The NEC4 Project Manager has to administer decisions that affect time, cost and delivery. Appointing someone to the role is not enough if their organisation has not settled the authority and support behind it.
Appointed to the role, unable to decide
A Project Manager can be appointed under NEC4 ECC without being given the internal authority or support needed to perform the role. The contract requires a response, but the Client’s approval process prevents the Project Manager from giving one.
Compensation event assessments wait for commercial approval. Programme submissions remain unanswered while different parts of the organisation consider their position. The Contractor is left waiting for a decision from someone who cannot make it without referring the matter elsewhere.
This needs to be addressed when the role is established. The Project Manager is responsible for much of the contract’s day-to-day administration, including programme acceptance, compensation events, early warnings, payment assessments and instructions.
Trust depends on reliable administration
Workshops and partnering sessions can help a team understand how to work together, particularly where NEC4 is unfamiliar. Trust develops through what happens afterwards.
The Contractor submits a programme and expects a response within the contractual period. A compensation event is notified, and the parties expect the assessment to proceed. An early warning is raised, and the people involved need to consider what action to take.
When those processes work consistently, the Contractor can plan around them. There is confidence that submissions will be considered and decisions made, even where the parties disagree about the outcome. That confidence matters when the project comes under pressure.
When decisions start to slip
Problems usually become visible before a formal dispute. Responses fall outside contractual timescales. Compensation events accumulate unresolved. Early warnings are recorded but receive little practical attention.
The Contractor may become more defensive, issue more protective correspondence and take firmer commercial positions. Repeating the obligation to collaborate is unlikely to resolve the underlying problem if decisions are still held up in the Client’s organisation.
Poor or late Contractor submissions also need to be addressed. Giving the Project Manager authority will not correct an incomplete programme or an unsupported quotation. It should, however, allow the Project Manager to respond properly and explain what needs to be corrected.
Make internal approvals workable
The Client is entitled to maintain financial controls and require internal review. Those arrangements need to allow the Project Manager to administer the contract within its timescales.
Before work starts, establish:
- Decision authority. Record which decisions the Project Manager can make and which require approval, including any financial limits.
- Approval deadlines. Allow time for the Project Manager to review the submission, obtain any necessary approval and issue the contractual response.
- Escalation. Identify who will decide when an approval is delayed or the usual decision-maker is unavailable.
- Technical and commercial support. Make sure the people needed to review programmes, quotations and design submissions are available when required.
Test these arrangements against an actual submission and its response date. An approval procedure that cannot meet the deadline needs to be changed before the delivery team is expected to use it.
This is not unique to NEC4. Similar difficulties arise where a Superintendent under an Australian standard form must administer the contract while working within the Client’s internal controls. Under NEC4, the dependence on regular submissions and responses makes the consequences particularly visible.
Where restrictions cannot be removed
Some organisations cannot give the Project Manager all the internal authority needed to respond without further approval. The first step is to examine whether decisions can be delegated or reviews completed sooner.
If those changes are insufficient, longer contractual response periods may need to be considered before tender. Any amendment should be assessed for its effect on the other processes and on the work itself. More time for a decision may mean more time before procurement can proceed, a programme can be accepted or a change can be settled.
Making those restrictions clear at tender gives the Contractor an opportunity to plan and price their effects. It does not remove the Client’s responsibility to provide an approval process that works within the agreed periods.
The Project Manager needs to know which decisions can be made, where approval is required and who will provide it in time. Those arrangements should be settled before the first submission arrives.
These decisions and the authority behind them are examined in NEC4 ECC The Project Manager. The NEC4 Excellence Programme can also address governance and approval arrangements alongside contract preparation and implementation.
