NEC Contract Lessons Learnt Report - Cambridgeshire Guided Busway free download

Cambridgeshire County Council has recently published a report produced by EC Harris into lessons learnt from the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, procured under the NEC Contract.

The key areas that the report reviewed are summarised below:-

• the process by which the chosen form of contract was selected;
• the appropriateness of the chosen form of contract in this instance;
• whether appropriate mechanisms were set up between the client, contractor and project manager to manage and oversee the contract;
• the risk transfer by the Council and whether this was reasonable;
• identify what other public sector organisations have used this form of contract¬†and if they have experienced similar outcomes;
• did the form of contract used to create incentives for the contractor to increase spend and delay and if so, how could this have been addressed;
• what alternative form of contracts was available and what protection they¬†would have afforded the Council;
• whether an alternative form of contract, available at the time would have been¬†more appropriate;
• what the Council and other public sector organisations should consider when undertaking procurement of similar major projects;
• are there any lessons to be learnt in procurement, that with the benefit of hindsight could have alerted us to the difficulties we eventually faced;
• whether there are any further modifications to the form of contract available or contracting procedures that would be more effective in managing risk.

The report provides a number of recommendations for NEC3 users and construction professionals that can be applied to future NEC projects.