FOR EUROPEAN CONTRACTORS
Planning support for European contractors bidding UK work
You know FIDIC and your own national contracts. Your first UK tender may come with an NEC®4 or JCT contract, a programme written to the client's rules and a question on social value. We plan and control projects under NEC, JCT and FIDIC, so your first UK bid and your first UK contract run the way the client expects.
What's different about bidding in the UK
These are the points that catch out contractors new to UK work.
Registering for public work
Most public buyers in the UK work under the Procurement Act 2023, which applies to procurements started on or after 24 February 2025. You register on the government's Central Digital Platform and give the buyer your unique identifier before a contract is awarded. Devolved Scottish public bodies follow Scottish rules.
Equal treatment
On contracts covered by a trade agreement listed in Schedule 9 of the Act, which include the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, a buyer must not treat you less favourably because of where you are from. Below the thresholds, a buyer may reserve a contract for UK‑based suppliers.
Pre-qualifying with main contractors
As a subcontractor you are usually pre-qualified before you price. The industry's shared standard is the Common Assessment Standard, issued by Build UK and CECA in 2019 and built on PAS 91. CHAS, Constructionline and Achilles assess against it.
A contract that runs on the programme
Under an NEC4 contract the Project Manager accepts your programme or gives reasons within two weeks. If no programme is identified in the Contract Data, a quarter of the Price for Work Done to Date is held back. This lasts until you submit a first programme that shows what the contract requires. You notify a compensation event within eight weeks of becoming aware that the event has happened, and quotations go in within three weeks of the instruction.
Social value is scored
For central government procurements of £1 million or more that start on or after 1 January 2027, PPN 026 weights social value at no less than 10 per cent, and at least 20 per cent from £5 million. The model is built around good British jobs and skills. Several measures count jobs by UK region.
Site rules and your people
Construction work in Great Britain falls under the CDM Regulations 2015, and the client notifies HSE of larger projects: over 30 working days with more than 20 workers on site at once, or over 500 person days. If you employ people in Great Britain, you need employers' liability insurance of at least £5 million. You also need it for staff based abroad who spend more than 14 days in a row in Great Britain. Visitors can come for meetings and site visits; working on a UK site needs the right to work in the UK.
If you know FIDIC: three differences in time
FIDIC 2017 RED BOOK
NEC4 ECC
Notice
No later than 28 days after you became aware, or should have become aware (Sub‑Clause 20.2.1). A late notice can discharge the other Party from liability for the event.
Within eight weeks of becoming aware (clause 61.3). A late notice loses the change to the Prices and the dates, unless the event arose from an instruction, notification, certificate or changed decision of the Project Manager or the Supervisor.
The detail
A fully detailed claim within 84 days after you became aware, or should have become aware (Sub‑Clause 20.2.4).
A quotation within three weeks of the instruction to submit it. The Project Manager replies within two weeks (clause 62.3).
The programme
The Engineer reviews it, and you proceed on it unless the Engineer gives Notice that it doesn't comply (Sub‑Clause 8.3).
The Project Manager accepts it or gives reasons within two weeks (clause 31.3), and the delay from a compensation event is assessed against the Accepted Programme (clause 63.5).
The full comparison is in our article on FIDIC and NEC.
Work out NEC4 dates with the NEC4 contract clock.
FIDIC is a registered trademark of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers. NEC is a registered trademark of Thomas Telford Ltd.
What we do for you
Questions
Do we need a UK company to bid?
Not always. The Central Digital Platform accepts suppliers with a non‑UK address, and on covered contracts a buyer must not treat a treaty state supplier less favourably. A main contractor can still ask for UK insurance, a UK address or a UK company. A public buyer cannot require contract insurance before award, but can ask you to show you will have it when the contract starts. So check the tender documents first.
Can you work with our own planners?
Yes. We can set up the programme to the client's rules and review what your planners issue, or plan it for you.
Do you work under JCT and FIDIC as well?
Yes. We plan and control projects under NEC, JCT and FIDIC.
Can you introduce us to UK main contractors?
We don't offer introductions. Our work is the planning and the contract side of your bid and your project.
Do you work with more than one bidder on a tender?
No. We work with one bidder per tender.
GET STARTED
Bidding for your first UK contract?
Tell us the client, the form of contract and the return date. The first step is a 30-minute call with Roman Bazelchuk, Director.
Or email info@necplanningsolutions.co.uk