# NEC3 Is a programme accepted by default?
**URL:** https://reachback.builtintelligence.com/t/nec3-is-a-programme-accepted-by-default/3618
**Category:** Time
**Created:** [26 January 2016 10:02 UTC](https://reachback.builtintelligence.com/t/nec3-is-a-programme-accepted-by-default/3618 "2016-01-26T10:02:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@system](https://reachback.builtintelligence.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [26 January 2016 10:02 UTC](https://reachback.builtintelligence.com/t/nec3-is-a-programme-accepted-by-default/3618/1 "2016-01-26T10:02:52Z")
If the PM does not accept or reject a clause 32 programme in the allotted time, does this become the accepted programme by default?
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### Author:  [@Jon\_Broome](https://reachback.builtintelligence.com/u/Jon_Broome)
#### Post date: [26 January 2016 10:16 UTC](https://reachback.builtintelligence.com/t/nec3-is-a-programme-accepted-by-default/3618/2 "2016-01-26T10:16:30Z")
Contractually, the answer is a definitive ‘No’ as there are no such express provisions saying this.
However, I have heard of a number of adjudicators saying the PM did effectively accept the Contractor’s programme as :
- there are various incentives which the Project Manager MUST use if he/she actively rejects a programme submitted for acceptance - e.g. start assessing CEs - and they did not do them;
- the PM / Employer did a number of actions identified in the programme for them to do, before not doing the one of which the dispute is over.
So - taking a hint from contract law and Offer / Acceptance - by their actions it can be reasonably implied that they did accept the programme and the breach is not by the Contractor, so they should not suffer. This seems a reasonable line of argument, but there is no case law to support this.
I personally would like an explicit statement on what happens if the PM does not get back in the contract, much as there is if the PM does not back on a notification of a CE or a quotation.