the project review.

According to AB 18 and the AB 18 report, the report must contain:

A description of the matters dealt with during the project review.
A statement of the time spent on the individual parts of the project.
A description of matters covered by AB 18 § 19(5) (inappropriate aspects, ambiguities, inadequacies and errors in the design).
A statement of the measures taken to mitigate any inappropriate aspects, ambiguities, inadequacies and errors in the design. These may include developing the design further, choosing more appropriate solutions or rectifying the design under AB 18 § 19(7) and ABR 18 § 27(8).

On the basis of the report, the parties should be able to assess whether the mitigating measures give rise to changes to the contract with regard to time, price or security. The contractor and the consultant must give notice as soon as possible if the report gives rise to claims for time or money, cf. AB 18 § 19(8) and ABR 18 § 27(9).

If the project review reveals actual deficiencies in the consultant’s design (popularly known as “forgotten items”) that lead to additional payment to the contractor, the client may in certain cases claim a contractual penalty from the consultant under ABR 18 § 49(2).

Finally, it should be noted that the provisions on the project review are the same in AB 18 § 19 and ABR 18 § 27, so the consultant and the contractor can collaborate on the process.

3 tips for the project review

Designers and contractors must take part in the project review.
The report on the project review must document what was reviewed, how much time was spent and which measures were taken to mitigate any ambiguities, inadequacies and errors.
As a client, you can consider supplementing AB 18 § 19 with an exit clause. This is, however, a departure from AB 18 that public clients should be cautious about.