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New ISO procurement standard complements NEC3


SIMON FULLALOVE EDITOR


The International Organization for Standardization has launched a new series of standards for fair and transparent construction procurement that complement NEC3 contracts. Part 2 of the eight-part ISO 10845 standard


covers formatting and compilation or procurement documentation, and can be applied with NEC3 forms. According to ISO, ‘ISO 10845-2:2011


establishes a standard format for calls for expressions of interest, for tender and contract documents, and the general principles for compiling procurement documents for supply, services and engineering and construction works contracts, at both main and subcontract levels. It provides the platform for the


standardisation of component documents and improved communications between those engaged in the procurement process. ‘Part 2 of ISO 10845 can be applied in


procurement documents which make use of international forms of contract such as the FIDIC and NEC3 contracts published by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers and the Institution of Civil Engineers, respectively.’ Ron Watermeyer, project leader of the ISO


10845 series, says, ‘This series will be an invaluable tool for promoting inter- national trade, in particular for developing countries who may lack experience and instruments in this field. The various parts of ISO 10845 can readily be incorporated into


procurement systems by reference in policy or in legislation. ‘These standards can help those engaged


in procurement activities to better perform their duties. They will help promote a uniform procurement system and improve the quality of procurement documents. Its standard processes, procedures and methods can also serve as a basis for developing consistent curricula for education in procurement and form the basis for capacity-building needed to procure much needed infrastructure, particularly in developing countries.’ ISO 10845-2 costs 142 Swiss francs and is


available from ISO national member institutes worldwide (see http://www.iso.org/iso/about/ iso_members.htm).●


The six-point checklist for NEC3 programmes


ROGER GIBSON GIBSON CONSULTING


Under the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) the ‘programme’ is an important element. It is also vital in the assessment of compensation events, and as such should be in the form of a network – an interactive model of the work to be undertaken on the project. ECC clause 31 explicitly details the information


the contractor has to show on each programme which it submits to the project manager for approval. However, clause 31 gives no criteria or guidelines as to good practice in preparing or presenting the programme – something which would be particularly helpful to the project manager when reviewing the programme. Somewhat surprisingly, I can also find no


standard guidelines for the construction and engineering industries regarding good practice for project programmes. Based on my 40 years of experience of planning, programme submissions and approvals, I have thus developed a ‘six-point checklist’, as follows.


Does the programme comply with the contractual obligations? The programme has to comply with any


contractual obligations, such as milestones or restraints on working hours or methods. Furthermore, the entire scope of work should be represented.


Work activity durations and content Are the activity durations questionably too long,


or too short for the scope of work they represent? The Society of Construction Law’s Delay and Disruption Protocol, section 2 guidance, states,


‘2.2.7 The maximum duration of an activity in the programme may be specified in the contract, depending on the complexity of the project. As a guide, no activity or lag (other than a summary activity) should exceed 28 days in duration.’


Based on this guidance and my experience,


the recommended criteria for a well-structured programme is that activity durations should be no more than 20 work days, that is four working weeks. A further most important aspect of ‘work


durations and content’ is resource loading of the activities. By this I mean that each activity should include details of its associated labour and plant, as a minimum. Ideally, such supporting information should include details of major materials and work rates. The Society of Construction Law’s protocol


expresses the inclusion of this information on a programme as follows,


‘2.2.9 Key resources such as labour (including that which relates to design where relevant), tradesmen, major plant items, dedicated resources, major materials and work rates should be indicated for each activity.’


Logic relationships/links Are the activity logic links, and lags,


reasonable? Are there any obvious errors in the programme related to the sequence or timing of the works?


Also, look for open-ended activities, such as


those with no predecessors or successors. In general, there should be only two open-ended activities in the entire network: one beginning activity with no predecessors, and one completion activity with no successors. Every other activity should be logically tied into the network. Furthermore, every activity should have its


planned start date determined by at least one start-to-start or finish-to-start logic link/relationship from a predecessor activity, and not by a finish-to-


finish relationship link. It is not logical ‘construction thinking’ that an activity’s planned start date will not be known until a successor’s finish date is known. In other words, the software calculates the finish date of the predecessor activity first, then calculates the finish date of the activity in question; then subtracts the in-question activity’s duration to fix the early start date. Furthermore, and often in reality, the s


uccessor’s finish date is much later than the resulting calculated planned start date for the activity – it is just not common sense.


Network constraints The Society of Construction Law’s protocol


states,


‘2.2.8 Manually applied constraints such as ‘must start’ or ‘must finish’ fixed dates, ‘zero float’ and other programming techniques that can have the effect of inhibiting the programme from reacting dynamically to change should be avoided.’


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