Can CEQs be voided if the Project Manager wasn't included in the correspondence?

1

Under NEC3 Option A, the contract names a Contractor’s Authorised Representative in Part One, this person also acts as the Project Manager.

All NCEs have been issued with the Project Manager copied in the correspondence. However, when responding to their CIs with CE quotations, the Project Manager was not copied. There has been no response from to the CE quotations or to subsequent notifications of no reply, and the CEQs have therefore been deemed accepted by default.

At the most recent meeting, the commercial team stated that all CEQs have now been voided on the basis that the Contractor’s Authorised Representative (who is also the Project Manager) was not included in the correspondence.

Could you please confirm whether this is correct? Is it valid under NEC3 that CEQs are considered void if they were issued only to the commercial team and not directly to the named Contractor’s Authorised Representative / Project Manager?

2

Any communication under NEC3 has effect when it is received at the last address notified by the recipient or, if none is notified, at the recipient’s address stated in Contract Data (clause 13.2).

Although it is common practice to state the people who a communication is being sent to, or copied to, this is not a contractual requirement and does not ‘void’ a communication.

Check your Contract Data to see what the particular communication requirements are as it may state an email address, etc.