NEC Compensation Event Review
ForensicFixed FeeFor Subcontractors & Main Contractors10 working days
I test a compensation event quotation against your contract's own rules: the clause 61.3 notification position first, then the quotation component by component against the Schedule of Cost Components.
The problem
NEC contracts pay for change through compensation events and enforce the rules strictly. In the unamended forms, clause 61.3 can bar a compensation event you were required to notify but did not notify within eight weeks of becoming aware of it: the work still gets done, but the right to be paid for it can be lost. Claims here rarely fail because the work wasn't worth the money; they fail on notifications that were late, sent to the wrong person, framed as something other than a notification, or never given while everyone dealt with the change by email.
The solution
I review the compensation event in front of you: whether it was notified inside the contractual period, whose risk it is under your contract as amended, and then the quotation itself, component by component against the Schedule of Cost Components for your Main Option, with the risk allowance tested and anything the Fee already covers identified. Where the quotation carries a time effect, the programme position comes from you or your planner and is adopted and attributed, never assessed. You get a reasoned position in the contract's own language: accept, accept with stated adjustments, or reject with reasons.
What you receive
You know exactly where the quotation stands: whether the event was notified in time, whose risk it is, which components the Schedule of Cost Components carries and which it excludes, and a position in the contract's language you can act on inside the reply period, all set out in a detailed written report.
The Handover Pack accompanies the work with its dates and sources, likely outcomes and responses, scope boundaries and ready-to-send correspondence where needed.
Turnaround: ten working days.
The working days start when the agreed scope and required inputs are available. Optional items do not hold the start unless the agreed scope says otherwise.
Need it faster? Ask on the first call: an express turnaround is quoted in writing where the diary allows it.
How it works
You send me the paperwork
The list below pins down the awareness date the eight-week bar turns on and the build-up the assessment takes apart.
- A
The CE notification
EssentialWithout it: There is nothing to test for time or form, and the review cannot start
Where to find it: The project's communication system if the contract runs one, otherwise the inboxes of whoever notifies.
Why I need it: What is being reviewed
- B
The contract, the Contract Data and the Main Option
EssentialWithout it: There is no rule set to assess the quotation against, and the review cannot run
Where to find it: The commercial folder or the order email; make sure the Z clauses come with it, they are usually a separate schedule.
Why I need it: The Main Option changes the assessment rules materially
- C
The Accepted Programme
ImportantWithout it: The baseline cannot be established, and the resourcing is tested against the instructed work content instead of a programme
Where to find it: Your planner holds the files; the acceptance correspondence sits in the email trail with the project manager.
Why I need it: The baseline the assessment works from
- D
The quotation, with its build-up
EssentialWithout it: There is nothing to test component by component, and the assessment cannot run
Where to find it: The project's communication system if the contract runs one, otherwise the inboxes of whoever notifies.
Why I need it: What is being tested
- E
The Early Warning Register
ImportantWithout it: The early warning position rests on the notices and the instruction alone, with nothing to check them against
Where to find it: There usually is no separate register kept: send whatever early warning notices exist in the project correspondence, or say if none were issued.
Why I need it: Early warnings bear on the assessment
- F
All dates
EssentialWithout it: The eight week clock cannot be fixed, and whether the event is even in time cannot be answered
Where to find it: The threads between your team and the project manager; forward them whole.
Why I need it: The notification period is a hard bar
- G
The records behind the actual cost elements of the quotation
ImportantWithout it: The actual elements have nothing to be tested against, so none of them can be assessed at the quoted figure and the part of the assessment that ought to be the most certain becomes the least
Where to find it: Your own site and commercial file for the affected work: allocation sheets, timesheets, plant returns and invoices; plus whatever the quoting party has submitted in support of its actual figures.
Why I need it: Anything in the quotation for work done before the dividing date is assessed on actual Defined Cost, and actual Defined Cost is tested against records rather than against the build-up
Copies are fine. Send what you have and I'll tell you what's missing. Download the client request PDF or editable Word version to pass to whoever holds the files.
Contract basis fixed first.
The Main Option, cost rules and every amendment are recorded from your contract before any check runs, because amendments often rewrite the machinery.
- A
You tell me about the event
One call on what happened, when you became aware of it, and where the quotation now stands under the contract's reply periods.
I test the notification against the period
The date the event occurred, the awareness date and the notification date, each recorded with its evidence and tested against clause 61.3 as your contract amends it, with the finding recorded before any assessment work starts.
Dates evidenced before findings.
Each event's date, awareness date and notification date are recorded with their evidence before any conclusion on timing is stated.
I fix the baseline the assessment works from
Whose risk the event is under the contract as amended, the Accepted Programme at the date of the event, and the early warning position. Any programme position is taken as given by you or your planner, adopted and attributed, never assessed.
I assess the quotation component by component
The quotation is tested against the assessment rules and the Schedule of Cost Components for your Main Option: what Defined Cost carries, what the Fee already covers, what the contract excludes, and whether the risk allowance is proportionate.
I reach a position in the contract's language
Accept, accept with stated adjustments, or reject with reasons, with what a compliant quotation would look like where it falls short. The figures reconcile line by line before the position is stated.
Position reconciled before stated.
No position is given until the figures reconcile line by line and any programme position used is recorded as supplied by you or your planner.
You respond to the quotation in your name
The position goes to the other party from you, in the form and within the period the contract requires.
I hand over a reasoned position on the quotation
Free Service Pack
A step-by-step Handbook, with the templates and working documents you need to carry out the work it covers yourself. You supply your own project information and records.
Follow the Handbook's scope and stopping points, and obtain independent advice where required. The pack is not project-specific advice or independent sign-off.
My products used
Tips that raise your odds of success
Questions I get asked often
Late notifications usually trace back to records that never captured the event. Records & Monthly Check installs that discipline from the start of the project, so events are caught while the eight-week clock is still running.