Mott MacDonald

An introduction to NEC
contracts

April 2017
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. What is NEC? 2

3. Key Principles of NEC 3

3.1 Introduction 3
3.2 Clarity 3
3.3 Flexibility 3
3.4 Stimulus to good project management 6

4. Key differences in management from more traditional forms of contract 7

4.1 Introduction 7
4.2 Collaborative mindset 7
4.3 Communication between contract parties 8
4.4 Contract administration roles and responsibilities 8
4.5 Accepted Programme 9
4.6 Timescale for every action 9
4.7 Early warning and collaborative risk management 9
4.8 Compensation event management 10

5. Key impacts of using NEC on your organisation 11

5.1 Introduction 11
5.2 The need for quality documents 12
5.3 Adequacy of staff resources for better project management 12
5.4 Compatibility with organisational procedures and authority limits 13
5.5 Need for training for staff improvement and cultural change 13
5.6 Need for systems for project/contract management 14

6. Mott MacDonald NEC Advisory Team 15

Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 1

1. Introduction

Mott MacDonald has produced this document ‘ NEC3: an introduction - to

provide a quick informative overview of the fundamentals of the NEC suite of
contracts. It covers:

● What is NEC?
● Key principles of NEC
● Key differences between NEC and ‘traditional’ forms of contract
● Key impacts of using NEC in your organisation

This document considers NEC3. In June 2017, NEC will launch NEC4. NEC4 is
the result of 12 years’ of experience with NCE3. It is evolution, not revolution and
the main messages in this document will be unchanged.
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 2

2. What is NEC?

The NEC started life as the New Engineering Contract. However:

● It is no longer new (a consultative first edition was published in 1991)

● It can be and is used for much more that ‘just’ engineering
● It is a method for managing projects and services - much more than just a
‘contract’.
As a result, ‘NEC’ is now a brand name for a family of standard forms of contract
forms1

NEC contracts stimulate good management, can be used for a variety of work in
a variety of commercial situations and are written as clear and simple
documents.

The NEC family of contracts currently comprises2:

Projects
● Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC)
● Engineering and Construction Subcontract (ECS)
● Engineering and Construction Short Contract (ECSC)
● Engineering and Construction Short Subcontract (ECSS)
Services
● Professional Services Contract (PSC)
● Professional Service Short Contract (PSSC) 3
● Term Service Contract (TSC)
● Term Service Short Contract (TSSC)
Supply
● Supply Contract (SC)
● Supply Short Contract (SSC)
Other
● Framework Contract (FC)
● Adjudicators Contract (AC)

1
June 2005 with amendments made in June 2006 and September 2011 and revised and republished April 2013
2
NEC4 will add
 a contract for ‘design build and operate’ (DBO) and
 a consultative multiparty alliance contract
3
launched April 2013
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 3

3. Key Principles of NEC

3.1 Introduction
NEC is fundamentally the same as other contracts in that it provides a legal
framework but it also radically different because it establishes a detailed set of
project management procedures. All NEC forms of contract are designed and
drafted with three key principles in mind:

● clarity
● flexibility
● stimulus to good management

The stimulus to good management is by far the most important of these three
principles.

These three fundamental elements are explained in the sections below

3.2 Clarity
NEC contracts are easier to read and understand than many other standard
forms because they:

● are written in plain and readable English

● use very little legal terminology
● are set out in a highly organised, orderly and modular structure
● are free from references to specific laws

In addition, each member of the NEC family has similar structure, concepts and
language.

The principle of clarity in NEC is further applied to provide clear roles for all those
involved and clear processes setting out exactly what those people have to do
and withn what time periods.

3.3 Flexibility
The NEC family provides a contract for any project, service or supply:

● anywhere in the world (i.e. global applicability)

● in any legal jurisdiction
● in any sector
● with any level of complexity
● with any level of design responsibility by the supplier
● under any procurement strategy
● with different levels of risk allocation between contract parties
● with different payment options
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 4

The flexibility in application of NEC is illustrated in

REF _Ref480309227 \h \* MERGEFORMAT
Figure 1.

