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What is the NEC

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Construction Clients' Board endorsement of NEC3

The Construction Clients' Board (formerly Public Sector Clients' Forum) recommends that public sector organisations use the NEC3 contracts when procuring construction.

Standardising use of this comprehensive suite of contracts should help to deliver efficiencies across the public sector and promote behaviours in line with the principles of Achieving Excellence in Construction.

NEC has matured from being a revolutionary contract in the early 1990s with some
interest and use from forward thinking organisations seeking change in how they go
about engaging suppliers in a non-adversarial manner. NEC2 was published in 1995
and was increasingly the contract of choice of many organisations in the United
Kingdom. NEC3 is the result of feedback from industry on many years of successful
use and is the first time that the complete integrated set of NEC documents have
been launched at the same time. The family has been expanded to provide a Term
Service Contract and Framework Contract, both complemented with the standard NEC
approach of including guidance notes and flow charts.

NEC is a family of standard contracts, each of which has these characteristics:

Its use stimulates good management of the relationship between the two parties to the contract and, hence, of the work included in the contract.
It can be used in a wide variety of commercial situations, for a wide variety of types of work and in any location.
It is a clear and simple document using language and a structure which are straightforward and easily understood.

NEC is an integrated set of contract documents that are designed to provide Clients
and their suppliers with project-focused outcomes. The intention is that use of NEC
will lead more frequently to achievement of Clients objectives for all projects in terms
of its ultimate quality, performance, cost and time aspects. It should also be possible
to set more rigorous targets for these objectives with greater confidence in achieving
them.

NEC is drafted on a relational contracting basis that embodies efficient management
processes. It is the belief that collaborative working across the entire supply chain
optimises the likely project outcomes when compared with a typically fragmented and
non-integrated approach to designing and constructing projects. NEC gives the tools
to the users to draw out their skills to apply to the environment they are working in.

NEC is intended for global application and is effectively drafted on a neutral jurisdiction
basis to achieve this goal. Some United Kingdom amendments are included in
secondary Options to meet particular governing legislation and a similar process can
be followed where necessary to suit other jurisdictions.

As mentioned above NEC3 has the unique distinction of a full endorsement from the UK Governmental Office of Government Commerce, which recommends NEC3 for usage on all public sector construction projects. The NEC is also one of the officially recommended forms of contract for usage by the South African government.

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What is the NEC

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