Counters to "on account" certifications

NEC3 and NEC4 Contracts Payment
1

We are a subcontractor that engages with the ew and ce process providing man hours x agreed rates in the ssoc. Our variations formats are fairly consistent and we always act on instructions from the project teams. Despite how diligent we feel we are, almost all of our ce work items are scheduled “on account” and left sitting at 65% valuation for some time which misrepresents our work in progress.

I take issue with this because we very rarely get any substantiation back from the main c. It feels like a cash flow blocker with the goal of attempting a global settlement to further schedule back our entitlements. Very rarely do these compensation events get the full 100% amount paid out and I doubt many even get properly assessed. This “on account” just feels like a face saver.

Am I misreading the situation or is there something maybe I am not picking up on because we’ve had numerous meetings about this and yet it still seems to continue. What are my options?

Thanks in advance.

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2

As you are a subcontractor, compensation events are to be assessed by the Contractor and not the Project Manager. Moreover, a Contractor cannot refuse to pay 100% of an implemented compensation event if the work under it has been completed. If the Contractor is not properly assessing compensation events within the required timescale then the contract allows you to remind the Contractor of that failure and, if the failure continues for the period stated in the clause, then there are consquences. The type of conseuqnces that could apply depend on the stage in the process, it could be that a compensation event notice is deemed to be accepted or a compensation event quotation is deemed to be accepted. Note, this is based on the unamended contract, so you’ll need to check any specific amendments.