Figure 1: NEC contracts are available for almost anything

Geographical Anywhere in the world

Sector Building Engineering Infrastructure Other

Single or
Single contract Framework
series

Stage Planning Design Construction / implementation Operation

Complexity Simple Complex

Operation /
Services Professional Services Construction/implementation Supply only
maintenance

Procurement Design, Bid, Build / Design & Build

Construction management, Management Contracting

Design
responsibility Employer Contractor

Risk Allocation Employer Contractor

Contract PSSC PSC ECSC ECC SSC SC TSSC TSC FC

18/04/2017 1
Mott MacDonald | Presentation

The flexibility in application of NEC once the appropriate contract is chosen is

further illustrated by the modular structure of the NEC Engineering and
Construction Contract (ECC). An NEC ECC contract is built up from:

● The nine core clauses (common to all main payment options)

● One of six main ‘payment’ options including lump sum, re-measurement,
target cost and cost reimbursable
● One dispute resolution option
● A choice of secondary options5 for use to suit the specific requirements of the
contract

5
The secondary options, some of which are built into the body of traditional contracts are:
X1 – Price adjustment for inflation (used only with Options A, B C and D)
X2 – Changes in the law
X3 – Multiple currencies (used only with Options A and B)
X4 – Parent company guarantee
X5 – Section completion
X6 – Bonus for early Completion
X7 – Delay damages
X12 – Partnering (for ‘multi-party’ partnering)
X13 – Performance bond
X14 – Advanced payment to Contractor
X15 – Limitation of Contractor’s liability for design to reasonable skill and care
X16 – Retention (not used with Option F)
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 5

● A choice of jurisdiction-specific secondary options which are designed for

particular local legal issues6 .
● Any additional conditions of contract (i.e. ‘Z’ clauses). (The flexible nature of
the options means that – ideally – there should be little need for additional
conditions of contract).
The TSC and PSC are similarly structured. The structure of the ECC is illustrated
in Table 1.

Table 1: Modular options structure in the NEC Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC)
CORE CLAUSES 1-9 (used in all ECC contracts)
– 1 General – 2 Contractor’s main – 3 Time
responsibilities

– 4 Testing and Defects – 5 Payment – 6 Compensation events

– 7 Title – 8 Risks and Insurance – 9 Termination

MAIN (PAYMENT) OPTIONS (choose 1)

A B C D E F
Priced contract Priced contract Target contract Target contract Cost reimbursable Management
with activity with bill of with activity with bill of contract contract
schedule quantities schedule quantities

DISPUTE RESOLUTION OPTIONS (choose 1)

W1 W2

(Used unless UK Housing Grants, Construction and (Used when UK Housing Grants, Construction and
Regeneration Act 1996 applies) Regeneration Act 1996 applies)

SECONDARY OPTIONS (Choose those required)

X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 X12 X13 X14 X15 X16 X17 X18 X20

JURISDICTION-SPECIFIC SECONDARY OPTIONS (UK RELATED) (Choose those required)

Y(UK) 1 Y(UK)2 Y(UK)3
Project Bank Account UK Housing Grants, Construction and The Contracts
Regeneration Act 1996 (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

The ECC can be used for any level of design by the Contractor. The works can
be fully Employer designed or fully Contractor designed or somewhere in
between as set out in the Employer’s ‘Works Information’.

X17 – Low performance damages

X18 – Limitation of liability
X20 – Key performance indicators (not used with Option X12)
6
There are three of these for the UK, Y(UK)1, Y(UK)2 and Y(UK)3. There is also a published option Y(NZ)2 for New
Zealand law.
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 6

3.4 Stimulus to good project management

NEC is designed as a set of project management processes and, if used
properly, it certainly encourages good management. As compared with other
standard forms, it does require (and encourage) the following key elements:

● Collaborative mindset: A more collaborative mindset with joint management

● Accepted Programme: One real, visible, regularly updated Accepted
Programme
● Timescales: Meeting the defined timescale for every action
● Risk Management: A ‘no surprise’ culture: obligation and direct financial
incentivisation (on the Contractor) to raise and address issues as (or before)
they occur – ‘early warning’ : collaborative risk management
● Pre-assessment of change: Management of change by forecasting and
agreeing in advance the effects of a change or any event which was a
‘compensation event’ in the contract.
The above elements represent the key differences of the NEC compared with
more traditional forms of contract.
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 7

4. Key differences in management from more

traditional forms of contract

4.1 Introduction
NEC is radically different from other traditional forms of contract because of its
focus on the stimulus to good management. Using NEC as a rigorous project
management tool is an investment in keeping control of quality, time and budget,
which requires active ‘real time’ management by the Employer (and his Project
Manager) – significantky more so that most than other forms of contract.

