Contractor’s QS has applied for QS and PM time for preparing the Compensation Event, from what I have read in the NEC4 Option C contract its ambiguous. My understanding is that this is part of the defined cost, Hence already included within the prelims and change control is a large part of the QS role. Am I correct is saying it should not be an allowable claim?
Correct - the contract intends that only additional cost for any QS and PM time would be recoverable. If they are full time on the job anyway, and were able to price this whilst doing the day job then there is no additional cost. If the Contractor can prove they had to bring in an additional resource just to work on the quote then this would be recoverable.
There could be arguments either way what is right or fare with this aspect, but this is the stance that the NEC has taken and on balance I think it is the most fair solution as any other answer would tip the balance too much towards one party or the other.
Thank you for the above, I’m still having ongoing discussions with the contractor, as I’ve been advised that only 50% time is allowed within Prelims of target price, but nevertheless you would still expect there to be an allowance for preparing compensation events.