Completion Date

The NEC Completion Date definition is short: it's the date stated in the Contract Data, as later changed under the contract. It is the deadline the Contractor is working to, and the date delay damages are measured from. It stays fixed until something in the contract moves it.

The definition does its work through the words "as later changed". A revised programme showing a later finish doesn't change it, and nor do discussions at a progress meeting. The term sits in clause 11.2 (item 3 in NEC3 ECC), and it's a companion to the other NEC definitions.

Three things people confuse

Term	What it is	Who controls it
Completion	A test of the state of the work	The Project Manager decides when it's been met
Completion Date	The contractual deadline	Set by the contract, and changed only through its procedures
Planned Completion	When the Contractor's programme says it will finish	The Contractor, through its programme

The gap between planned Completion and the Completion Date is terminal float. It belongs to the Contractor in effect, because compensation events are assessed from planned Completion and don't use that gap up.

What can move it

• An implemented compensation event that delays planned Completion. This is the common route.
• An accepted acceleration quotation under clause 36, which brings the date forward.
• An accepted quotation for leaving a Defect uncorrected under clause 45, which can also bring it forward.

The Project Manager can't simply instruct an earlier date. Under clause 36 the Project Manager can only ask for a quotation, and the Contractor doesn't have to agree. Other changes, such as a negotiated new date as part of a settlement, need the parties themselves to sign under 12.3.

A worked example

A fictional culvert replacement with illustrative dates. The Contract Data sets 30 September. The Accepted Programme shows planned Completion on 16 September, so there are two weeks of terminal float.

1. The Client's supply of a precast unit is late, which is a compensation event under 60.1(3).
2. The effect is to push planned Completion back by three weeks, from 16 September to 7 October.
3. The assessment moves the Completion Date by those same three weeks, from 30 September to 21 October. The float is protected.
4. Separately, the Contractor loses a week through its own plant breakdown. Planned Completion is now 14 October. The Completion Date stays at 21 October.
5. Completion is reached on 28 October. That's one week after the Completion Date, so one week of delay damages is due if Option X7 applies.

Why it causes problems

Disagreement mostly starts because the date moves only once a compensation event has been implemented. A job with a long backlog of unresolved events has a Completion Date on paper that nobody believes, and neither side knows what delay damages might be due. Clearing the backlog is the only real fix, and it's what the guide to managing the Completion Date focuses on.

Other common errors:

• Assuming the date moved because the programme did. Accepting a programme with a later planned Completion doesn't change the Completion Date.
• Applying the wrong date to a section. With Option X5, each section has its own date, and each moves separately.
• Using the original date in reports after events have moved it. Show the original and current dates side by side.
• Reading a change into a Key Date. Key Dates move on their own, and moving one doesn't move the other.

Where to find it in your contract

Look in the time section of the Contract Data. On some tenders the Client states the date, while on others the Contractor offers one in part two. Whichever it is, check it's the only date stated for the whole of the works, and that any sections are clearly set out. Then keep a running record of each implemented event and its effect on the date.

Related guides

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

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.