FOR PROJECT MANAGERS AND CLIENTS
NEC Project Manager support for programmes and compensation events
Under NEC3 and NEC4 the Project Manager has two weeks to reply to a programme and two weeks to reply to a quotation. We review the Contractor's submission within 5 working days of it reaching us for a programme and 3 for a quotation, with your reasons set out in the contract's terms.
You don't need to send anything first.
2 weeks
TO REPLY TO A PROGRAMME OR A QUOTATION
5 working days
FOR OUR PROGRAMME REVIEW TO REACH YOU
3 working days
FOR OUR QUOTATION CHECK TO REACH YOU
What we review for you
ACCEPT
Programmes submitted for acceptance
We check the programme against what clause 31.2 says it must show and against the Scope (the Works Information under NEC3). Any reason not to accept it is set out as one of the four in clause 31.3, ready for your reply.
CONTROL
Revised programmes, with a report to the client
We check each revised programme under clause 32 against the Accepted Programme: the progress shown, its effect on the remaining work, how the Contractor plans to deal with delays and any other changes it proposes. The client gets a short report on planned Completion and any Key Dates.
PROTECT
Compensation event quotations
We check the delay in each quotation and any altered programme in it against the Accepted Programme that clause 63 says to use. Your reply under clause 62.3 then accepts the quotation, instructs a revised one with your reasons (clause 62.4) or notifies that you will make your own assessment.
PROTECT
Your own assessments
Where clause 64 says the Project Manager assesses a compensation event, we prepare the assessment of the delay and the programme evidence behind it, for you to issue in your name.
A quotation check from £950 + VAT · A programme review or a delay assessment from £1,250 + VAT · Monthly review from £1,400 a month + VAT
Monthly review covers each revised programme and a short report to the client. Three months, then 30 days' notice. Quotation checks and delay assessments are priced separately.
The detail is in our articles: what the Project Manager checks in a programme, clause 31 programme acceptance and the Project Manager's own assessment under clause 64.
What a programme review looks like
A sample on a demo project: each finding is tied to one of the four reasons in clause 31.3, with wording ready for your reply. All names and dates are fictional.
How we work
One side per project
We act for one side on a project. If we work for the Contractor on a job, we do not review for that job's Project Manager or client. The same holds the other way round.
Inside the two weeks
A programme review reaches you within 5 working days of the submission reaching us and a quotation check within 3. The sooner it reaches us, the more of the two weeks you keep for your reply. A late reply is itself a compensation event (clause 60.1(6)). A quotation is treated as accepted if the Contractor notifies the failure and you still have not replied two weeks later (clause 62.6). Under NEC4 a programme is too, after one further week (clause 31.3).
Your name on the reply
We advise. The reply, the reasons and any assessment go out from the Project Manager, in the Project Manager's name.
In confidence
We have done this work for the client's side before. None of those clients is named, here or anywhere else. Our reports go only to you and to those you choose.
Questions Project Managers and clients ask us
Is this the real critical path?
We trace the critical path through the logic, the durations and the constraints. Then we show you where it really runs and what drives planned Completion.
Are there enough resources on the critical path?
For each operation, clause 31.2 asks for a statement of how the Contractor plans to do the work, with the principal Equipment and other resources. We check those resources against the durations on the critical path. A programme that does not represent the Contractor's plans realistically is one of the four reasons for not accepting it (clause 31.3).
Can the project finish earlier?
We show where the programme has room, in float, sequence or resources. The Contractor can plan to finish early by its own choice. Bringing the Completion Date forward is an acceleration under clause 36, which needs the Contractor's agreement. The Project Manager instructs a quotation for it. Accepting the quotation changes the Prices, the Completion Date and the Key Dates.