Under the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC), the programme shows how the Contractor intends to carry out the work. It sets out the sequence of operations and the resources and other contributions needed for them. As work proceeds, the Contractor updates the programme to reflect progress and changes to the remaining work.
The fictional Ironbark Recycled Water Scheme, introduced in NEC4 Explained, provides an example. A regional Australian water utility is procuring a pipeline, pumping station and balancing tank under ECC Option C. The scheme will supply recycled water from an existing treatment plant to an industrial estate, with the plant remaining operational during construction and connection.
Suppose Ironbark’s pump supplier advises that delivery may be three weeks later than planned. Installation and commissioning depend on the pumps, and the operator has arranged support around the planned sequence. The Contractor needs to examine the activities affected and the alternatives available before it can establish what the delivery delay means for Completion.
Building the NEC4 programme
The Contractor starts with Scope, which defines the work and the constraints on carrying it out. Design, procurement and construction need to be coordinated with the testing and commissioning required for Completion. The programme must also allow for access arrangements and the procedures supporting the work, including time for acceptances and health and safety requirements.
On Ironbark, keeping the treatment plant operational influences the connection sequence and the arrangements needed with the operator. Where Scope allocates design to the Contractor, the design work and required submissions also need to fit that sequence. The programme needs to allow time for a design to be prepared and reviewed before the work that depends on it can proceed.
Clause 31.2 requires each programme submitted for acceptance to show the order and timing of the Contractor’s operations. For each operation, the Contractor also explains how it intends to do the work, identifying the principal Equipment and other resources. If two activities rely on the same crew at the same time, their dates or resource arrangements need to be reconsidered.
Scope specifies the form of the programme and any further information to be included. A linked schedule, supported by explanations of methods and resources, can show how the operations fit together and help those reviewing it understand how the work will be carried out.
Work and information from the Client and Others
The programme also needs to show how the Contractor’s work fits with work carried out by the Client and Others. Clause 31.2 requires the order and timing of that work to be shown as last agreed with them by the Contractor or, where not agreed, as stated in Scope. Others is a defined term under the contract and excludes the Contractor’s own suppliers and Subcontractors.
The programme identifies when the Contractor needs acceptances, Plant and Materials and other things the Client is to provide, and information from Others. It shows when access to a part of the Site is needed if that is later than its access date, together with the dates when the Contractor expects to finish work needed for the Client or Others to carry out theirs. Each contribution needs to be connected to the work that depends on it.
On Ironbark, moving an installation activity does not establish that operator support will be available on the new dates. The Contractor needs to discuss the proposed sequence with those arranging that support and identify when any outstanding decisions or information are needed. The programme can then show whether the proposed arrangements leave enough time for the work to proceed.
Planned Completion and contractual dates
The programme shows the starting date and access dates, alongside planned Completion and the Completion Date. Planned Completion is the Contractor’s forecast for achieving Completion, while the Completion Date is the contractual deadline. Under clause 30.1, the Contractor must carry out the work so that Completion occurs on or before that date.
The forecast may move as progress and circumstances change, without changing the Completion Date or relieving the Contractor of its obligation. The programme should show the forecast honestly, including any difficulty in meeting the contractual date. On Ironbark, installing the pumps would not necessarily achieve Completion because the work and tests required by Scope must also be considered.
A Key Date has a different function. It identifies a date by which a stated Condition must be met, such as work reaching a specified state needed by another participant. Clause 30.3 requires the Contractor to meet that Condition by the Key Date, and the programme shows when it plans to do so. An internal milestone does not become a contractual Key Date simply because it appears on the schedule.
Contract Data identifies the contractual dates and the periods for submitting programmes. Those entries need to be read with the selected options and any project amendments. The provisions described here are those of the June 2017 ECC incorporating the January 2023 amendments.
Float and time risk allowances
Clause 31.2 requires provision for both float and time risk allowances. Time risk allowances make provision for the Contractor’s risks within activity durations or parts of the works, accounting for uncertainty in how the work will proceed.
Float is spare time remaining within the programme after those allowances have been included. An activity may be able to move without affecting the following operation or planned Completion. The available time depends on the sequence and dependencies. A separate gap may also exist between planned Completion and the Completion Date; that gap should not be confused with spare time between activities.
