NEC3 ECC: What if there has never been an accepted clause 31 programme?

NEC3 and NEC4 Contracts General
1

There was a programme submitted at tender. There have been programmes submitted each month to a previous PM who has never instructed that they have or have not been approved.

The new PM is looking for an accepted programme to which there are none. Does that mean the tendered programme forms clause 31 programme and the next submitted programme as long as accepted forms clause 32 as there are huge differences in timescales.

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2

Here is the problem when one Party or other is not following the contract. If you submitting a programme at tender stage and it was referenced in contract data part 2, then by default that is the first Accepted Programme. Subsequent programmes have to be accepted or not accepted by the Project Manager - there is no such thing as it being “deemed accepted” due to lack of response. The Contractor has to escalate this at the time and one way or another force/encourage the PM to respond with acceptance or rejection so both Parties know where they stand.

If i was your PM I would look back at those programmes and see if there would have been a reason to reject them. Either way you need to get back on track of which I would suggest a two phase approach:

  1. submit a revised programme showing where you are now and what works are left to do and hence where your planned Completion is.
  2. separate exercise to justify why planned Completion is beyond Completion Date (if indeed it is) and be able to justify which specific compensation events that was down to.