Make a decision.....

I often say there are no hiding places within NEC3 contracts for those with responsibilities to make decisions. What I mean is that the contracts demand lots of decisions to be taken and failure can have consequences. Those unable or not willing to make decisions will very soon cause a bottleneck, in any contract to be fair, but probably will surface more quickly in NEC contracts (which is a really good thing in my experience). For example, the Project Manager (PM) in the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) has any number of decisions to make during the contract management stage:
- is the Contractor's design acceptable?
- is the event a compensation event?
- is the quotation for a compensation event prepared in accordance with the contract?
- does the work meet the Condition stated for the Key Date?
- and so on.

Lots of decisions, so (clients) make sure your ECC PM (or equivalent in other NEC3 contracts) is a competent decision maker. In a recent training course I was pointed to a quote from Theodore Roosevelt....

 

'In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.'

 

I couldn't locate the absolute source of this other than general reference in a Google search but this sums my point up brilliantly. Make sure you have available all the data, support, opinion etc to help you make that decision, then make it!

 

Happy deciding!