The gap between planned Completion and the Completion Date is often called terminal float. Under clause 63.5, delay to the Completion Date is assessed by the extent to which the compensation event makes planned Completion later than shown on the Accepted Programme current at the dividing date. The Contractor does not first have to use up that gap before the event can move the Completion Date. The cost and time assessment still has to follow the compensation event provisions.
The allowance needs to relate to the work and its risks, rather than apply a standard percentage to every activity. Showing where the time has been allowed helps the Contractor and Project Manager understand the programme and distinguish that provision from float available elsewhere in the sequence.
Examining the possible pump delay
To examine Ironbark’s possible pump delay, the Contractor would follow its effect through installation and commissioning, taking account of actual progress and the other work that must be ready. Available float might absorb some or all of the delivery delay. If later delivery also means losing the operator support arranged for commissioning, the effect could extend beyond the delivery delay itself.
Partial delivery would help only if the first pumps released work that could proceed before the remaining equipment arrived. Resequencing would need to account for resources and access, as well as the work available to bring forward. Preliminary controls testing might be possible, but the commissioning specialist would need to establish which tests could proceed and what would remain after pump delivery.
The Contractor can compare those possibilities in the programme, using the supplier’s advice and the operator’s availability to test whether each sequence is workable. Before adopting a revised sequence, it needs to confirm that the necessary people and equipment will be available.
Submitting the programme for acceptance
The Accepted Programme is the programme identified in Contract Data or the latest programme accepted by the Project Manager. If none is identified in Contract Data, clause 31.1 requires a first programme within the period stated there. The latest accepted programme supersedes earlier Accepted Programmes.
Under clause 31.3, the Project Manager has two weeks from submission to notify acceptance or reasons for non-acceptance. The four stated reasons are that the Contractor’s proposals are not practicable, required information is missing, the programme does not represent the Contractor’s intentions realistically or it does not comply with Scope. Withholding acceptance for a reason not stated in the contract is a compensation event under clause 60.1(9); withholding for a stated reason is not. If no response is notified, the Contractor may notify the failure. Acceptance is treated as given if that failure continues for a further week after the Contractor’s notification.
Acceptance does not change the Contractor’s responsibility to Provide the Works or its liability for design under clause 14.1, and it does not itself amend Scope or the Completion Date. The Contractor does not generally need to wait for programme acceptance before proceeding with the work, although other requirements, such as acceptance of relevant design particulars, still apply.
Updating the programme during delivery
A revised programme shows what actual progress means for the work still to be done. Clause 32.1 requires the Contractor to show progress on each operation and its effect on the timing of the remaining work, together with proposals for dealing with delays, correcting notified Defects and making other changes to the Accepted Programme. Updating a percentage-complete figure will not produce a reliable forecast unless the remaining durations and dependencies are also reviewed.
Under clause 32.2, the Contractor submits a revised programme within the period for reply after being instructed to do so by the Project Manager. It may also submit a revision when it chooses and must do so at intervals no longer than those stated in Contract Data, from the starting date until Completion of the whole of the works. The ECC does not prescribe a monthly interval, and a developing difficulty may call for an earlier revision.
On Ironbark, firmer delivery information and progress elsewhere would inform the revision. Explaining what has changed allows the operator and Project Manager to see which contributions are now needed and when. Earlier versions and the information supporting each revision should be retained. A revised submission becomes the Accepted Programme when accepted. Until then, the previous Accepted Programme retains that contractual status, although the team must continue to manage the current position.
The programme and early warning
The programme helps the Contractor identify matters requiring early warning and examine possible responses. Where clause 15.1 requires a warning, the Contractor should notify it without waiting for a complete programme analysis. Recording a concern in the programme does not replace the separate notification required by clause 13.7 or the contractual communication arrangements.
Updating the programme does not establish compensation event entitlement, which depends on the event and the applicable contract provisions. The Accepted Programme is used in assessing time effects, but any change to the Completion Date or a Key Date must be made in accordance with the contract.
On Ironbark, the people arranging procurement, installation and commissioning need to work to the same revised sequence, including those coordinating with the operator. They need to know what has changed and which matters remain unresolved, so that decisions made on site reflect the current programme while any separate question of contractual responsibility is examined.
