NEC3 refers to a family of contracts rather than just one contract. Together, this family provides contracts for the management of an asset through all the stages in that asset’s life, from inception through to demolition. An introduction to all of these contracts is shown in the NEC3 procurement and contract strategies guide.
The NEC3 contracts that you can use for your FM work are the NEC3 Term Service Contract (TSC) and the NEC3 Term Service Short Contract (TSSC), both of which are specifically designed for operating and/or maintaining an asset. They can be used for both soft and hard FM, as well as proactive maintenance, reactive maintenance and betterment and improvement projects. The difference is that the TSSC is for low-risk straightforward services, whereas the TSC is for high-to-medium-risk complex services.
The use of the TSC and TSCC for FM has been specifically endorsed by the British Institution of Facilities Management for use in the UK (see issue 63). The use of these contracts in the UK public sector has also been endorsed by the UK Cabinet Office’s FM Board, which recognises that these contracts support good practice in FM procurement in the public sector.