Moving NEC3 onwards and upwards


STEVE ROWSELL NEC USERS GROUP CHAIR


I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to serve as new chair of the NEC Users’ Group. Rudi Klein will be a hard act to follow and so I am very pleased he will continue


to be involved as honorary president of the Users’ Group. I have had a long association with NEC


contracts and am very pleased to have been able to introduce them as the standard forms for the UK Highways Agency and the £15 billion Crossrail project in London. On Crossrail NEC3 contracts are being used across the full range of civil engineering and railway systems requirements of what is now Europe’s largest construction project (see page 3).


Sharing ideas and knowledge I hope to be able to put my experience with


NEC contracts to good effect in sharing ideas and knowledge through the extensive network offered by the NEC Users’ Group. I am looking forward to working with the NEC team and fellow users to ensure we are learning lessons and sharing them to best effect. Key issues that I would like to focus on


include


■ the best ways of delivering contract programme requirements


■ ensuring the most effective approach to early warnings


■ dealing efficiently with compensation events ■ ● understanding optimal resource requirements of all parties


■ achieving fair payment throughout the supply chain


■ giving confidence to clients to allow them to dispense with unnecessary Z clauses.


Supporting best practice I strongly believe NEC3 should be the


contract suite of choice for construction clients worldwide. Clients need to recognise however that it is not the panacea for all problems that arise in the delivery of projects. Use of the NEC3 suite needs to be part of a procurement strategy that incorporates best practice principles. In my view best practice procurement principles should include


■ early engagement of the contractor and the supply chain


■ clearly defined scope ■ fair allocation of risk ■ best value supplier selection methods ■ ensuring adequate skilled resources ■ establishing the right culture and behaviours ■ effective project control processes ■ robust performance management.


NEC3 supports best practice procurement


principles far better than any other forms of contract and can make a significant contribution to the objectives of many national governments of delivering public projects and services more efficiently.


Encouraging public-sector usage One of my aims in my new role is to help


encourage more take-up of the NEC3 contracts by clients across the whole range of the public sector. To achieve this we need to provide a clear understanding of the benefits of NEC3 and to dispel some of the myths about it that have developed. The annual Users’ Group Conference


in London in April 2011 provides a great opportunity to continue the process of improving knowledge and understanding. To maximise the benefits we need all users to engage in the discussions, share experiences and raise concerns or queries. If you have not been able to attend then I


would encourage you to join in other activities of the Users’ Group and to attend next year’s conference. I would be very surprised if you were to come away without having picked up at least one or two ideas or new knowledge which will add value to your own organisation.


Expanding internationally Finally, it is gratifying to see the increasing


global spread of NEC users, with successful application on all types and sizes of projects in the Middle East, Africa and Australasia. NEC3 contracts have been written with international usage in mind and the benefits are now being realised worldwide. As reported on page 1 of this issue, a new


regional Users’ Group in Australasia has just been announced and more are planned in the coming months. We wish them every success.●


For further information please contact the NEC office on +44 20 7665 2446 or email nec@neccontract. com


ECC risk process compared with APM MIKE HURST NEC MARKETING


The Association of Project Management (APM) is holding an evening meeting at Saïd Business School in Oxford next month (5 May 2011) to compare the risk process described in clause 16 of the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) with the APM project risk analysis


2 NEC USERS’ GROUP NEWSLETTER•No.54•APRIL 2011


and management guide. The aim of the event is to clarify and explain


how the two processes can work together successfully. It will be run in the style of an interactive debate, chaired by APM president and NEC ‘creator’ Martin Barnes with NEC Users’


Group secretary Robert Gerrard representing NEC and chair of APM’s risk management specific interest group Peter Campbell representing APM.


For further information please contact APM on 0845 458 1944, email info@apm.org.uk or visit www.apm.org.uk


NEC presents to development banks


REKHA THAWRANI NEC GENERAL MANAGER


Peter Higgins explains the benefits of NEC3 contracts to the procurement heads of the multilateral development banks in Manila


NEC3 contracts were invited to speak at a major international conference for the procurement heads of the worlds’ leading multilateral development banks in February. The event at the Asian Development Bank (ADB)


offices in Manila, Philippines was attended by representatives from ADB, the African Development Bank, Black Sea Trade & Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Inter- American Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and the World Bank. Hamid Sharif, principal director of ADB’s central


operations services office, chaired the conference and NEC was presented by consultant Peter Higgins, who has been involved with the development and implementation of NEC contracts since they were launched in 1993. Higgins, who currently sits on the NEC’s New


Contract Board, was supported by NEC general manager Rekha Thawrani.


Comparisons with FIDIC Higgins provided delegates with an introduction


to NEC3 contracts and gave high-level comparisons with the FIDIC forms currently used by most development banks. Examples of NEC3 contracts were described along with a model of how the banks’ typical standard bidding documents can be incorporated in NEC3 forms. According to Thawrani, ‘This was an excellent


platform to present NEC3 to the collective heads of procurement at the multilateral development banks, providing them with an alternative contract option to consider.’ ●


For further information please contact the NEC office on +44 20 7665 2303 or email nec@neccontract.com.


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