The objective and benefits of this approach for Parties involved in a contract is:

“GREATER CERTAINTY OF OUTCOME”

The key differences and management processes are described under the
following headings:

● Collaborative mindset
● Communication between contract parties
● Contract administration roles and responsibilities
● Accepted Programme
● Timescale for every action
● Early warning and collaborative risk management
● Compensation event management (including the use of ‘forward pricing and
time forecast’ approach)

4.2 Collaborative mindset

The first key difference is the collaborative mindset which each of the contract
parties should have in order to establish ‘one’ project team to jointly manage the
contract in a partnering approach. This is expressed in the first line of every NEC
the contract. Core Clause 10.1 in the ECC is:

“The Employer, the Contractor, the Project Manager and the Supervisor
shall act as stated in this contract and in a spirit of mutual trust and co-
operation.”

However, the most important part of Clause 10.1 is that those involved ‘shall act
as stated in this contract’. This emphasises the active nature of the contract and
gives effect to the rest of the clauses, which, uniquely for a contract, are written
in the present tense. In the UK the word ‘contractual’ has been ‘stolen’ by some
to mean ‘adversarial’. Acting as stated in the contract is not ‘adversarial’ – it is
just acting contractually and professionally and as required by clause 10.1. It is
critical to get both ‘sides’ to understand this at the start of the contract. Acting in
a spirit of mutual trust and collaboration has attracted much attention from
lawyers. At a practical level just ‘talk to each other’ before ‘doing what it says in
the contract’.
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 8

4.3 Communication between contract parties

The drafters of the NEC recognised that one of the major failings in traditional
contracts is the lack of emphasis, clarity and timeliness in communication
between the Parties. The lack of communication creates uncertainty. uncertainty
drives and breeds undesirable behaviours and are the seedbed for dispute and
disagreement.

The NEC provides clear procedures and timescales to encourage more effective,
better and earlier communication in all aspects of the management of the
contract including the assessment of change, regularly updated programmes,
early warning of risks. The objective is to reduce the incident of disputes, enable
a speedy close out of the contract and to provide greater certainty of outcome for
all those involved through the life of the contract.

Communication in the NEC is about reinforcing the best behaviours of good

project management practice in which the parties actively and openly
communicate.

4.4 Contract administration roles and responsibilities

A key NEC principle is that a contract should have a clear division of function and
responsibility between those involved.

NEC ECC provides for two discrete administrative roles for the Employer’s team,
the Project Manager and the Supervisor.

The Supervisor looks after compliance and testing and Defects (with a minor role
relating to title) The testing and Defects role is covered by the one and a half
pages of Core Clause 4 and is the same irrespective of the payment option. The
Supervisor often audits the records of testing carried out by the Contractor as
required by the contract. The Supervisor and the Contractor manage the
notification and management of Defects throughout construction.

In contrast, the Project Manager carries out all the other roles one might
recognise as ‘contract administration’. The key routine processes, listed with the
core clause in which they appear are:

1. changes to the Works Information

2. early warning and updating the Risk Register
3. design acceptance
4. Subcontractor acceptance
5. programme update and acceptance
6. payment assessment
7. change and compensation event management, including agreeing cost and
time effects

With these key roles it should be clear that the Project Manager has
both ’technical‘ and ’financial‘ roles. The Project Manager will therefore need
technical and financial experience and/or support. From experience, the most
important issue relating to the Project Manager is the ability and authority of the
Project Manager to issue necessary changes to the Works Information and to
deal with and accept or assess quotations for compensation events.
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 9

The Project Manager carries out all the actions set out for him in the contract and
with no formal requirement for approval from the Employer. The Project
Manager’s role is one of active ‘joint management’ with the Contractor rather
than more passive ‘contract administration’. This is particularly the case when
target cost options are used and the Contractor is effectively spending the
Employer’s money.

4.5 Accepted Programme

Another key difference in the NEC regime from traditional standard forms of
contract relates to programme (this is called the ‘schedule’ in North America).

Under many traditional standard forms of contract the administrator has no

contractual obligation to accept or approve any programme submitted by a
contractor. He might acknowledge the contractor’s programme but no approval
would be given as that might be construed as relieving the contractor of some of
his responsibilities or duties under the contract.

