NEC ECC: Is there is a timescale for an Administrator to respond to a PM ‘final assessment’ (NEC3 A)

NEC3 and NEC4 Contracts
1

We have an NEC 3 option A contract for which the Contractor went into Administration toward the end of the scheme. The Client had taken over a large part of the building but completion had not been certified.

We are now some 14/15 months past that original take-over date.
We have defects lists which have not been resolved as the Contractor went before they could be actioned, and so there is no formal certification of defects.
As PM’s for the contract we have subsequently presented the Administrator (in the Contractors absence) with our assessment of the Final Account).

The main question is are there any timescales within which the Administrator should be responding to anything we send them? We sent the Assessment of Final Account over 4 months ago, and the Administrator has been silent since then.
The Client is concerned how we can conclude these contracts - if it is even our place to conclude them, or are we completely at the behest of the Administrator and their timescales, although we don’t know what those timescales are.

2

It looks like the Contractor has been placed into administration, so one of the reasons for taking such action must apply. The appointed Administrator is obliged to take certain actions by specific dates but is essentially charged with ‘rescuing’ the company, in whatever appropriate form. The administration will end automatically after a year unless the term of office is extended by court order, or with the consent of the creditors…

Once an Administrator has been appointed then this is a ground for termination of the contract, although it is not clear whether this right has been initiated, which if it has, then the appropriate procedures (P1, P2 and P3) and amount due (A1 and A3) would apply.

It is not clear what your continued involvement is based upon, if the termination procedure has been initiated, as your last action under the contract should essentially be to certify the final payment amount due.