ABSTRACT
The rigour of NEC4 communications coupled with the requirement to fix a period for reply in the Contract Data effectively eliminate any significant doubt over when any contractual issue will be resolved. One of the most important and potentially beneficial aspects of managing projects under the NEC4 form of contract is the underlying rationale of running projects in real time, without reliance on future negotiations. The use of NEC contracts to date has seen advantages in appointing everyone within the supply chain for a particular project on an NEC form of contract. The moral to the emphasis on personalities and commitment is almost certainly that NEC4 should ideally only be used where the key players have in principle both understood and bought into its philosophy and management techniques. In the early years of NEC, architects and quantity surveyors or cost consultants tended to be introduced to NEC by their clients, which was perhaps readily understandable.
