How should we proceed with submitting and substantiating a legitimate claim for additional time and costs under NEC3, considering the challenges we’ve encountered with the main contractor, including their refusal to accept our claims (EWNs and CENs issued each time) and their ongoing delays, lack of clear handover, and insistence on paying significantly less than what we’ve claimed? Additionally, how can we ensure our supporting team (subsubcontractors) are properly accounted for in these claims too?
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@WilliamBrown would you be able to advise?
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Hi Jamie, there are several ways to answer this, each of which would require much more information but in order to provide you with some assistance here’s a starter.
What form of subcontract are you engaged under, NEC3 Engineering & Construction Subcontract (ECS) or something else? If the ECS which main Option and Secondary Options and make sure you have read all the Z clauses.
If it is the ECS the only way in which the Subcontract Prices and Completion Dates can be changed are through the implementation of compensation events.
First you need to identify which events have occurred i.e. look under 60.1(1) to (19) and also identify how they arose - see clause 61.1 for events which arise from the Contractor and clause 61.3 for all other events. Note that under 61.3 the 7 week time-bar cannot be applied to those CEs which should have been notified by the Contractor.
Having established which they are and the cause and whether they have been correctly notified or not, were you instructed to provide a quotations?
If so your quotations must be compiled in accordance with clause 62.2 and be assessed in line with the assessment rules under clause 63.
Also note the time sanctions in clauses 61.4, 62.6 and 64.4 against the Contractor’s failure to act, these are powerful provisions which if enforced drive the process to a conclusion if the Contractor fails to act, however they have to be invoked by the Subcontractor by serving the requisite notices. There is no time limit against which the Subcontractor has to serve the notices, the additional time given to the Contractor starts when they receive the notice from the Subcontractor.
Happy to discuss.
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