NEC4 programme acceptance: what clause 31.3 actually asks

Under the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract the programme isn't a planning document on the side. It's how time is managed: the Accepted Programme is the baseline against which compensation events are assessed. Getting it accepted matters.

The four reasons#

Clause 31.3 gives the Project Manager four reasons for not accepting a programme:

1. The Contractor's plans it shows are not practicable.
2. It doesn't show the information the contract requires.
3. It doesn't represent the Contractor's plans realistically.
4. It doesn't comply with the Scope.

Anything else isn't a ground under clause 31.3. That's worth remembering when a programme comes back with comments.

What "the information the contract requires" means#

Clause 31.2 lists what a programme has to show. Among other things:

• the starting date, access dates, Key Dates and the Completion Date;
• planned Completion, and so the terminal float between it and the Completion Date;
• the order and timing of the Contractor's operations, and of the work of the Client and Others;
• provisions for float and for time risk allowances;
• the dates the Contractor will need access, acceptances, Plant and Materials from the Client, and information from Others;
• a statement of how the work will be done, including resources.

Some of this can be checked from the programme file. Some, such as narrative statements and health and safety provisions, can only be checked by reading.

Checking before you submit#

Most rejections are for things the programme could have shown:

• Access dates that aren't shown as dates the Contractor needs.
• Time risk allowance hidden inside activity durations, so it can't be seen.
• Client and Others' work missing, so the dates they need to meet aren't visible.
• Planned Completion after the Completion Date, with no terminal float, which on its own shows the plans aren't practicable.
• A file that wasn't rescheduled after its last change, so its dates don't represent the plan realistically.