Can a programme be accepted by the Employer ahead of a CE being implemented?

I have a situation where the programme reflects the time of the project correctly, but the commercial value is of a CE is still being contested between the Employer and the Contractor (my client).

Can the Employer accept the programme as a true reflection of time? The commercial resolution could take weeks and in the meantime the contract dates in the programme are becoming way out of date.

It’s Option C BTW.

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Yes it can be, providing you are only moving planned Completion and not Completion Date. That is why these items are a requirement to show separately in accordance with the first two bullets of clause 31.2. Acceptance of a programme is accepting that it is realistic, achievable and complies with clause 31.2/32.1.

For example, if there has been a compensation event that has held up the critical path works by three weeks, you can reflect this in the programme and planned Completion will have moved out by three weeks. Assuming on the last Accepted Programme both planned Completion and Completion Date where the same, planned Completion will now be three weeks later than planned Completion. If the Project Manager accepts this programme, they are not necessarily accepting liability. The Completion Date will only move when the compensation event becomes implemented - i.e. agreed in terms of time and cost. At this point if the Project Manager has agreed three weeks delay as part of the CE assessment than Completion Date can now be moved and will catch up with planned Completion once more.

The rules for programme acceptance are the same across all of the ECC options.

Thanks Glenn, much obliged.

I would go further than Glenn’s response and suggest that you could, if appropriate, accept a Clause 62 programme for the CE that changes planned Completion and the Completion Date, with a stated Project Manager’s assumption in the assessment of the CE, that the financial affects will be dealt with as a separate CE - a bit cumbersome perhaps, but at least it does allow everybody to keep up to date in the situation whereby a CE has occurred, everybody accepts that it has changed Completion, but wants to have a Clause 32 programme that properly reflects the way the project is going to be managed.

Minor point but its obviously the PM that carries out programme acceptance, not the Employer as such.