Accepted Programme

The NEC Accepted Programme is the one programme with contractual standing at any moment: the programme named in the Contract Data or, if there is a later one, the most recent the Project Manager has accepted. Every other version, however current or detailed, is just information.

That sounds administrative, but the term decides real money. It's the baseline against which many compensation events are triggered and against which delay is assessed. The definition sits in clause 11.2 of both editions (item 1 in NEC3 ECC), and the process around it is in clause 31. This is part of the NEC definitions glossary.

What it does in the contract

Where it's used	Why the Accepted Programme matters
60.1(2) late access	The event needs access to be later than the access date and also later than the programme's date
60.1(3) late Client-supplied items	Lateness is judged against the date the programme shows
60.1(5) work by the Client or Others	The programme's timings for their work are part of the test
63.5 assessing delay (63.3 in NEC3)	Delay is how much later planned Completion becomes compared with the programme
50.5 first programme (50.3 in NEC3)	Until a compliant first programme has been submitted, where none is named in the Contract Data, a quarter of the assessed Price for Work Done to Date stays held back

The Accepted Programme isn't an instruction, though. Acceptance doesn't shift responsibility for the works to the Project Manager (14.1). Nor does it change the Completion Date, which only moves through the contract's own routes.

Why it causes problems

The usual trouble is drift. A contractor submits revisions, the Project Manager queries them or doesn't reply, and the site carries on using the latest version. Everyone has a live programme in mind, but the last one accepted may be months old.

Under NEC4, a Project Manager who stays silent on a programme can eventually see it treated as accepted: the Contractor notifies the failure and, if no answer follows in the time allowed, it counts as accepted under 31.3. NEC3 has no such step. Silence there is dealt with through the failure-to-reply compensation event, and the older programme stays in place.

A worked example

A fictional footbridge job with illustrative dates, on Option A.

• Revision 3 was accepted in March and shows planned Completion on 12 June.
• Revision 6, submitted in July and still unanswered, shows planned Completion on 3 July because the Contractor's own piling ran late.
• In August, the Project Manager instructs a change to the parapet. It adds two weeks to the critical path.

Which programme is the baseline? On a strict reading, it's revision 3, because that's the last accepted version. A two-week delay measured against a programme that no longer reflects the site gives an odd answer. The Contractor needs to show the effect from its true position. The Project Manager needs to avoid crediting time already lost to the Contractor's own piling. Both sides would have been better off had revisions 4 to 6 been dealt with when they were sent.

Quotations can include alterations to the Accepted Programme (62.2), which helps but doesn't replace regular acceptance.

What people get wrong

• Using "the programme" loosely. In letters, say which revision you mean and whether it has been accepted.
• Treating a query as acceptance. Comments on a programme aren't acceptance. Neither is the site working to it.
• Rejecting for reasons not in the contract. Clause 31.3 lists the permitted reasons. Refusing for some other reason can itself be a compensation event under 60.1(9).
• Thinking acceptance agrees everything in it. Acceptance doesn't confirm the Contractor's logic is achievable, or that dates shown for the Client have been agreed as a new obligation beyond what the contract says.

Keep it current

A short monthly habit prevents most of this:

1. Keep a log of each revision: date submitted, reply due, reply given, status.
2. Reply within the time allowed, with reasons if you aren't accepting.
3. Before any delay assessment, confirm which revision was current at the dividing date.

For the wider picture, see what the Accepted Programme means for planners and the guide to programme acceptance under clause 31.3.

Related guides

• NEC Definitions: A Glossary of Key Terms
• Completion
• Completion Date
• Contract Data

This guide is general information in our own words, not legal advice. Your contract and its Contract Data always govern. NEC, NEC3 and NEC4 are trade marks of Thomas Telford Ltd; Contract Status is not affiliated with or endorsed by NEC.