However, this is not the case with NEC contracts. The programme, more
specifically the ‘Accepted Programme’ is key to the successful administration of
the contract. The ECC recognises the importance of the programme in
construction and therefore puts it at the heart of the contract. There is an
extensive list of requirements for each programme that promote ‘best practice’
project programming. The programme has to be updated on a regular basis
(normally at least monthly) and must reflect the actual status of the project
including the effect of compensation events. The Accepted Programme is a real
tool for all those involved and forms the basis of the assessment of the effect of
all compensation events. The Project Manager is required to accept the
programme and there are clear reasons for not doing so stated in the contract.
Importantly though, the acceptance of a programme does not change the
Contractor’s responsibilities under the Contract (See Core Clause 14.1). Also,
each ‘Accepted Programme’ completely replaces all previous programmes.
Should any Accepted Programme not, for any reason, be in place, this gives rise
to one of the situations in which the Project Manager is required to assess any
compensation event (See Core Clause 64.1).

4.6 Timescale for every action

In traditional forms of contract, the contractor and/or contract administrator are
often required to act or give information and/or decisions within a ‘reasonable
time’. ‘Reasonable’ of course, is not defined. NEC is different. It provides a clear
timescale for every action that the Contractor, Project Manager and Supervisor
are required to take: there is no ‘reasonable time’. The parties can agree to
extend the time but there should always be a clear timeframe for every
communication required under the contract.

4.7 Early warning and collaborative risk management

Early warning is fundamental to NEC contracts, to relationships on site and to the
success of a project. The entire principle of early warning under NEC is one of
proactive risk management. If either the Contractor or Project Manager becomes
aware of any matter which could affect time, cost or quality, that party must notify
it to the other party as an ‘early warning’ as soon as they become aware. This
triggers a ‘risk reduction meeting’ to discuss how best to mitigate the risk. During
the risk reduction meetings, the contract parties should openly share possible
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 10

solutions to the problems encountered. This requires a good level of mutual trust
and collaboration amongst the contract parties. The early warning process is
recognised as one of the best enablers of effective project management. For
projects procured via more traditional forms of contract where adversarial
relationships between the contract parties are often in place, people can have a
hidden agenda and to cover up problems with delaying tactics deliberately
deployed to protect his own interest.

In NEC ECC the Contractor is commercially incentivised to give early warning

notifications to the Project Manager. If he fails to do so then Clause 63.5 allows
the assessment of any subsequent compensation event to allow for what
mitigating actions could have been taken if the Contractor had provided the early
warning notification.

4.8 Compensation event management

The only events under an NEC contract that entitle the Contractor to a possible
increase in the ‘Prices’ and/or a delay to the ‘Completion Date’ or ‘Key Date’ are
called ’compensation events‘. The terminology is more positive than that used in
traditional contracts. The Contractor is compensated for risks he was not
intended to price – the term ‘claim’ does not appear in the NEC. The events are
simply listed mainly in Clause 60.1 (with some other events in secondary
options) Project management is mostly about managing change. NEC, as a
contract to support project management, is therefore heavily focused on change
management. Exactly the same processes for managing compensation events
apply to all compensation events. Five of the 17 pages of the core clauses relate
to Core Clause 6, compensation events. These provide the processes, options
and rules for dealing with these events.

NEC’s processes for notifying, assessing and implementing compensation

events are clear, Used well, they encourage prompt decision making and ensure
that both parties are clear at any time on the contractual outturn value of the
Prices and the contractually required Completion Date. The NEC requires the
forecast effect of a compensation event on time and cost resulting to be
assessed at the same time as the event arises (unless the Project Manager
chooses to get a quotation before a proposed instruction.) The assessment of
cost is NOT based on tendered rates or prices but on the effect of the event on
the Contractor’s ‘real’ cost7 and programme. The compensation event
management procedures use a ‘sort it out now‘ approach and so enable the
Contractor and Project Manager parties to manage change and risk more
effectively. This gives the Employer more flexibility and better control over
changes whilst maintaining ‘incremental certainty’ of outturn price and time.

NEC in this way promotes better project management during the course of the
contract. Rather than agree a forecast now, the norm under traditional contract
(and a badly managed NEC contract) is to ‘keep records’ and hope to ’sort it out
later‘. As a result there is often no clarity at any stage on the forecast outrun cost
to the Employer or the contractually required Completion Date.

