Prelims payments for a Contract where Planned Completion is beyond Contract Completion with no CE to award time

NEC3 and NEC4 Contracts Payment
1

NEC4 ECC Option A – Contractor has produced PAS with time-based Preliminaries costs as monthly activities on the PAS (site set up, management etc.). Works on site have progressed slowly for 2 months. Currently, based on PAS activities, the next assessment would include time Prelims costs of c £20 k prelims for only £50 k of activity on site in stead of the planned £200 k – site works are currently 5-weeks behind the last Accepted programme. There is no CE to justify the delay on site – Contract Completion date has not changed.

Clearly if “time” costs are included in PM Assessment for the Payment Cert, the prelims will be expended at Contract Completion irrespective of the Contractor’s Planned Completion.

Is there a mechanism within NEC4 and the PAS payment process to bring Preliminaries payments in line with actual progress on site?

2

The Contractor should submit a revision to the Activity Schedule. See Cl. 55.3 and 55.4.

I would note that those clauses do not include anything along the lines ‘if the Contractor wants to’ - it effectively says that if the Programme changes they revise the Activity Schedule.

On your direct question, though, there is no method for the PM to make deductions in the payment process.

3

Presuming that PAS refers to priced Activity Schedule it will depend upon the wording on the Activity. If the Activity has been completed then it forms part of the Price for Work Done to Date.