NEC4 ECC contains several response periods, each attached to a particular communication or process. A project team needs to know which clock has started and what a missed date actually changes.
Give each communication the correct deadline
A contract system may show every incoming submission against the same response period. That is convenient for reporting but can be wrong for NEC4 ECC. The period for reply in the Contract Data does not replace a different period expressly stated for a particular process.
Set up the response schedule from the executed contract. Identify the communication, the event that starts the clock, the person responsible and the consequence of missing the date. Record agreed extensions where the contract permits them. A coloured dashboard is useful only if the dates behind it are correct.
Separate notification from assessment
A compensation-event notification and its quotation perform different jobs. The first identifies the event and initiates the contractual process. The quotation assesses its effects. Waiting for a detailed price before notifying can put the Contractor’s position at risk.
Clause 61.3 includes an eight-week time bar running from awareness that the event has happened, subject to the clause’s exception for events the Project Manager should have notified. It is not a universal eight-week allowance for every project communication.
Suppose access to a work area is not provided when required. The site team should record the facts and pass them promptly to the person preparing the notice. The commercial team can then develop the assessment without allowing an internal pricing exercise to delay the notification.
An early warning serves a different purpose. Do not assume that an entry in the Early Warning Register has also dealt with compensation-event notification.
Distinguish late responses from deemed acceptance
Silence does not produce the same result for every NEC4 submission. For some ECC processes, a further notification of the failure to respond is required before a further period can lead to the matter being treated as accepted.
Under the standard programme procedure, the Project Manager has two weeks to respond. If no response is given, the Contractor may notify that failure. Continued failure for a further week after that notification results in the programme being treated as accepted.
Compensation-event processes use different periods. Under clause 61.4, failure to respond to a Contractor’s notification can, after the required follow-up and further period, establish that the event is accepted as a compensation event. That is not the same as accepting its price and time assessment. Clause 62.6 addresses failure to respond to a quotation.
Make follow-up notices identifiable
A general email asking for an update may not clearly identify the contractual failure being notified. Refer to the original communication, its issue date, the response required and the relevant provision. Retain evidence that the notice was communicated through the required route.
Check what the contract requires separately from what the software allows. If the system cannot record the resulting status accurately, raise that issue with the administrator and preserve the contractual record. Do not alter the issue history to make the dashboard look tidy.
Give someone responsibility for checking that follow-up notices have actually been issued. A draft in an approval queue does not perform the same function as a notice communicated to the recipient.
Arrange technical review within the available time
A response may depend on advice from a designer, planner or commercial specialist. Tell each reviewer what decision is required and when their input is needed. Allow time for the Project Manager to consider that advice and issue the contractual response.
If an extension is needed, address it through the applicable provision before relying on it. Do not assume that an informal request for more information has stopped the clock. Equally, a holding response should not be used to conceal the absence of the decision the contract requires.
Recurring delays often require changes to internal approvals rather than another reminder from document control. The article on Project Manager authority deals with that issue.
Review the overdue decisions, not just the numbers
At the regular project review, identify overdue communications that affect forthcoming work, payment or assessment of change. Assign the action needed to resolve each one. A report stating that twenty responses are overdue says little about what the team should do next.
Keep these controls specific to NEC4 ECC and the agreed contract. Subcontracts, other NEC forms and amendments can have different periods. Establish the applicable procedure when setting up the project, rather than discovering the difference after a deadline has passed.