7
The ECC’s ‘model’ of ‘real’ cost is ‘Defined Cost + ‘Fee’
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 11

5. Key impacts of using NEC on your organisation

5.1 Introduction
NEC contracts, properly implemented by well trained staff with appropriate
systems are likely to lead to:
● Better communication and collaborative working between the contract parties
for a joint project management
● Better project management
● Better incremental certainty of outturn price and completion dates of the
project
● Minimisation and ideally even avoidance of disputes.
Such outcomes should be weighed against the real cost of the investment
required in people and systems to use the NEC properly.
NEC encourages and requires:

● Better preparation of documentation

● More active contract management
It is essential that these cultural differences and challenges are addressed at the
outset of the contract. Employers (and Contractors) using NEC must:

● Develop their staff (through training and development programmes)

● Put in place procedures and systems for the management and
implementation of NEC
● Provide joint training for Project Manager, Supervisor and Contractor on NEC
and the systems proposed to manage it.
It is key to work with business leaders and senior managers to ensure that:

● the business objectives of using NEC are clearly understood by the

Employer’s organisation and its supply chain
● NEC is tailored and well used to deliver those business objectives.
An important element of this is often working with the Employer's legal
department and any external legal advisors.

Normally before an organisation adopts NEC in its project procurement, it should

consider:

● The need for any modifications of additional clauses to comply with the
local law8
● The need for quality documents
● The adequacy (or otherwise) of staff resources for better project management
● The compatibility with organizational procedures and authority limits
● The need for training for staff improvement and cultural change

8
See ‘Use of NEC in legal jurisdictions other than English law’, Richard Patterson, Mott MacDonald, NEC
Newsletter, No,47, July 2009 http://www.neccontract.com/news/index.asp?Type=Newsletters#
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 12

● The need for the establishment of appropriate systems for contract

management
These issues are discussed in the following sections.

5.2 The need for quality documents

NEC acts like a searchlight: it tends to highlight good and not so good
documents. The Contractor has to “Provide the Works in accordance with the
Works Information” (See Core Clause 20.1). This document sets out the
requirements for the works and the constraints on providing those works. Any
change to the requirements and constraints set out in the Works Information is a
compensation event to be managed. The quality of the contract documents is
thus critical. Of course, this is the case for any other form of contract. However,
with the ECC, the need for active management of those events at the time tends
to highlight any inadequacies in the contract documents. However, NEC does
provide the management tools to manage the resulting changes. A key aspect of
developing good contract documents to minimise the amount of post-award
change will be the concise, structured description of the requirements in the
Works Information. The following should be taken into account in preparing
documents:

● Documents must be well structured

● Documents should be developed from templates and/or guidance for the use
in, for instance, Contract Data and Works Information
● There is a need to review all standard tender documentation including
conditions of tender, special conditions of contract, specifications, drawings
and, as the case may be, method of measurement if bills of quantities are to
be used to ensure consistency with the language and the document structure
used in the contract. It should be noted that standard specifications may
conflict with process requirements in the conditions
● Consider carefully the testing, requirements for Completion and any
performance testing required and set this out in the Works Information
● The Works Information should be reviewed at planned and regular intervals to
ensure the agreement of all stakeholders.
Poor quality documentation often results in numerous changes to the Works
Information resulting in incessant compensation events to manage. However, if
Works Information is inappropriate, unclear or incomplete, then much time and
effort will be needed to manage changes as compensation events and certainly
the ’sort it out now‘ approach under NEC will help arriving at incremental price
and time certainty through timely implementation of compensation events.

5.3 Adequacy of staff resources for better project management

Compared with other forms of contract, the requirements of the ECC represent
additional investment in proper project management including more rigorous
updating of the programme and the ongoing management of change. While an
Employer should value the higher level of certainty of outturn price and
completion date throughout the project, he will ask ‘How much extra staff
resource is required to cope with the project management under NEC compared
with using traditional procurement?’ This is a question relatively easy to answer
in qualitative terms but difficult to quantify. Normally the level of resources for the
Project Manager will also depend on how well the documents, especially the
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 13

Works Information, are written and the efforts of the team to minimise the amount
of change required to be managed after award of contract. However, it would
normally be expected that a Project Manager might require support as follows:

● Technical
 Any changes to the Works Information
 Acceptance of any post-contract design submitted
by the Contractor

● Technical/Financial
 Acceptance of revisions to the Accepted
Programme
 Management and updating of the Risk Register

● Financial
 Payment assessment
 Agreement of the time and cost effect of
compensation events.
The level of resources required for the Supervisor role will depend on:

● the amount of testing required by the Works Information

● the proportion of that testing required to be directly witnessed by the
Supervisor (as opposed to reliance on audit of the Contractor’s quality
assurance processes)
● the quality and standard of workmanship of the Contractor
The incremental price and time certainty resulting from the ‘sort it out
now‘ compensation event management process often allows the final account
be agreed very shortly after Completion. As such, the increase in staffing costs
incurred during the construction phase will very likely be offset, at least partially,
by the corresponding staff savings due to earlier settlement of final account and
a reduction in the number of disputes. However, the Employer must realise there
is a learning process to be gone through.

