NEC3 Risk Register

Mike,

Nearly all of the NEC3 contracts I've been involved with have had a risk register established, (usually at tender), but how many have used it effectively and how many have put it in the bottom drawer and forgotten about it would be telling.

The saying that springs to mind when talking about NEC contracts is the one concerning something about a horse and water , you might know the one!!!!

Regards,

Andy

Hi Andy

Thank you for your response - I have not had much exposure to NEC3 - only about 3 cases so far and I have never been involved in running a project under it.

I thought the Risk Register would be set up and then abandoned.

As you said something on the lines of "You can lead a whore to culture - but you can't make her think"

Best regards

Mike Testro

Mike,

Almost all the projects im involved with have costed risk registers on them.  Although, I dont think they are used as effectively as they are supposed to be, more updated as a requirement than used as a tool.

I think Andrew is right about Mr.Ed and his beverage. Most contracts i come across are based on NEC3, but usually the client isnt aware (or chooses to negate) their part to play as 'the client' with regard to acceptance periods, acceptance of variations etc. I think its because most people dont have/dont realise the amount of resource required to administer an NEC3 form of contract correctly. This is kind of its flaw, as how do you show the ROI of the additional admin required on NEC3 contracts?

It would be the comparison of additional admin costs against the cost of court fees and delay consultancy you never ended up having to pay?!

Oliver,

I agree with your comments about people not realising the amount of resources required to administer a NEC contract but I think everyones attitude plays just as big, (if not bigger), role.

There's still a big "wait and see what happens" attitude out there when dealing with problems rather than a "sort it as you go" approach.

The written word of the contract has good intentions but the people reading and implementing those words let it down.

But maybe that can be said about many contracts, the deal struck between the parties is forgotten or misadministered as other seemingly more pressing and important needs are encountered.

Currently working on a suite of around a dozen projects under modified NEC, and all have risk regsiters tracking both cost and schedule risks, with identified mitigation plans, and that feed into forecast cost and completion estimates, using Pertmaster to run the analysis and a programme Risk Manager to oversee the process. We're barely into the implementation phase on the earliest projects, so it remains to be seen how often the register is reviewed and how well it is used as a project management tool.

 

Previosuly, I worked on 2 NEC contracts. Both had (cost) risk registers agreed at contract signature, both were only looked at afterwards to assess CEs.

 

Cheers,

 

G