John Renmond commented that the New Engineering Contract has become an acceptable choice for construction procurement (24 June, page 55). He omitted to mention that the NEC form is often acceptable only because it has been heavily amended in order to achieve the level of certainty required by those concerned. Is this going to change with the third edition? As John mentioned, one of the main changes relates to compensation events. These are circumstances that allow the contractor to claim additional time and money. There is now a provision in clause 61.3 barring a claim by the contractor if no notice is given within eight weeks of it becoming "aware" of the event in question. There is, of course, ample scope for argument as to when "awareness" has occurred and indeed as to who within the contractor's organisation has to be aware before that awareness becomes that of the contractor itself.
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