Megaprojects Contracts and Pandemics: from Law to Private Autonomy

An analysis of the role of private autonomy in megaprojects contracts to face government restrictions due to Covid-19, or to other future pandemics, will be presented. The starting point will be the solutions that can be achieved following the rules contained both in the most used international contractual models (FIDIC and NEC) and in contract law, relating to deals concluded before and after February 2020. Then, the essay will try to identify models by which – since a pandemic is no longer an unforeseeable event – it is in advance established by the parties what would happen in case that Covid-19 restrictions were restored or a similar situation arose again, in whole or in part. In particular, the aim of the investigation is to find solutions that do not allocate the entire pandemic risk to the contractor or the client, as general or specific contract rules already do imposing a compensation. On the contrary, the purpose is to go over the “all or nothing” rule and attempting to allocate the pandemic risk in such a manner that megaprojects, if it is still possible, can successfully proceed.