5.4 Compatibility with organisational procedures and authority

limits
Under the NEC regime, the Employer’s staff and/or their consultants will be
appointed to perform different roles and each of them will need to have different
attitudes and behaviours. Time and cost is saved by having the right people in
place to make the right decisions at the right time based on the right information.
Further changes to the Employer’s internal procedural system/practice may also
be required to enable compatibility with the concepts and principles of NEC. A
key issue is often the defined and short time available to respond to submissions
from the Contractor - particularly related to designs and quotations for
compensation events.

5.5 Need for training for staff improvement and cultural change
NEC contracts can and sometimes do go badly wrong simply because the
parties to them do not ‘do what it says in the contract’. If this is the case, then
neither party will get the benefits of good project management and ‘incremental
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 14

certainty that can be achieved when NEC is properly used. A key requirement is
good training. It is a common view that to successfully implement NEC and
benefit from the many best practice principles, both parties require a trained and
knowledgeable team of right-minded people ready for and capable of being
collaborative.

Training is often overlooked on NEC contracts and yet it is critical to success. A

proper ‘training needs assessment’ is required. To ensure effectiveness, training
should be provided at the right time to the right people. At the very least a one
day team-building project workshop is a valuable investment to help ensure all
project team members understand that NEC and how it will be managed.

5.6 Need for systems for project/contract management

Another fundamental requirement for proper implementation of NEC is
appropriate systems to enable the required project/contract management
procedures be operated effectively. The system needs to allow the parties to
carry out and record their actions in an efficient way that actively contributes to
the management of the project.

NEC contracts are criticised by some as being overly administrative. However, all
they do is reflect the need for communication and the need to record the
communication as having taken place. Some new to NEC resist the need to ‘act
as stated in the contract‘, which is seen by some as ’getting contractual' which
has (wrongly) come to mean adversarial. This resistance has to be overcome by
training and the joint agreement and provision of the systems required to
implement NEC contracts. For a simple contract or one with little change, simple
forms in ‘Word’ and ‘Excel’ will normally suffice.. It is paramount for a party using
NEC to develop a set of ‘standard’ templates for key communications and
registers required to manage the contract but he should recognise that other
project partners will often come with their own ways of working. It is vital to
develop a common approach from the start. For larger, longer duration and more
complex projects it may be worth investing in one of the ‘cloud-based’ propriety
systems that has been developed to help manage NEC contracts

In parallel to the set up and operation of systems, regular audit is required. On

partnered long term frameworks, Employers often put in place systems for
‘technical audit’ and ‘cost audit’. What often gets missed out is an audit of just
how well the underlying contracts are being implemented. Such a planned audit
is recommended to highlight potential issues in advance and also to help spread
good practice.

However, whatsoever system is used, it is vital to engender a culture of

developing and agreeing quotations and programme revisions ideally face to
face and then using the system to formally record the agreement and then move
on.
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 15

6. Mott MacDonald NEC Advisory Team

Using the NEC suite of contracts is a major business decision. Our NEC
Advisory team can provide:
● Early advice on procurement options
● A broad perspective on the use of the NEC
● Knowledge and experience of the use of NEC
● Knowledge and experience in developing, drafting and managing contracts
● Well- informed opinions and advice
● Experience of the areas of risk in developing model documentation
● Audit/peer reviews
● Advice and support on contract management systems
● Training/education and mentoring

Table 2: The Mott MacDonald NEC advisory team includes

Richard Patterson Mark Anders Petter Siljehag
+44 (0)1223 463606 +44 (0)1619264526 ++44 (0)7593542204
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

“Mott MacDonald clearly has the expertise and has

delivered more than expected in an appropriate and
professional manner. You have developed the NEC
courses to meet the needs of our people. We have
had only positive feedback from our staff - and lots of
it."
Investment Delivery Team and Training Coordinator, Northumbrian Water

“Mott MacDonald’s high quality and experienced staff

fully understood our needs, were flexible, proactive
and always fast in turning around the required
documents. We were really satisfied with the
professional approach to the process and the
outputs.”
Commercial Manager, Bristol Water
Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 16

“Your training must have been the best I've had

because your name always springs to mind when I
think of NEC!”
Team Manager, Procurement, East Sussex County Council
 Mott MacDonald | An introduction to NEC contracts 17

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